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  • Quick Roast Chicken
  • The Cook
  • Crispy 'taters
  • The Cheat
  • Rosy Champagne Cocktails
  • The Wife
  • Molten Chocolate Cake
  • The Lover

  • Love in a Lousy Economy
    for the cook, the cheat, the wife and the lover!
    February 10th 2009

    Greetings!

    Forget the lobster.

    Skip the truffles.

    This is a year when a single rose says more than a dozen.

    And a home cooked dinner offers more than just comfort, nourishment and shelter.

    Cooking is magic. The spell we cast when we cook for another person is a potent one.

    The meals we cook for our loved ones nourish the feelings of nostalgia and affection long after they've thrilled the senses.

    Whether you are adding the veneer of romance or just gathering loved ones, this Valentine's Day do something perfectly simple;

    Cook dinner.

    It will be simply perfect.



    Quick Roast Chicken
    Every romance needs a little schmaltz

    There was a woman in Australia who claimed to have the 'Marry Me Roast Chicken' recipe.

    I get it.

    Most people arriving at your door (even a few vegans) are going to respond to arriving at your door and smelling a chicken roasting away in the oven.

    A meal like this is easy to cook, relatively inexpensive and with a little effort at ambiance (candles? check. music? check. flowers? their job), it is going to aim cupid's arrow at the Achilles heel of even the hardest heart.

    'Can you nurture me?'

    Though none of us want to admit it, I think a lot of us subconsciously ask this of a partner; 'If I need it, can you care for me?'

    Seems the heartstrings are connected to the wishbone!

    click here for the recipe

    The Cook

    For someone who loves cooking, the idea of roasting a chicken is not intimidating.

    This recipe is great. The magic is in salting the chicken a day or two before you cook it. Those precious wee grains make all the difference.

    The chicken cooks over beans and zucchini. There's a little wine and oil, meat juices and schmaltz aplenty. The vegetables turn into the most velvety side dish without you doing anything more than just putting them there.

    I figure that if you're going to light the oven you might as well cook two chooks instead of one. As my friend, Bea, always says, 'A chicken in the fridge is like money in the bank' (in times like these, I think the chicken might have a higher return on investment).

    So get two chickens. Smaller ones. They cook faster. Serve one for dinner. Make sure your date knows that the other one is there. They'll be thinking, 'Chicken sandwiches, chicken pot pie, chicken soup...'

    You might not escape the house for days!


    Crispy 'taters

    Whilst the chicken is roasting, get some potatoes ready for the oven.

    In my experience, a plate of piping hot, super crispy spuds can arouse as much passion as wine, roses and moonlight.

    Just peel

    Quarter

    Season

    And cook in very hot olive oil.

    Absolutely perfect!

    (or splurge and buy some goose fat)

    click here for Goosey Taters

    The Cheat

    No one ever accused Romeo or Juliet of being a dab hand in the kitchen.

    If cooking isn't your thing, then cheat!

    Warm up a rotisserie chicken.

    Turn a tray of store bought mashed potatoes and a bag of potato chips into fancy looking 'Pommes a la Beauf'

    Toss a bag of snap peas into the microwave and douse them in salad dressing.

    Hide any incriminating packaging carefully.

    Have everything warmed up so the house smells like you've been slaving away.

    Splurge on a fancy gateau and the best berries you can find for dessert.

    30 minutes.

    You speed daters out there will be able to knock off half a dozen Valentines this year!


    Rosy Champagne Cocktails

    A sugar cube. A champagne flute. A few drops of bitters. A dash of brandy or cognac. Fill with sparkling ros�.

    Clink!


    The Wife
    or husband. or partner. or parent...

    If you are already well into a relationship with your loved one, then Valentine's Day isn't so much about the food, per se. Chances are you're already serving meals for your significant others every day of the week.

    It is about saying, 'This meal was an effort and a cost and I made that effort because I love you'. You can make the ordinary seem extraordinary. It's all about the setting.

    Shelve the day-to-day dishes and haul out some of the good stuff:

    Pull out the platters and dishes that you never use.

    Wipe off the crystal flutes.

    Haul out a vase.

    Polish up some silverware.

    You might serve the same roast chicken that you cook every Sunday, but make everyone at the table see it for what it is; a labor of love.


    Molten Chocolate Cake

    This recipe is foolproof.

    Whether you're making it.

    Or eating it.

    I promise.

    click here for the recipe

    The Lover

    You might be on a date.

    You might be on the precipice of a new relationship.

    You might just be wanting to put out all the right signals to get a little action on the big day.

    Whatever your deal, this year the meal is the same for you as everyone else. Keep it simple but do it well.

    Set up a cosy area. Turn the ottoman into a make-shift dining table so that you can snuggle up on the sofa.

    Why not serve everything in cheeky bite size morsels; slice up the chicken, cut the potatoes into wedges; serve them on a platter garnished with some greens.

    Oven crispy baguette waiting to be torn into.

    Build each other tiny sandwiches.

    Cook the molten chocolate cake in little ramekins. Have the cream in a side bowl and another bowl of mixed berries. Spoon and feed each other sticky bites.

    Cheap dates are my favourites
    Growing up in Australia, I never heard much about Valentine's Day. It sort of crept into the 'Peanuts' comic strip. That's all.

    I kept expecting to see Marcie slip a card to Peppermint Patty.

    Later, all the fuss just seemed silly, exploitative and exclusionary.

    But somehow, this year it seems sort of sweet.

    When you think about it, all it really asks is that you let someone know they're liked, loved or adored.

    By the way, there is now 'thelovebite' group on facebook. You can join, meet each other. Swap recipes, news and so forth.

    And you can see what I get up to in between newsletters. Just click here to join.

    cheers, Mannix

    [email protected]

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