A Valentine's Day Feast - Tuesday Feb 14th 2012

Oh what a weekend for delicious food this has been. And today has added yet another ooooph meal to the last few days.

A full three courses again, with wine to match this time. A truly stupendous Valentine's Feast.

Starter of  Beetroot and Apple Carpaccio Salad, with Comte cheese in Womersley Lemon Basil Bay and Juniper Vinegar Dressing

Carol Ford from Growing Direct sent me a link to a fabulous salad on Westlands Nurseries Blog , a derivation of a Jamie Oliver salad, and this is now re-derivated to form this rather tasty starter. (note the highly romantic hearts of beetroot...)

Very simple, I used a pack of Steve's Leaves Baby Watercress and Leaves  - I love Steve's mixes of tiny leaves, very easy to make a salad. Open packet, serve!  Also this had beetroot and apple slices, cut very thinly on a mandoline, (quite hard to get them thin enough by hand), and diced Comte cheese, dressed in Lemon fruit vinegar from Womersley and Cold Pressed Rape Seed Oil from Crush Foods.

Main course - Roast Rack of Lamb with Sweetheart & Cavolo Nero Cabbage, Green beans and Romano Potatoes

Delicious rack of lamb, french trimmed and looking very beautiful before it was cut up. It had a good long rest (25 mins) so the meat was evenly pink and so very tender.

I served it all up, but it really was too big a portion, we both left half of the meat, so cold cutlets for nibbling on are in the fridge now.

Dessert of Fresh Mango with Lemon Syllabub and Lime Zest


An old favourite this, Bob doesn't like very creamy, milky desserts, but the brandy, sherry and lemon juice cut the richness and this is always a lovely light end to a fairly heavy meal.

Mangoes are always delicious, these are Kent variety, which I like as it is not at all fibrous. Simply cut into small dice and tossed in some sherry and lime juice, topped with the syllabub and lime zest.

A splendid meal, and very much enjoyed by both of us.. but it will be back to egg and chips tomorrow I think!