Neil Forbes’ romantic recipes for Valentine’s Day
Your chocolate fondant should be like your feelings on Valentine’s Day – warm and gooey. Neil Forbes puts love on a plate
Call me an old romantic but I like Valentine’s Day. I know we all go on about how commercial it is, and how the price of red roses goes through the roof, but for me it’s all about food. Any excuse to sit around a table and eat with loved ones is wonderful.
I will be climbing over the sackloads of Valentine’s cards to go to Cafe St Honoré to cook wonderful dishes for our guests, and later in the week I will share a few simple dishes with Mrs Forbes. No kids, they can be farmed off to grandma’s.
I really enjoy sharing platters of food. It makes you more engaged with the other person and the food you eat. After post-christmas austerity and Dry January, I’m recommending that you splash out on shellfish and a bottle of fizz. Remember to support our seafood industry and choose sustainable fish from a reputable supplier. Buy British beef and ask if it is grass fed or organic.
Valentine’s is not just for young sweethearts, it’s for people of all ages and should be celebrated, so have a gooey chocolate pudding for afters and save some champagne to have alongside it.
Seafood platter
Trust your fishmonger. Ask for creelcaught prawns and lobsters, and only buy hand-dived scallops. I have used mussels, scallops and other pieces of fresh fish but tomorrow the choice may be different so be flexible. Serve with a massive lemon; roasted in the pan cut side down helps make it even juicier. Have a salad on the side to break up the richness of the fish and a garlicky butter with parsley will get the flavours combined. Don’t bother with cutlery. Get messy and enjoy.
Serves two 1 handful of mussels, beards removed 2 scallops, hand-dived and out of the shell 1 squid, prepped, scored and cut into strips 1 fillet of grey mullet a few radicchio leaves a handful of watercress half a lemon good salt and pepper 1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil a knob of butter a clove of garlic, smashed 1 tbsp curly parsley, chopped
1 Find your biggest frying pan, and get it hot on the hob. Add the rapeseed oil. Season the fish and shellfish and add to the pan. Keep an eye on the temperature as you don’t want the pan to get too hot. And be aware that each fish will have different cooking times. The mullet will take a little longer to cook than the scallops for example.
2 Season the fish and shellfish again in the pan and add the smashed garlic clove, the parsley and the butter then cover the pan with a lid (if you have one) so the mussels can open up, and the squid should start to curl up. Add some lemon juice and season again. Turn the scallops and fish as required, the whole process should only take 3 to 4 minutes. Try not to overcook the fish.
3 Once ready, remove the fish from the pan and place onto a warm platter. If you have the scallop shells, use them to display your scallops. Add the lemon to the pan cut-side down and cook until it starts to blacken then add to your platter. Enjoy with a salad and a glass of fizz.
Fillet of beef and dauphinoise potatoes
Fillet is so expensive but it is such a tender and wonderful cut of meat when cooked rare that it is a great treat. Rich, creamy and garlicky, dauphinoise is a classic partner. Horseradish adds a vibrant sharp mustardy hit. Season before, during and after when frying your steak. Take your time and get some lovely colour on the outside of the steak in the pan. A knob of butter helps.
Serves two 250g fillet steak, preferably grassfed and organic 4 medium-sized potatoes, peeled 3 cloves of garlic a few sprigs of thyme 250ml double cream good salt and pepper a handful of kale a few batons of carrots a few roasted, peeled shallots 1 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil a dollop of creamed horseradish a few knobs of butter 1 Heat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4. 2 Pour the cream into a small pot and add the garlic and 3 sprigs of thyme. Season and bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 to 15 minutes making sure not to boil over the cream. Reduce by about a third until thick, then pass through a sieve into a clean bowl.
3 Slice the potatoes very thinly with a mandolin, or by hand with a sharp knife, and layer them up with the infused cream in an oven-proof dish. Season every second layer, and arrange the top layer in a swirl and top with a couple of knobs of butter. Bake in the oven until the potatoes are soft, the top layer is golden and the cream bubbling over the edge of the dish. This should take around 30 minutes to an hour depending on how thinly the potatoes are sliced.
4 Meanwhile, place a frying pan on the hob and get it rather hot. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Place the oil in the pan and fry the steak all over, still at quite a high heat. Add a knob of butter to help it turn golden brown. Keep turning and browning then place the whole pan in the oven with the shallots and carrot batons, and roast with a few sprigs of thyme.
5 The longer it is in the oven, the more well done it will be. I suggest 4-5 minutes at 180C/gas Mark 4. And remember to let it rest for at least 10 minutes when removed from the oven.
6 While it’s resting, fry some kale in the beef pan with some butter.
7 To serve, season the beef and place it on a board alongside the potato dish and the carrots, shallots and kale. Once arranged, add another knob of butter on top of the steak, and garnish with the thyme it was cooked with. Serve with a huge dollop of creamed horseradish. Make some by grating fresh horseradish into some cream and crème fraîche, but from a jar is also fine.
Warm chocolate fondant
It has to be a classic gooey chocolate pudding for Valentine’s. Cut through the richness with a big dollop of Katy Rodger’s crème fraîche. To guarantee a soft, liquid centre place a few chocolate buttons or a cube of chocolate into the centre of the mix you are using. I use a dariole mould – a metal bowl the size of a tea cup. I love Montezuma chocolate; use your favourite, but use dark. To add extra texture I’ve added a sprinkle of praline. Makes two large or four small fondants 2 eggs 2 egg yolks 1 tbsp plain flour 100g dark chocolate, plus a few
extra buttons for the centre 100g unsalted butter, diced 140g caster sugar a little melted butter for brushing a little cocoa powder for dusting a dollop of crème fraîche a small handful of hazelnuts a sprinkle of icing sugar 1 Heat the oven to 180C/gas Mark 4. 2 Begin by making the praline. Add 75g of caster sugar to a pan and melt gently, allowing it to become dark and caramel in colour. This should take 3 to 5 minutes. Then stir in the hazelnuts and pour onto an oiled, clean surface like a non-stick, heatresistant mat or a marble work surface. Once cooled, blitz in a food processor or crush with a rolling pin.
3 Next, prepare 2 large, or 4 small, dariole moulds by brushing with the melted butter then dust with a little cocoa powder. Knock any excess powder out.
4 Whisk the eggs, yolks and flour in a bowl and set to one side.
5 Place the chocolate, butter and 65g of sugar in a bowl over a pan of boiling water and melt gently whilst whisking to combine. When it reaches room temperature, add the egg and flour mix to the chocolate mix. This is a basic fondant recipe.
6 Spoon the mixture into the moulds until they are half full, then add the buttons, then fill the moulds to the top. If there’s any mix left over, it will keep in the fridge for another day.
7 Bake the fondants in the oven for 9 to 11 minutes, and then let them sit for a minute outside the oven before carefully turning them out onto warm plates. Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with a dollop of crème fraîche topped with praline.