Valentine's Day Recap

The truffles were a hit at work - I'm almost a little sad though that there weren't any left for me to bring home. Probably better that way though I suppose! I made these using a recipe from The Pioneer Woman (where else? I really need to start finding recipes from other sources) - I ran out of chocolate to coat the second half of truffles in so I ended up just rolling those in cocoa powder (also delicious), but then I ran out of cocoa powder so the last few were just rolled in sugar... I think the moral of the story is I should really be better prepared for candy making!

Anyway, I told you I'd share more about the (pre)Valentine's Day dinner I made for Jonathan yesterday. I'll get this part out of the way right now - I also got the recipe for the pasta I made from The Pioneer Woman... I told you, I really need to start looking for recipes elsewhere (but I can't help it - they're just so good)! You can find the recipe I used here - I used Parmesan, Fontina, Fromage Blanc, and Smoked Gouda as my four cheeses. To be honest I was a little stressed about picking four different cheeses that were supposed to go together, but I think this turned out pretty delicious even if I did spend a good ten minutes staring at the cheese section in our grocery store. The Fromage Blanc is even produced (with LOVE) right here in Oregon - how cute is their package? I think a lot. I also really appreciate it when cheese makers tell me that they use microbial or bacterial rennet - thanks for making my cheese purchasing decisions a million times easier!

Sorry - I got distracted by the cheese. You may get used to it, that happens a lot...  I really love cheese. So because I'm cheesy (ha ha... I didn't even get the pun until after I wrote that) I made up menus to go along with dinner. I couldn't get a decent picture of the entire menu, but you get the idea. I think they were a hit.  ;)

To recap yesterday's post - dinner consisted of Tomato Bruschetta, Lemon Butter Asparagus, Four Cheese Pasta, and a Chocolate Hazelnut Torte with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Raspberry sauce (seriously drooling just thinking about the last part).

The Tomato Bruschetta was pretty good, although I think it would be a hundred times better in the summer with nice ripe tomatoes. For middle of the winter tomatoes though? Pretty delicious. The asparagus dish was great - the recipe I used was actually one for green beans, but asparagus are way better than green beans. Jonathan also thought they were more elegant, so bonus points there (yes!).

The pasta was tough to get a good picture of because I was running around trying to get everything else finished up and the whole "serve immediately" thing that shows up at the end of recipes always makes me really paranoid...  what happens if I can't serve it immediately!? Is it suddenly going to be terrible!? So then I run around like crazy trying to get it on the table RIGHT AWAY and don't always have time for nice photos.

And for the grand finale - dessert! This was seriously amazing (not to praise myself too much). I modified a recipe I found in a magazine (yay - from somewhere new!) for a Honey Almond Chocolate Torte. Again, I like hazelnuts better so I just went with those. I also had some Hazelnut syrup that is meant to go in coffee - I used a tiny bit of that for the filling along with the honey. It was just so good and so easy that I have to share the recipe with you!

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte
3 chocolate graham crackers (6 squares)
1 Tbs (or a little more) toasted hazelnuts
2 Tbs softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbs. honey
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a food processor, combine the chocolate graham crackers and hazelnuts until finely ground. Add in the butter and pulse until incorporated. Press into two small dessert dishes (or you could use a spring form pan). Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, combine the cream and honey (and this is where I added 1tsp of hazelnut syrup) in a glass measuring cup - whisk until incorporated. Microwave on high for one to two minutes until the mixture is simmering. Add the chocolate and let sit for one minute before stirring to combine. Pour the melted chocolate over the baked crusts and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (I took mine out of the refrigerator when we started dinner to allow them to soften up a bit, but I supposed you could eat them cold too!)

You should really think about trying these - they were so easy and so delicious! We only ate one of the two since they were so rich, plus with the ice cream and everything that's all we really needed. The best part about that? More dessert for tonight!

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-C