Valentine’s Day – Ahhhh yes…the Hallmark holiday to end all Hallmark holidays. There are few days in the year which can elicit the same response from people as Valentine’s Day. Either you are a devoted lover of the Valentine and go gaga for all of the hearts and chocolates or you are a staunch hater of this day for “lovers.” Personally, I am more ambivalent, leaning slightly toward the “dislike” end of the spectrum. I just tend to feel that you shouldn’t single out one day of the year to tell someone how much you love them, but that it should be every day. (Yeah, yeah – I’m a total cheeseball, but we knew this already…) That being said, I truly love ANY excuse to make a special meal and drink bubbly and excellent wine. Candles and flowers are a bonus at any time of year, so that means I always celebrate this commercial holiday even though I disagree with the premise. I have two hard and fast rules for Valentine’s Day though: 1) No presents and 2) Rob and I NEVER go out to dinner. I would much rather stay home with my dear husband and listen to beautiful music, eat a well prepared meal, drink copious amounts of excellent wine, and watch a romantic movie together (preferably one of the classics). This year was no exception.
For some reason, I got it in my head that we NEEDED to steam a live lobster. (I know, I know – PETA is going to come barreling into my kitchen at any moment with spray paint and picketing signs.) Well, I can tell you that finding an actual live lobster is not so easy in California during the month of February. After numerous phone calls to local supermarkets and butchers I finally found success at the Asian food market (99 Ranch Market). For those of you who have never been to an Asian market before, it is truly an experience for all of the senses. I saw fruits that I have never heard of before that had the most interestingly textured skin – like spikey, unripe grapefruits; smelled a mix of succulent pre-prepared cooked foods like roasted duck and steamed dumplings that mingled with the scents wafting over from nearby raw fish section. It was there at the fishmonger display where we located the tank of some of the largest lobsters I have ever seen. For real. I mean – these guys were BEASTS!
We originally planned on getting two, but at 2.5 pounds each with a price tag of $17 a pound, our budget was already stretched thin with just one of those suckers. After procuring Larry the Lobster at check-out, we headed on home vowing to return to 99 Ranch Market for further exploration at a later date.
Soooooooooooooo – with only one lobster and a romantic candlelit dinner for a hungry hubby on the horizon, I knew I needed to find something else to round out the meal. I decided to go the whole traditional (uninspired) route and picked up some filet mignon and broccolini for the rest of the main course. It was then that I temporarily lost touch with reality. I insanely decided out of the blue that I was going to make chocolate soufflé for dessert. “Dana, have you ever made a soufflé before?” one might ask. Why no, in fact, I hadn’t. Yeah, yeah, I know – it was kind of a big night to randomly decide to whip up one of the most intimidating culinary dishes in the history of baking/cooking. I have never claimed to be sane…
Thankfully, Larry the Lobster turned out to be delicious, but I’ll be honest – he wasn’t worth the $45 price tag… The filet mignon was yummy (it always is).
As for the soufflé… Well, all I can say is that it was fine. I was shocked that it didn’t collapse (there is no sadder dish than a deflated soufflé), but I did make a crucial mistake during the cooking process – I failed to use the appropriate size ramekins, thus resulting in an undercooked dessert. Baking is not my strong suit in the kitchen, so I knew there was no way I would ever be able to adjust the recipe down to two servings instead of six. Soufflés are so finicky to begin with and leftovers would have been a total waste of sad sunken chocolate; so instead of portioning it out into 6 smaller servings, I just put it into two larger ones. Word to the wise – Don’t do that!
My cooking time was extended from the expected, normal time of 18 minutes out to approximately a half an hour and it STILL WASN’T READY! I finally gave up and we just dug into one of the chocolate mounds. The sides of the soufflé were fluffy, airy bites of silky chocolate and we just ignored the semi-molten center that refused to bake. It was barely noticeable when you poured on some homemade caramel sauce anyway…
At least the wine was fantastic and the movie was great – you can’t go wrong with Audrey Hepburn! Happy Valentine’s Day everyone.
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