Valentine's Day Dinner

Earlier in the week, when I was stressed out and not even thinking about cooking on Saturday for Valentine's Day, LBK asked me if he could cook me dinner on Saturday. I was both touched and surprised, and said yes quickly on condition that I could make the dessert. Since he had Friday off, he planned to shop Friday and cook on Saturday.

"How about duck?" he asked.
Hmm. I don't know if I like duck, I thought. "Sure. Duck it is."

Later Friday, after much trekking around town and swearing, with no duck to be found, the plan changed to chicken. And it. was. delicious. dreamy. delightful.

We started with spinach salad with walnuts, dried cranberries, and feta with a honey balsamic vinaigrette.



Then Roasted Chicken with shallots and parsnips.


I made bread dough earlier in the week using the 5 minute artisan bread recipe that's running around the Internet. I baked some off earlier in the day and made a second loaf for dinner. It's pretty damn good, but my shaping needs some work.


It was a meal worthy of our highest compliment - restaurant quality. A dish we would gladly pay top dollar for and order again and again. A dish that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I'm sad to say my pots de creme did not set up. I whipped up some individual sized yogurt pies toppped with strawberries. It's kind of a no-bake cheesecake kind of thing. I usually make it in the summer. It's good, but you really need chocolate on Valentine's Day.