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My Go-To Dinner For Two! No sitter? No reservations? No problem!
Valentine’s Day is coming up and whether you are all about the day or you would just rather forget it- chances are you have someone in your life who might want to know how you feel about them. Give them a high 5, drop them a real hand written note OR cook them a meal. Nothing fancy, just a little something you can both enjoy over a bottle of wine and some good conversation.
Unspoken expectations kill romance…..So talk about what you want to do, what you can do, before Valentine’s Day!
I used the Tuttorosso line from Red Gold Tomatoes in today’s dip. I really like their crushed tomatoes with basil!
- 3 C of fire roasted tomato sauce (if you can only find diced tomatoes just puree them) or crushed tomatoes from Red Gold Tomatoes
- 1-2 tsp of red pepper flakes (depends on the heat you want)
- 4 oz of herbed goat cheese log (you can find this in the specialty cheese area of most stores)
- In a small baking dish add the tomato sauce and red pepper flakes. Top with the goat cheese sliced or crumbled.
- Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and melted, about 15 minutes.
- Serve with sliced baguette.
I paired a dry red blend from Mallow Run with this spicy tomato sauce with goat cheese.
Chardonel from Mallow Run was the star in this white wine sauteed beef. It’s an excellent choice of dry white wine to cook with AND drink! Note: I had a mishap on set with the sauce for my beef. It will not look this unappetizing when YOU make it! I promise ????
- ½ pound sirloin steak
- 1 TB all purpose flour
- 4 TB olive oil
- 2 TB butter
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1½ TB chopped fresh Rosemary
- 1 C dry white wine
- salt/pepper
- Thinly slice the beef.
- Toss in a bowl with the flour, salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the butter in a heavy skillet over medium high heat.
- Saute steak in 2 or 3 batches until no longer pink on the outside, about 2 minutes per batch, adding another tablespoon of oil if needed.
- Transfer to plate.
- Saute garlic and rosemary in the same pan in remaining oil over medium heat until golden, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add wine and salt and pepper (to taste) and boil, scraping up browned bits, until reduced by half. Return beef with juiced to the skillet and heat through.
Dessert doesn’t have to be big and fussy. After a nice meal don’t you just want just a bit of something sweet? Pair these simple dessert shooters with a local wine like Mallow Run‘s sparkling Signature or in today’s case: Blackberry Winter. This dessert wine is made entirely with blackberries grown about 20 minutes from the winery! These little pint-sized desserts are easy to assemble and drizzled in the chocolatey goodness of Best Boy & Co hot fudge. A little good goes a long way!
- 2 slices of pound cake
- 1 C diced strawberries
- ½ C hot fudge, I used Best Boy and Co Rich Hot Fudge
- 1 C fresh whipped cream
- Layer each item in your desired order in decorative juice sized glasses, shot sized glasses or in small bowls.
- Excellent served with a local dessert wine like Mallow Run Signature Traminette, Blackberry Winter or Crema Dolce from French Lick Winery.
The dessert shooters were paired with the silky sweetness of the Mallow Run Blackberry WInter. At 16.9% alcohol, this is a dessert wine meant to be sipped.
Best Boy & Co at BestBoyandCO.com is an award winning dessert and savory sauce artisan. Recently, their deli-mustards have won national and worldwide acclaim for taste and excellence. Best Boy & Co prides itself on using only the best ingredients and they also donate all profits to charity. Really. It is gourmet for the greater good!
