Chuck Zumbrun

Tales from Skunk Hill

Valentine’s Day 2011

We often go over the top on meals for special occasions, but this year for Valentine’s we cooked a really nice meal that was extravagant in flavor, but not overwhelming in quantity or richness.

Starting out was bruschetta with beans and caviar.

Bruschetta

Just white beans on toasted bread with onion, egg, and caviar. In our case the caviar was salmon roe ($9 an ounce) and it was just dandy. It’d be good with smoked salmon, or a tiny slice of anchovy too.

Following that we had risotto with wild mushrooms. Being it’s February in Indiana, the wild mushrooms were dried porcini and dried morels.

Wild Mushroom Risotto

I was too anxious to eat it to get a good picture. It smelled so good! And tasted even better.

Finally was the grandly named “Scented Cherries with Marquis du Chocolat.” That was cherries cooked with a bit of ginger and sugar, served over what was essentially a chocolate cupcake. Overblown name aside, ginger and cherries and chocolate worked together great.

Chocolate Cupcake with Cherries

Valentine’s Day 2011. A very good day!

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