Seasonal Chef Gets Romantic For Valentine's Day

Here’s a romantic menu to make for your valentine this year.

Begin the evening with sparkling wine. Or better yet, champagne, a classic aphrodisiac. You’ve three choices that work well to serve with champagne: a triple-crème St. Andre cheese with crackers, raw oysters on the half shell, or caviar on homemade toast points.

For dinner, these tender tournedos of beef are easy to prepare. And since igniting the cognac is a dramatic way to catch one’s attention, invite your lover into the kitchen to watch you perform.

Serve homemade potato chips (baked in the oven) and haricots verts to complete the main course.

For dessert? Chocolate, there’s no aphrodisiac like chocolate. These little chocolate cakes are prepared early in the day, kept in the refrigerator and then slipped into the oven as you sit down to dinner.

Be sure to set the timer so you don’t forget to take them out of the oven.

If the cakes seem too daunting, simply serve fresh strawberries with the hot chocolate sauce. Dip them into the sauce and feed them to one another. Happy Valentine’s Day and Bon appétit!

Tournedos Of Beef
With Oyster Mushroom/Cognac Sauce

(Serves 2)

2 tournedos (approximately 1½-inch-thick slices filet of beef, trimmed and tied)

Freshly ground black pepper

About 1 teaspoon tarragon

Coarse sea salt for skillet

For the sauce:

About 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, plus extra for swirling in at the last minute

1 large shallot, minced

4 ounces oyster mushrooms, washed and separated, stems trimmed

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

About 2 tablespoons Courvoisier (brandy)

To prepare:

Season the tournedos with black pepper and tarragon and set aside for up to 20 minutes.

Scatter salt on the bottom of a heavy skillet.

Heat over high heat until the salt “pops.”

Holding the steaks with tongs or your hand, brown the edges of the tournedos, turning them until all the edges are browned (about 30 to 40 seconds on each edge)

Sear one side until brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Sear the other side until brown, about 2 to 3 minutes

Total cooking time is about 4 to 5 minutes for medium rare.

Transfer the tournedos to dinner plates and keep warm.

In the same skillet, wipe out excess salt and add the butter.

Cook butter over moderately high heat.

When the foam subsides, add shallot and sauté until aromatic, about 1 minute.

Add mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté until they begin to give up their juices.

Add Courvoisier and ignite.

When the flames subside, continue sautéing about 2 minutes.

Swirl in a little butter to finish the sauce.

Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Spoon the mushrooms on the side of the tournedos and serve at once.

Decadent Warm
Chocolate Cakes

(Makes 6 small cakes)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into pieces

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

5 large eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup sifted flour

To prepare the cakes:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Butter and flour 6 ramekins.

Set the ramekins on a jelly-roll pan.

Melt the chocolate in a stainless mixing bowl set over simmering water.

Remove the bowl from the heat.

Whisk the butter into the chocolate bit-by-bit and set the mixture aside.

Working in an electric mixer bowl fitted with the wire whisk, beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks.

Transfer to another bowl and set aside.

Add egg yolks to the mixer bowl and beat them until frothy.

Slowly add sugar and continue beating until the mixture is thick and lemon-colored, about 4 minutes.

Slowly mix in the flour.

Fold the egg yolk mixture into the cooled chocolate.

Quickly fold the egg whites into the chocolate batter.

Blend until there are no white streaks.

Spoon the batter into the prepared ramekins.

Bake for exactly 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and immediately cover the entire tray of cakes with aluminum foil.

Let the cakes steam for 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove the foil.

Turn the cakes out onto dessert plates and serve with hot chocolate sauce.

Top with crème fraîche.

For warm chocolate sauce:

8 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, broken into pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To prepare:

Place the chocolate in a metal or heat-proof bowl.

Bring the cream and butter to a simmer in a saucepan over moderate high heat.

Remove from heat and immediately pour the hot cream over the chocolate.

Let stand about 3 minutes.

Whisk briskly until smooth.

Transfer to a pitcher and serve with the cake.

Can be made ahead, stored in a glass jar and refrigerated.

To reheat, set the glass jar in a saucepan of simmering water until melted.

Whisk to blend and serve at once.

For crème fraîche:

Whisk together 1 cup of sour cream with 1 cup of heavy cream.

Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 6 hours.

Transfer the crème fraîche to a clean glass jar and refrigerate until serving time.

Crème fraîche can be made ahead of time and will keep in the refrigerator up to 2 weeks.