Valentine Roses

A rose is a rose is a rose…comes in many shades and is the symbol of Valentine. Why not create a centerpiece in all the shades of your dinner: salmon for the starter and the appetizer, coral for the main course, pink and red for the dessert.
As to the claim that some foods are aphrodisiac, I leave it to you, but I threw in for good measure, oysters, salmon eggs, and Champagne. Deserved or not they all have that enviable reputation. As for me, I started by quoting Gertrude Stein, because nothing is sexier than a spirited conversation. Start the day before for the hors d’oeuvre, the vodka sauce of the lobster and the dessert and enjoy La Vie en Rose.

Smoked Salmon pizza (Easy, Preparation time a day before 2 hours, Cooking time: 20 minutes, Expensive)

Ingredients:
For the pizza dough
1package active dry yeast
1½ cups (350 ml) of warm water
3½ cups (794 gm) flour
1teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons (28 gm) extra virgin olive oil

For the cream:
4-oz (113 gm) sour cream
4-oz (113 gm) low fat cream cheese
1 bunch of dill
Salt and pepper to taste

¼ lb (113 gm) of smoked salmon thinly sliced

Material:
Salad Bowl
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Rolling pin
Food processor

Proof the yeast in a half-cup warm water for 15 minutes.
In the salad bowl combine flour and salt. Form a well in the center and fill it with the yeast mixture and the oil. Stir with your hand adding the remaining water little by little until a ball of dough forms. Knead until smooth and elastic about 10 minutes. If it is too wet add more flour, more water if too dry.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in the cleaned salad bowl, dried and oiled with a cloth cover. Let it double for an hour and a half.
Divide into 4 balls. Freeze three for up to three months. Keep the fourth one in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, turn the oven on at 360 F (182 C).
Roll the dough as thinly as possible between two layers of parchment. Remove the top layer. Transfer the lower layer and pizza dough to the cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Let the pizza cool to room temperature.
Wash the dill and keep the ferns. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and dill ferns in the food processor. Add salt and pepper. Layer on to the pizza. Garnish generously with the smoked salmon and cut in small pieces. Serve as an appetizer with the remainder of the Champagne bottle.
Note: this pizza dough can be the basis of a traditional pizza. Before baking, add a purée of washed basil leaves, oil and garlic. Layer on top thin slices of Parmesan cheese and tomato slices. Bake for 20 minutes and serve with a salad as a light lunch.

Oysters on the half shell (Easy, Preparation time: 2 minutes, Expensive)

Ingredients:
12 oysters on the ½ shell
1 small jar of smoked salmon eggs
1 lime

Cut the lime in 4.
Pour 1 teaspoon of salmon eggs in each oyster
Garnish each plate with 6 oysters and 1 lime quarter in the center.

Note: if you do not own oyster plates, form six little mounds of crystal salt in a plate and settle each oyster shell on its salt nest.

Lobster Flambé (Easy, Preparation time: 20 minutes, Cooking time: 30 minutes, Expensive)

Ingredients:
2 lobsters 1lbs ¼ (567 gm) each
¼ cup (57 gm) cognac
1tbsp (14 gm) olive oil
Sauce:
1 lbs (454 gm) peeled and cut tomatoes
1 small carrot peeled and cubed
½ onion peeled and sliced
1 tbsp (14 mg) olive oil
1 tsp. Saffron
¼ cup (57 ml) Vodka
½ cup (113 ml) heavy cream
Salt and Pepper to taste

Material:
6-quart pot and its cover
Large frying pan and its cover
Matches
Wooden spoon
Food processor

Set the lobster pot full of water on the stove on high with the cover on. When the water boils, add the lobsters, one at a time, headfirst. When the boil starts over, remove the lobsters with tongs. Place them in the sink and wait until they are cool enough to handle.
Put the oil in the saucepan and turn the heat to low. After 1 minute add the onions and carrots to color lightly. Add the tomatoes.
Pour the tsp of saffron in the vodka and let the aroma develop.
After the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, add the vodka, stir with the wooden spoon and let it cook for another five minutes. Last, add the cream, stirring and cook for two minutes. Pour the result in the food processor to obtain a smooth sauce.
Set the lobsters into a large recipient when cutting them to save all the juices. Separate the head. Cut the lobsters in slices. Crack the claws and the legs.
Pour the oil in the frying pan and sauté the lobster slices, the heads and the claws. Add the saved juices and the cognac. When it boils, light up the preparation with a match to flambé the lobster pieces. Remove the heads and discard. Add the sauce and warm up for five minutes.
Serve with linguini.
Note: the sauce in itself is a classic Italian Vodka sauce and is delicious on ravioli. The ingredient quantities in the recipe are sufficient for another entrée. For the classic lobster bisque, remove the lobster meat from the lobster and reserve. Place the lobster shells and heads, add the cognac and flambé. Add 2 cups water (450 ml) and simmer 15 minutes before removing the shells and adding the vodka sauce. Serve steaming in a soup bowl with the sliced lobster meat in the middle as a lobster bisque appetizer.

Valentine Fizz
(Easy, Preparation Time:30 minutes one day ahead, Expensive)

Ingredients:

For the fizz:
½ bottle dry pink Champagne
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
½ cup (113 ml) cold water
½ cup (113 gm) sugar

For the sweet sabayon:
10 oz (283 ml) of sweet wine such as Sauterne
2 yolks
¼ cup (54 gm) fine sugar

For the compote:
2 pears
1 apple
1/3cup (54 ml) rose syrup and additional to drizzle over the raspberries
1pint raspberries
1pint blueberries

Material:
Small pan
Wooden spoon
Shallow plastic container with its cover
A double boiler
A salad bowl
A whip

1-fizz
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a small pan and let soften about 5 minutes. Put the pan over low heat and stir with a wooden spoon until the gelatin has dissolved. Stir in the sugar and remove from the heat. Then stir in the Champagne. Pour into the shallow container. Cover and refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours, until the gelatin has solidified. With a fork, scramble the gelatin in small pieces.

2-sabayon
In a bowl, mix the yolks and the sugar. Add the sweet wine. Put water in the lower part of the double boiler and set over the stove at medium heat. Insert the bowl on the top part of the double boiler and beat the batter into a cream. It takes about 30 minutes of alternatively stirring the mixture and covering the double boiler to obtain a cream. The cream will thicken as it cools.

3-compote
Peel and cube the apple and pears. Pour the rose syrup in the pan. Bring to a boil over medium fire. Add the fruit and lower the fire. Cook for 5 minutes or until the fruit softens.

In a margarita glass, layer the fizz, the compote, the raspberries, blueberries and the sabayon. Reserve in the refrigerator until ready to serve. There is enough to serve 6 people, as the dessert is even tastier the next day or the day after as the aroma develops.