Valentines Day #9

As our closest friends and family know, each valentines day, we forgo the marked up set menus and other painful date "stuff" and instead make something unique that we have never cooked before. Traditionally, it has involved some type of exotic seafood not available in land-locked (though lake plenty) Minnesota. This was was a slight exception. On the menu was crab cakes as a starter, followed by rack of lamb with stuffed tomatoes and a olive-prune sauce. 

Let's just say it was a definite crowd pleaser. The crab cakes were set upon a salad of thinly sliced radishes and a granny smith apple, combined with a ruby red grapefruit and juicy orange. The citrus was a great compliment to the crab cakes. 

For the rack of lamb, its just about as easy as it gets, we made a sauce of sea salt, fresh rosemary and good olive oil and rubbed it on the lamb, browned it on a skillet, then cooked at about 175C (I think) for 15 minutes. It turned out to be the best piece of meat we've ever cooked, perfectly done.

We stuffed the tomatoes with couscous, feta, spring onions and cilantro, using the inside of the tomatoes combined with some tomato paste as the filling, which was also magnificent!

The sauce of olives and prunes, with a healthy dose of red wine, was very unusual by itself, but ended up complimenting the rest of the meal beautifully!

Bon appetite!