What to cook on February 14

A winter feast for two is a great occasion to remember the story of your love and express gratitude to each other. During a romantic holiday, you want to share the most intimate and do it not only with words. You can tell how you feel by choosing a special menu and table decoration. Healthy Food Near Me shares recipes for festive dishes that are perfect for Valentine’s Day.

mushroom salad

A delicious salad is a great way to start a romantic dinner. A warm dish perfectly reveals the taste of mushrooms.

It is better to use different mushrooms – champignons, oyster mushrooms, shiitake, porcini – fresh or frozen. Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the mushrooms until golden brown. Finely chop the garlic, squeeze the lemon juice, add soy sauce and olive oil. Mix and let it brew. Add dressing to slightly cooled mushrooms. Decorate the finished salad with arugula, chives and sesame seeds.

Fondue with wine

The most “sensual” dish imaginable comes from Switzerland. Fondue can turn Valentine’s Day into a real love holiday

It is better to use classic alpine cheeses. Pour the wine into a saucepan with a non-stick coating and thick walls, put it on the fire and heat it up. While stirring, add the cheese, and when it warms up and turns into a single sticky mass, pour in more wine. If the dish turned out to be liquid, put more cheese. We will string pieces of dried bread on long forks, dip them in fondue and enjoy the taste of delicate cheese and the aroma of wine.

Non-alcoholic fondue

For Swiss fondue without alcohol, use apple juice or non-alcoholic wine. If you want to cook a more satisfying meal, use meat or vegetable broth as a basis.

We will prepare non-alcoholic fondue in the same way as classic, only add half a clove of grated garlic, a little lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to the mixture. The sour-spicy notes stabilize the fondue and balance its taste.

Chicken satsivi

A delicious Georgian dish of chicken or turkey with spices and walnut filling has an amazing taste. Satsivi is convenient to make in advance and serve chilled.

Put the chicken with the tail cut out in a saucepan, fill it with water, add one onion and cook for 40-50 minutes, removing the foam. Take out the cooked chicken and strain the broth. Separate the meat from the bones, skin and break it into small pieces with your hands. After that, we will prepare the bage nut sauce. Cut the onion and lower it until soft in oil. Pour the broth into a blender, add nuts, garlic, spices and beat until smooth.

Put the chicken in the resulting bage sauce, bring to a boil, let the satsivi brew for 3-4 hours at room temperature.

Eggplants in Georgian

The national Georgian appetizer will not leave indifferent your chosen one, whom you will invite to a romantic dinner on February 14

Peel the eggplants and cut them into 0,5 cm thick plates. Sprinkle lightly with salt, let stand for 20-30 minutes, and then fry in oil on both sides. Place on paper towel to drain excess grease.

For the filling, fry the chopped onion in a pan. Grind the nuts in a blender, peel the garlic, pass through a press, and finely chop the greens. In a bowl, combine nuts, onions, herbs and garlic. Add suneli hops, vinegar, salt and pepper. If the filling is too thick, add some water.

Put the stuffing on the eggplant and wrap it in rolls. The dish can be garnished with pomegranate seeds.

Persimmon dessert with yogurt

A sweet and spiced frozen fruit treat with a delicate texture and excellent taste.

Mix and rub with your hands oatmeal, almonds, spices, butter and honey. Put the mass on a baking sheet covered with paper and bake for 15-20 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. The mixture should simmer, but not burn. To do this, you need to mix it several times. Cut candied fruits into large pieces. We shift the flakes with almonds into a dry container, add candied fruits. While the granola is cooling, cut the persimmon into pieces. At the bottom of two glasses, put a tablespoon of granola, a layer of yogurt and pieces of persimmon. Let’s put more granola, yogurt and persimmon. Add the last layer of granola on top and pour over honey.

Peaches with raspberries

If you and your half have a sweet tooth, enjoy this dessert.

Cut the peaches in half and remove the pits. Prepare sugar syrup from one and a half glasses of water and sugar, boil the peaches in it for 3-4 minutes. Without removing from the syrup, cool the peaches for an hour. For the filling, sprinkle the washed raspberries with powdered sugar so that the berries give juice. We spread the raspberries in bowls, lay out the halves of the peach, and ice cream on top. Decorate the dessert with almond flakes and mint leaves.

Homemade marshmallow

There is never too much sweetness on Valentine’s Day, so let’s prepare another dessert. The taste of homemade marshmallows is incomparable with the store

Peel the apples from the skin and core, cut them into pieces. Put on parchment, put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Cool the finished apples, grind through a sieve, heat them together with sugar and flavor with vanilla. Then we heat the berry juice, mix with agar-agar and leave for 15-20 minutes. We put the invert syrup on the fire and heat it to 110 degrees so that it turns out to be viscous, but does not darken. Beat fruit puree with egg white to make a fluffy white mass. Take the syrup off the heat and wait for it to stop bubbling. Then we introduce the syrup into the egg-white mass and beat for 10 minutes. Using a pastry bag, squeeze the mass onto a baking sheet covered with parchment, and wait until the marshmallows harden. Mix powdered sugar with starch, sprinkle marshmallows with the resulting mixture, including from below.

Cafe in Irish

The divine invigorating drink, which contains whiskey, is loved not only by the Irish, but all over the world. Irish coffee is drunk not through a straw, but through a cap of whipped cream.

Let’s make a syrup of water and sugar, and cool it. Let’s prepare coffee, choosing a fortress to your taste. Pour syrup, whiskey and hot coffee into two glass goblets. Whip the chilled cream with a blender and carefully put it on coffee.

Tea and cream mousse

A light sweet dish with a delicate texture can become a real decoration of the festive table.

Put tea and broken cinnamon in a bowl, cut the zest from the lemon and add to the tea. Pour boiling water over, cover with a lid and let it brew for 15 minutes. Strain the tea, and then divide it into two equal parts. Pour granulated sugar into one, and add gelatin to the other and leave for 10 minutes to swell. Put the yolks in a saucepan, pour in the cream and tea with sugar. We put on fire, heat, stirring, but we will not boil. When the mass begins to thicken, remove it from the fire. Dissolve the soaked gelatin in a water bath and add to the saucepan. Pour the finished mass into glasses, put in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Decorate the finished mousse with mint leaves.

Recipes from expert Tatyana Kulikova

Strawberries in chocolate glaze

It turns out like chocolate candy, only tastier.

Strawberries for this recipe should be cold so that the icing on them quickly hardens, so put the berries in the freezer for 10 minutes. While it is cooling, make the frosting. Add vegetable oil to the chocolate and melt it in the microwave in short bursts of 10 seconds, stirring occasionally, until you get a soft consistency.

Take out the chilled strawberries and dip into the glaze, sprinkle with hearts immediately if desired, place on parchment paper and refrigerate.

After 10 minutes, a delicious dessert will be ready. Chocolate icing is soft and melts easily in your hands, so you need to store such a dessert in the refrigerator.

Chocolate fondant

Delicate, French, rich chocolate cake with a liquid center, this is one of the most romantic and popular desserts on February 14th. In France, it has a second name “Flowing Heart”

You will need two small ceramic bowls or ceramic mugs.

The main thing is that the molds can withstand high temperatures and be of small volume. Brush the bowls with butter and dust lightly with flour, then skim off any excess. Place the molds in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to chill. Cut the chocolate into small pieces.

Put the butter and chopped chocolate in a bowl and melt in a water bath or in the microwave in short pulses of 10 seconds, stirring constantly. It is important not to overheat the chocolate so that it does not curdle. In another bowl, mix eggs with sugar, add vanilla extract or vanilla sugar and beat with a mixer until thick foam. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the eggs and beat with a mixer until all ingredients are combined. Add the sifted flour and stir with a spatula.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put the dough into the molds, filling them no more than 80% and bake for 8-9 minutes. Times may vary depending on the size of the molds. As soon as the fondant rises and hardens on the outside, but remains soft inside, you can take it out. Whether the center in the fondant turns out to be liquid or dense depends on the baking time, the longer you bake, the denser it will be.

Remove the fondants from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. You can serve in molds or take them out by carefully turning them onto plates. Dust the dessert with powdered sugar and place a scoop of ice cream on top. Serve immediately while the fondants are still hot.

Red Velvet no-bake cheesecake

Delicate and rich cheesecake “Red Velvet” will be the perfect treat for Valentine’s Day. This luscious dessert is inspired by the traditional Red Velvet cake, but since it’s no-bake, it’s much easier and faster to make.

You will need cake border tape or parchment, as well as a 16-18 cm round split ring. If you have an even larger form, take 1,5-2 servings.

It is worth starting by preparing the form in which you will pour the cheesecake. Put parchment on the bottom, and lay the sides with border tape, securing it with paper clips or clips. If there is no special tape, make it from parchment – cut a long strip to the entire height and diameter of the ring. Border tape and parchment are needed so that after hardening the cheesecake does not stick to the mold and can be easily removed.

For the base, in a blender or using a rolling pin, grind the chocolate chip cookies until fine crumbs form. Melt the butter and pour into the chocolate chips, mix well and put on the bottom of the prepared form. Pack with the bottom of a glass or a tablespoon and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the cheese layer, fill the gelatin with water and leave to swell for 20 minutes. Pour milk into a saucepan, add sugar and heat on the stove until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the stove and cool to 55-60 degrees. Place the mascarpone cheese, Greek yogurt and cocoa in a bowl and beat with a mixer until combined, 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Add the swollen gelatin to the cooled milk and stir until completely dissolved. It is important that the milk is not hot, otherwise the gelatin will lose its properties. Pour milk with gelatin in mascarpone, add 8 drops of red gel color and mix everything with a spatula until completely combined and silky texture. The gelatin will cause the cheesecake to set quickly, so immediately place it on top of the cookies and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until completely set.

Remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator, remove from the mold, carefully tear off the side tape from the sides. Garnish with sprinkles, white chocolate chips or fresh berries as desired and serve.