Im not the best meal planner and I was hoping you guys couple throw me a bone and help me out some. I'm planning on cooking for the wife on V-day and I want to mix it up a bit and do something special. I've already decided on steak but that's about as far as I've gotten so far. I was thinking grilled steak with a sauce, maybe chimichurri or Oscar. Are there better sauce options to dress it up some? The sides and stuff are where I usually fall short. We have been doing roasted balsamic Brussels sprouts lately that have been good, roasted asparagus is usually our standard. Any input on some sides? Also need a starch. Mashed potatoes are in usual mix so I want something a little different. Not sure what to do for dessert, wife has been dieting and may not want any. Chocolate covered strawberries are easy to do but I feel like it's over done, I plan on buying something from the store because I'm not the best baker and may not have time to bake and cook but if something's fairly simple I'll give it a try. Also thinking about an appetizer but have no idea what would be something fairly easy to do but really tasty with the whole meal. Wife did calamari last year that was really good but I don't want to deal with the clean up from frying. Any ideas there? Wine choice, I was thinking about Pinot Noir or Cab for the main serving and maybe something lighter for first round or dessert. Any direction I can get would be much appreciated. I'll post pictures of everything once it's done.

If chimichurri I'd go with a chorizo seasoned potato, if Oscar go with Au gratin potato stacks, easy and they present well. For desert, creme brulee is astonishingly easy and you can do those a day in advance.

How do you feel about mushrooms. These are good, just take 4 hours to make.

These look like a pretty good side for steak as well, but havent tried them yet.

Have you thought of just wrapping some asparagus and cheese with a prosciutto for an appetizer?

If you buy prime beef, you don't need a sauce IMO. A nice compound butter goes great on a steak and is easy to prepare ahead of the meal.

My go to for valentines day is usually prime center cut ribeyes, creamed spinach, and red potatoes roasted with a bit of bacon, lots of herbs and butter.

Molten chocolate cakes are actually really easy for dessert. You can make the batter ahead of time and your oven is preheated from the potatoes. I just fill the ramekins, pop them in the oven, and they are ready by the time i'm done with the dishes. Make some whipped cream before dinner, or serve with ice cream.

I don't have any food input to add other than your efforts are incredibly sweet!!!!!!

Icecream the mushrooms look awesome. We are big fans of them. My wife has done something similar in the past. Might be one to do though. How do you think they would go with chimichurri?

EFE, got a recipe for the potatoes?

Not sure. I usually end up eating them with some crusty bread as a mid week meal.

And the only sauce I put on my steak is a little butter, garlic and thyme in the pan when searing.

If you're in B/CS and are thinking of a purchased dessert you could get the strawberry tart from Cafe Eccel. They have those to go these days and in a nod to the diet they have small ones now. For V Day it might be worth calling ahead.

Edit to add: roasted baby potatoes are easy and go well with steak. If you've been roasting Brussels Sprouts it's basically the same.

For the chorizo I cut the potatoes into wedges, fry the chorizo and then toss in the wedges and fry them just long enough to coat in the chorizo grease, then toss on a cookie sheet and into the oven until done.

Au gratin stacks is cut the potatoes in 1/4" coins and pour a heavy cream sauce over them in muffin tins and coat the top with Parmesan/asiago/etc and skewer with a sprig of thyme.

Since you are grilling, try something different like a Hanger Steak, Sirloin Flap, or maybe a Flat Iron. They would all go great with Chimichurri. I would take a grilled Hanger over a grilled Filet or Strip any day of the week. I save those cuts for pan searing in cast iron.

I know the steaks don't need a sauce. I just want to do something a little different. Molten cakes are a good idea

Make these for dessert.


https://www.puffpastry.com/recipe/apple-roses/

Dessert suggestion: chocolate ice cream, raspberries, drizzle with Kahlua

Wrap the asparagus in prosciutto before you roast it, awesome side dish, or switch it up and make roasted broccoli. You could always try some creamed spinach, or make a homemade mac and cheese with some higher quality stuff than Kraft. For potatoes not much beats a baked potato.

Appetizer wise lighter is the way to go if the main course is steak, you can always do a simple shrimp cocktail but get some nice gulf shrimp or some prawns if you can find them, and rather than premade cocktail sauce get some fresh horseradish and make it yourself. Even better than cocktail sauce is remoulade.

For dessert I recently made a panna cotta for the first time, was really easy and you have a lot of options on how to serve it, looks fancy, sounds fancy, but its really easy. Also a straight up homemade chocolate cake with homemade ice cream is outstanding.

I've done this chocolate cake before and it is awesome.
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/flourless-chocolate-cake-recipe

I have decided against chimichurri for now. I'm leaning heavily now towards a baslmic caramel/prune reduction to glaze the steak with prosciutto or bacon wrapped and glazed figs for an appetizer. Still up in the air about sides. Probably going with roasted asparagus and the roasted small potatoes. Wife insisted on chocolate covered strawberries

Red lights. Did that for my GF years ago. Replaced all the bulbs in my apt with red bulbs. The Red Room Lounge in SFO was my inspiration. Don't remember the food I made, but hey, the night was fun!

http://www.seriouseats.com/valentines-day

Got the glaze made last night and it turned out really well. Going shopping for the rest of the stuff today. I decided on bacon wrapped figs (if I can find figs, if not maybe prunes) fresh green beans (nothing special but they sound good to me) and some boiled/roasted potatos I found on serious eats that sound amazing. Pictures to come soon.

I went with Prime Filets (mrs fido's favorite) with a Peppercorn Demi-Pinot Noir reduction topped with Maitre d'Hotel Butter and served with Souffled Twice-baked Potatoes and Asparagus.

We ate it too fast for pics, but one of the things I love about sous vide...

Saw Rosenthal was open for 10 more minutes as I was leaving campus
Picked up a Frenched rack of lamb frozen like a rock
Into the sous vide at about 6:30 before even being sure when my wife would get home with her stack of exams to grade
Made broccoli and garlic mashed potatoes while the lamb was incubating
Seared/basted with butter, shallots, thyme...deglazed to make a sauce with Dijon and Merlot. Blended with a stick blender.

Unplanned Valentines dinner at 8.

Prime Filet, Sous Vide, hers at 135, mine at 125

Seared in homemade garlic/herb butter in a cast iron in the oven for about 3 minutes (minute per side, and 30 seconds on the edges)

Served with a (not pictured shrimp cocktail), salad, and beefsteak tomatoes, and 2013 O'Brien Estate Seduction Brodeaux Blend.