One of the reasons I love Valentine’s Day is because everyone loves showing off their “best meal ever.” Certainly I’m no different and I can guarantee you our dinner and dessert.. and drinks.. were all fabulous! We always make an effort to come up with a menu together, Nathan takes over the protein, we work together on the sides, and I’m in charge of dessert. It’s my favorite. And when everything comes out perfectly, it’s that much better!
I got dressed up.. right down to the shoes 😉
Nice angle, yes? Haha
Appetizer
We cheers-ed to our 10th Valentine’s Day together with Lagranja sparkles.
Don’t be fooled by the small pour. We smashed that bottle!
I love their red wines and figured I couldn’t go wrong trying this. We also demolished an awesomely tasty plate.
Truffle gouda, grapes, balsamic jam from Italy, smoked almonds, & nut thins.
The chunks of truffle in the cheese took us right back to Italy. That cheese is really something special!
Entree
To make the crust, we threw pistachios, rosemary, and garlic into the food processor. I think we both could have polished off a plate of the crust by itself. That’s always a good sign!
We hit the pan.
The flip. Check out that crust!
The final product! Pistachio-crusted lamb with cherry port sauce, Moroccan wheat berry salad, and roasted carrots & butternut squash.
The flavors of each pieces blended so well. I love the bite that the wheat berries have, the carrots and squash were roasted just right, and the lamb. Ooooh the lamb. Nathan couldn’t have cooked it more perfectly. It was medium rare and the crust had such a nice crunch. The cherry port sauce was flavorful and not sweet at all. I could have eaten more!
Dessert
More to drink? Beer goes well with dessert, right?
One of our faves.
What wouldn’t go with bourbon banana cheesecake?
Bourbon banana cheesecake with bourbon coconut cream, cinnamon,
and dark chocolate shavings.
I thought that amount of chocolate looked nice for my picture but I immediately added more before I actually sat down to eat it. It was so creamy and I’m happy to report that it’s actually not so bad for you either! I’ll be sharing the recipe this week 😉
My valentine.
After just a few drinks [ha!] and with full bellies, we cozied up on the couch to watch the first episode of House of Cards [holy moly!] I hope you had as great of a day as we did. Perfect way to kick off the weekend!
Food for Thought
What were your plans for Valentine’s Day?
Do you stay in or go out to celebrate?
Barr & Table 