If you are alone this Valentine’s Day, as I will be (sob), February 14th can feel like a sick joke to make all of us feel bad. More and more of us are living alone: 41% of Camden households (where I live) in the last census were single householders (the 4th highest in England and Wales).
Valentine’s Day creates such pressure and is often the crunch point for a relationship. If you are going to break it off, you will be weighing up whether to do it beforehand or afterwards.
I once hosted an Anti-Valentine’s crepe party supper club. I put 30 tickets on sale, split evenly between the sexes. Only three men booked, and one of them had a girlfriend already. I couldn’t understand it: 18 gorgeous, young, slim, intelligent, funny, glamorous women- single!
To hell with it all: make a romantic meal for yourself, or share one with a friend.
Here are a few ideas for easy V-Day recipes. This four-course dinner should take you at most a couple of hours to make. Start with the possets and, while they are chilling, steam the artichokes, then make the sauce for the gratin and the mayonnaise.
Buying heart-shaped dishes isn’t necessary, but when they cost only a couple of quid from Tiger or a local pound shop, you may as well indulge.
All of these recipes serve two
Steamed artichoke heart with mustard mayonnaise
Ingredients
- 2 fresh artichokes, available at Waitrose and corner shops
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 lemon
For the mustard mayonnaise:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 150 ml rapeseed or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Boil a large pot of water with lid, enough to cover the artichokes.
- Cut off the stems and also, with a very sharp small knife, trim in a circular motion the top inch of the artichoke. Another method is to snip off the top of leaves with scissors, so that there are no spikes. Place the artichokes in the boiling water with the salt and lemon, put on the lid and boil until a leaf out pulls easily (about 20 minutes).
- Put the egg yolk and mustard in a bowl and whisk. Slowly add the oil little by little, whisking all the time then add the salt.
Hearts of Palm gratin
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 30 g butter
- 1 400ml crushed tomatoes
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 50 ml cream, single or double
- 2 tins hearts of palm, drained, cut lengthways in half
- 100 g cheese: ricotta salata, gruyere or cheddar, gruyere or cheddar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the olive oil and butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan and heat slowly. Add the tin of tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves and sea salt. Simmer for 15 minutes, then add the cream. Stir and remove the bay leaves.
- Pour a little of the sauce into the chosen oven dish (I've used an oven-safe ceramic heart by Sophie Conran) and place the hearts of palm all over the dish in one layer. Pour the rest of the sauce over the hearts of palm.
- Finely grate the cheese over the top and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove and serve.
Bergamot posset with violet sugar
Ingredients
- 200 ml double cream
- 50 g caster sugar
- 1 bergamot lemon, zest and juice
- 2 tbsp violet sugar
Instructions
- Pour the cream and the sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is melted.
- Remove from the heat and let it cool. Add the zest and juice from the bergamot or other citrus fruit, stirring it in.
- Pour it into a ramekin or heart-shaped dish. Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Sprinkle the violet sugar over the top. Serve.
Cheese Heart
To add to the Valentine’s atmosphere, there are several cheeses that come in the shape of a heart, most famously the camembert-like Neufchatel. I used an ash-covered goats’ cheese heart. Serve with biscuits and quince jelly.
Come to MsMarmitelover’s next supperclub on February 18th, which will be a recreation of a typically Canadian sugar shack meal with jugs full of maple syrup. Tickets are £40 available at edibleexperiences.co.uk
Dress code: checked lumberjack shirts, furry trappers hats.
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