February 2020 Class
February is love month! I love any reason to celebrate! Valentine’s Day, winter is ending early (ok it doesn’t even snow here!), but that means transitioning into an early spring. The food is celebratory. These are the kind of classic dishes you would order when you go out to dinner at a fancy restaurant, but made even more special by preparing them at home. This is the perfect menu for swooning and romancing your sweetie or a bunch of friends. As always there’s a great make-ahead a component to most of the recipes, so that the day of your event you’re just tossing the salad and preparing the shrimp.
So what are we cooking:
Dried Figs, Walnuts and Goat Cheese Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette:
The inspiration for this salad was my cleaning out the pantry after the holidays! I found all these different dried fruits and nuts left over from my various creations. I decided to toss them with some beautiful winter greens, some goat cheese (everything is better with goat cheese!) and make a citrus vinaigrette, since I had copious amounts of limes in the garden. It turned out to be my family’s new favorite salad. It’s a perfect way to either to start your meal, as we do in the US, or end it, as they do in Europe. It could actually be it’s own meal in itself since there’s so many goodies in there. Feel free to change up the dried fruits and nuts so whatever you find in your pantry.
Shrimp Scampi with Fresh Pasta:
An absolute classic dish! Every good Italian has her take on this recipe. Here I keep it traditional and classic, as it is hard to improve upon perfection. Garlic, shallots and butter coat the shrimp. The addition of Meyer lemon juice and white wine gives it that acidic punch. We finish it all by tossing it with beautiful fresh-made pasta. It is so decant; so quick and easy to make. To create your own take, feel free to substitute couscous, cauliflower rice, or quinoa, which can be made a little bit more ahead than the fresh pasta. Id love to see your posts of your takes on this classic! (tag me on social media @cucinacasam)
Chocolate Orange Mousse with Meringue Kisses:
I remember as a child thinking a chocolate mousse was an animal!! As you know, it’s not, but a decadent and delicious classic dessert is a favorite of children and adults alike. This is perfect for entertaining, since it can be made in advance. The dark chocolate mousse is creamy, with just a hint of orange Cointreau. It’s simply sublime. I love the combination of orange, that fresh pop of citrus, which compliments the richness of the chocolate so perfectly. It’s one of my favorite combinations! Serve the mousse with little meringue kiss cookies. They add the perfect little crunch. Or they are just heavenly on their own. I bet you can’t eat just one! For February, we colored the meringues pink for a festive little way to end this romantic meal.
Wines:
We paired the meal with a Colonnara Verdicchio, a crisp and light white wine that goes so well with the goat cheese and shrimp. A very nice Italian white wine indeed! The red wine is Tenuta La Pergola, imported by Kermit Lynch. A blend of Barbera, Dolcetto and Bonarda, this wine has a beautiful finesse and balance and is very well priced your budget will love it. Both are available at sandiegowine.net
