Happy Anniversary

Cheese plate
Tuna with a caper and anchovy sauce
Chocolate-caramel tartlets

The Cheese Plate
St. Andre – a rich buttery soft cheese
Humboldt Fog – a semi-soft ripened goat cheese
Grafton Village – a 2 year old cheddar
Mimolette – a French cow’s milk cheese, hard and sharp
Buttermilk Blue – a Wisconsin blue cheese
A duck and pork liver pâté with truffles.
Sliced baby dill pickles.

Caper topping
1/8 cup capers, drained
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
1 tablespoon shallot, minced

Tuna
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Two 6-ounce, 3/4-inch-thick tuna steaks

Sauce
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cut into 2 pieces

Salad
2 cups packed baby arugula
Olive oil

Process
In a bowl, mix the capers with the oregano, shallot and 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

In a skillet, heat the oil until shimmering. Season the steaks with salt and pepper; add to the skillet and cook over high heat, turning once, until browned and medium-rare, about 4 minutes. Transfer the steaks to a warm platter.

Add the anchovies to the skillet and cook over moderate heat, mashing with a fork until dissolved, about 1 minute. Add the wine and boil until reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and swirl in the butter, 1 piece at a time, until blended and smooth. Season the red wine sauce with salt and pepper.

In a medium bowl, drizzle the arugula with olive oil and season with salt.

Mound the arugula alongside the tuna.
Pour the red wine sauce around the tuna steaks, top them with the caper mixture and serve.

Makes about 10 tartlets
(About 4 modest servings)

Chocolate Dough

2 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 small egg, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, natural or Dutch-process

Caramel Filling

2 ounces soft, salted butter caramels (I used DeBrand. Hey, it’s our anniversary!)
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream

Ganache

2 1/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
flaky sea salt

Process

To make the tartlet dough, beat the butter and the sugar just until smooth. Add the egg, salt, and vanilla, and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour and cocoa powder, then mix it into the creamed butter.

Butter the indentations of a mini-muffin tin. Pinch off pieces of dough and roll each into a 3/4-inch ball. As you work, put the dough balls in the indentations of the muffin tins. Take your thumb and press the dough down in the center of each indentation, then use your thumb to press the dough up the sides. (If the dough is sticky, dampen your thumb very lightly with water or oil.) Freeze the pan of dough for 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

Bake the tartlet shells for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough appears dry and cooked. Remove from oven and use the handle of a wooden spoon to widen and smooth the inside of the little tartlet shells, pressing the dough that’s puffed up somewhat firmly against the sides. Let cool completely, then remove the tartlet shells from the muffin tins – the tip of a paring knife might be needed to help aid them out – and set them on a wire cooling rack.

Make the caramel filling by warming the cream with the caramels in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring, until the caramels are melted and the mixture is smooth. Divide the caramel into each of the tartlet shells.

Make the chocolate ganache by heating the cream in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a minute, then whisk the chocolate into the cream until the mixture is smooth.

Top each tartlet with some of the ganache and take a butter knife or small metal spatula and swipe off the excess.

Sprinkle each tartlet with a few grains of sea salt.