Love is brewing in this kitchen!

I love to throw gaudy Valentine's Day parties for my friends to celebrate this holiday of loooove. In my typical fashion, I did some serious hors d'eouvres to get it rolling. Figured I'd share my party food in a post! And there was a hell of a lot of it....

So I tried to incorporate some meat and veggie plates. Not for any other reason than my top three ideas were all completely veggie, and my friend pointed out that we needed some protein! 

There were multiple baguettes worth of crostini, including a traditional tomato/basil/garlic bruschetta, a goats cheese and honey crostini, and smoked salmon and la tur (cow/goat/sheep italian godliness) crostini. They were all excellent, the goats cheese and honey adding some savory sweetness into the mix, where the tomato and salmon crostinis were very light and refreshing. For the tomato bruschetta, I chopped tomatoes into small chunks and mixed with finely chopped garlic, shallots, and thinly sliced fresh basil with a drizzle of balsalmic vinegar and salt and pepper. 

I put out some INSANELY spicy calabrese salami as well, Arrowine on Lee Highway has the BEST one. Was a great counter to all the sweetness. 

For the crostini, I served the toppings on what has come to be famous in my family. Thinly sliced baguette fried in olive oil (copious amounts of it) and then salted on both sides. Super easy but the oil keeps the bread soft and crunchy, rather than oven baked crostini that can often be too hard/crusty and cut your mouth. Who wants dry crostini anyway?! The more oily salty goodness the better. 

I made home made chocolate-dipped strawberries, which in previous attempts have not went as well but this time went splendidly. Just melted basic, no name brand, bittersweet chocolate chips over medium heat, constantly stirring. The key to these is to make certain the strawberries are completely dry. I covered large plates in tin foil, and placed the chocolate dipped strawberries on top, and then when I filled a plate, placed it in the fridge to harden. They settled in about 15-20 minutes in the fridge. 

I made a spicy tequila-lime shrimp cocktail as well. I love the Whole Foods tequila lime seasoning, and even though I generally prefer to make my own seasonings, there was a lot of cooking to do. No shame. I melted four tablespoons of butter with a cup of dry white wine and steamed the mussels. After they were almost cooked through, I threw in the seasoning. I then drained the shrimp and served them with cocktail forks. No sauce needed, they were delicious! And oh so easy...

I also made proscuitto wrapped asparagus with La Tur cheese, which is my go to for parties. My friend who runs a wine shop in Dublin once told me this is the dish that made his wife marry him. I'm not surprised. In the slighest bit of olive oil, sautee the asparagues briefly, so that they turn bright green but do not go soft. Right before they finish cooking, toss them in a few tablespoons of balsalmic vinegar, and then remove from heat. While they cool, spread a tiny bit of the cheese (either goat or La Tur) on the strips of proscuitto. Then wrap a piece of proscuitto around the individual asparagus, so that the cheese is on the inside. Make great snacks and are quite impressive on a table. Fragile proscuitto is harder to wrap, so a thicker cut is usually preferable. 

Finally, the creme de la creme of my table was the heart-shaped bacon chips served with a blue cheese dipping sauce. For the bacon chips, I twisted the bacon into heart shapes and baked them for 15-25 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees farenheit. Once fully cooked, they maintained the adorable heart shape (or pretzel shape) and I placed them in a serving bowl. I then put blue cheese crumbles with heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan and cooked down until smooth, constantly stirring. I added just a little salt and pepper for taste. It was delicious when you dipped the crispy bacon chips in the sauce. A quick technical note: make sure to let baked bacon drain into paper towels before serving, as not as much fat cooks out of the bacon when baking as it does in a saute pan. It will be insanely greasy if you don't do so....

On top of everything else....we did do a few fun decorations. Including a tree of love-basically a re-use of a fake Christmas tree that I would recommend to everyone! Drinks also were strictly red and pink....to many of my more "manly" friends dismay!

On that note...Happy Belated Valentines and hope the love flowed this long weekend!

<3