Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy V-Day everyone! We had the most wonderful Valentine's Day ever...and on a budget too!

My fiance and I decided to make various easy small bites together for dinner and it worked out so well. We didn't know exactly what we would make. We just stopped by Whole Foods and picked out what was fresh. Not only did we pick out some fresh and yummy produce, but we spent about $30 total for our V-Day meal. This is sooooo much more inexpensive than if you were to eat out. We had oysters, fish, prosciutto, sardines and salad.

Wellfleet Oysters with Mignonette
Our meal started off with half a dozen of fresh Wellfleet oysters for $0.99 each. My fiance shucked them himself using a screwdriver (we didn't have an oyster knife), and I made a simple mignonette of red wine vinegar, shallots and ground black pepper. These oysters were sizable, mild and sweet, perfect for oyster beginners.

Bacon Wrapped Monkfish
Then we spotted Monkfish for $9.99/lb. My fiance saw some bacon wrapped Monkfish on the internet a couple of days ago. He's down for anything wrapped in bacon, so we got some of those. Although the bacon was quite pricey at about $5, it will last for several meals.

He wrapped the fish in a couple of slices of bacon (make sure you use more than enough, because they shrink when cooked), secured it with toothpicks, browned it in the pan, then popped it in the oven for 10 minutes. Let it rest for 5 minutes after you remove it from the oven, then slice it into chunks.



Sardines with Side Salad
We had some canned sardines in the pantry. I just opened it, added some capers and its brine, and garnished with parsley. The salad dressing was just mustard, vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, and salt & pepper.

Prosciutto Wrapped Cantaloupe
We picked out a ripe cantaloupe for $2.99, and decided to wrap it in prosciutto (a quarter of a pound for $4). I sliced the fruit into chunks and wrapped a slice of prosciutto around each cube. It was a party in your mouth...you bite into the saltiness of the prosciutto and then get the juicy sweetness of the cantaloupe.



We opened a bottle of bubbly to wash down this easy meal. Believe it or not, we got all this done in an hour! Best of all, it was fun cooking together! I would recommend this for any special occasion.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good to know you enjoyed your V-Day. This may be the last you would enjoy it. I spent it at Lowes and Home Depot!!!! Dinner was at Wendy's. We tried the new Premium Fish Filet sandwich. BK is better.... And instead of wine, he is serving me beer right now!

--- from a married woman whose husband is robbed by osteoporosis because he has no romantic bone