Xperiments

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Valentine's Day Delights

Getting ready to celebrate Valentine's Day with the love of your life?  Instead of eating out at some restaurant with the crowds, how about an intimate and cozy dinner for two lovebirds in your own nest?  Then let this Xperiment assist you to prepare a memorable & delightful meal for the occasion.

First, select a theme to focus your creativity towards.  What theme fits in with Valentine's Day and with love & romance?  From the many possibilities, I will go with Hearts.  Now let's think Hearts, and also use some fresh seasonal ingredients to prepare our Valentine feast . . .

What ingredients can be shaped into a heart?  Any ideas come to mind; or are you puzzled?  Well, here's a little trick to help you along - whatever is oval in shape can be easily turned into a heart.  I'll use a cucumber to illustrate.  The first step is to cut diagonally and make oval slices.  Now cut each slice into two at an angle as shown, and flip the right half over to form a heart shape.  Now wasn't that really easy?  I'm sure you now see that many ingredients you like can be formed into a heart easily.

Appetizer & Drinks

For starters, shall we do a seafood pasta?  Imagine this - a bed of your favorite pasta, topped with fresh seafood of your choice shaped into little hearts!

Mussels are in season, and when opened, the shell forms a heart like or butterfly like shape.  Select small to medium sized live mussels.  Clean the un-opened mussels to remove any sand or sediment, then boil them in water with a spoon of salt for several minutes.  When done, the shells will open up partially; if there are any that remain closed, discard them as they are not fresh.  Fish them out of the pot and set them aside for later use.

The second seafood I'll pick is shrimp, as two peeled shrimp with tails on will make a nice heart too.  Pick fresh medium sized shrimp.  Leave the shells on and give them a quick rinse.  Shrimp is best steamed, but you may boil them in a fresh pot of water with a bit of salt as well; do not over-cook.  Cooking shrimp with the shells on will help them retain a nice shape and texture.  Once done, set them aside with your mussels to cool.

Now choose your preferred pasta; I've selected Farfalle, or little bow ties.  Boil two appetizer sized servings of your pasta in water with a spoon of oil; if you had boiled your shrimp, you can use the same pot of water as this will add some shrimp flavor to your pasta.  Once cooked, drain and rinse.  Mix some olive oil with balsamic vinegar and toss into the pasta.

For the sauce, let's have something light and flavorful.  Juice half a lemon, chop up some fresh garlic, thinly slice some spring onions, and use a pair of scissors to cut sun dried tomatoes into short thin strips.  In a small pan, fry the chopped garlic with a liberal amount of olive oil and a dab of butter.  As the garlic sizzles, add some mixed herbs (get a pre-mixed pack from the market, or select from basil, marjoram, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme, etc.), drop in the sun dried tomato strips, and stir in the lemon juice.  Finally, sprinkle in the sliced spring onions, give it one last stir and the sauce is done.

Instead of two separate plates, use a single dinner plate so that you and your sweetheart can share this appetizer; or better yet - feed each other.  Place your pasta onto the plate and spread it into a large flat circle.  Take the mussels and fully open them, taking care not to break the hinges.  Select the shells that form the best looking hearts and set aside.  Remove the flesh from the other shells and place one each onto the empty half of your selected shells.  Peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on; place two shrimp facing each other to form a heart.  Now form a ring of hearts with the mussels and shrimp on top of your pasta base.  I managed to find some egg shaped cherry tomatoes at the market; I slice them into half lengthwise to from ovals, then use our trick to turn them into little red hearts.  Three cherry tomato hearts go right in the center of the dish.  Finally, spoon your sauce into the mussel shells and in the middle of your shrimp hearts; drizzle the rest of the sauce all around the pasta.  Your delightful Valentine Hearts Seafood Pasta  is ready!

To accompany this pretty dish, let's serve Champagne.  Since tangerines are in season, why not juice up the flavor and create a unique tasting drink?  Remove the skin from several tangerine wedges, lightly crush them and drop into chilled Champagne flutes; top up with your favorite Champagne for a refreshing tangy flavored twist to straight Champagne.  You may of course substitute tangerines with any other fruit (use a blender for fruits with less juice) to build your very own special flavored Champagne.

Light the candles, put on some romantic music or a romantic movie, serve up your appetizer, clink Champagne glasses  and toast with your sweetheart to the beginning of a blissful evening . . .

On to the . . . Main Course

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