Yes, I do realize that we're in mid-April and I'm now JUST getting to the Valentine's Dinner I made for Marshall and I in mid-February. I actually have recipes from meals and dishes I made toward the end of December of last year sitting in my "Food Blog" photo folder on my hard-drive. We'll see just how quickly I'm able to catch up. However, lately I've just been randomly selecting meals from my photos and going from there. I've actually wanted to post the meal I made for Valentine's Day for a while now, but honestly at this point that's not saying a whole lot...
Anyway!
I've come to realize that the medium I have become most comfortable with for expressing my love (not to mention happiness, frustration, and all the other emotions of the spectrum) is food. I love the food, of course, but being able to make a delicious meal and cook it for the people I love is something that's become quite apparent recently. For Valentine's Day this year, I decided to do something a little special for Marshall (and me, of course). Getting some slight inspiration from the episode of
Friends where it shows what might've happened if Monica remained fat (and Ross never got divorced, Rachel married Barry, and so on), I decided to make an entire meal Marshall and I could eat with our hands. If you know
Friends as well as I do, you'll know the reference. If not, no worries; just be content that I am a bigger nerd than you are. I also wanted to cook something that I had never made before. After some thinking and some searching through
Epicurious.com, I came up with the following menu:
- Sautéed Quail with Paprika Sauce
- Moroccan-Spiced Vegetables
- Moroccan Couscous, and
- [Homemade] Cardamom Ice Cream
The ice cream, of course, was to be eaten with spoons, otherwise that would've been a much bigger mess than I wanted to clean up. I found the quail and vegetables as a recipe duo and only later found the Moroccan couscous recipe on Food Network's website (thank you,
Ina Garten!).
Since Valentine's Day fell on a Monday and I didn't want to have to fight with the hordes of couples going out to dinner that night, I offered to make dinner the night before. We would eat in, have a good home-cooked meal, and just stay relaxed. On that Saturday, I went ahead and made the base for the Cardamom Ice Cream. Sitting in the fridge overnight allowed the flavors to meld and really infuse the cream. For some reason, I believe Marshall was out during the day on Sunday, so I had time to focus on preparing the meal. The quail was the only worrisome part of the meal, as I had never cooked with it or even bought it from the store. I found some at my favorite bankrupt Italian market, Cosentino's, and they turned out to be just fine. They had already been cleaned and had their backs removed, which made my job a WHOLE lot easier.
The meal, and the night as a whole, was perfect. I enjoyed eating with my hands, even though I don't think Marshall was as keen on the experience as I was. The couscous was a delicious last-minute choice to round out the meal. I loved the bright and smoky paprika sauce, which blended well with the vegetables and the couscous. The quail was delicious, too, and not as gamy as I thought it might be. I believe we almost forgot about the ice cream. It was beautifully creamy, silky, and spicy, without being super sweet. Definitely a perfect ending to our meal.
This is definitely a meal for a special occasion. I could totally see turning this into a themed event: a big group of friends over, lots of brightly-colored throw pillows and rugs on the floor, dimmed lighting, and everyone seated on the floor around a low table enjoying some delicious food and wine...
