Achy breaky heart

Start Valentine’s Day with a shot of romance, says Rachel Allen, whose recipes this week include heart-shaped eggs in toast for brunch, and a deliciously decadent cocktail that’s perfect at any time of year

Some 1,700 years ago, in Ancient Rome, there was a law that prohibited marriage between young people. The Emperor Claudius II reckoned that unmarried soldiers fought better than married soldiers, because those married might be afraid of what might happen to them, or their wives and children, if they were killed while fighting.

A Roman priest with the name Valentine allegedly secretly married young couples, but he was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured, and, so the story goes, wrote to his beloved, signing off with, “from your Valentine” before being decapitated. The saint’s relics are in Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin.

If you’re a romantic, like St Valentine himself, then perhaps you’ll fancy whipping up a heart-shaped egg in toast, right, for a nice Valentine’s brunch. It’s delicious served with sauteed mushrooms in truffle oil, far right. For a sweet addition, how about some sweet iced lemon hearts, also far right?

If, however, the thought of cutting hearts out of bread or cookie dough is just too much for the cynic in you, then can I please introduce you to the fantastically named Bitter and Twisted cocktail, right. It has nuances of a Negroni, but with the addition of Fernet Branca, it’s delightfully bitter in flavour with twists of orange — this is my kind of cocktail, whether it’s Valentine’s Day or not.

“Valentine allegedly secretly married young couples but he was eventually caught, imprisoned and tortured”