Not your usual Valentine’s Day Menu

What do love and food have in common? They both pass through the stomach.

Valentine’s Day. Probably the single most hated and loved celebration of the year. As this dreaded day approaches, so many questions pop into our minds, when there’s only one thing we should all be thinking: what’s on the menu?

Photography and Recipe by Yummly.com

Now, the tough thing to figure out is what to do? A £61,000 meal prepared by Michelin starred Chef Adam Simmonds at your home? I think we’ll pass. Like New Years Eve, restaurants tend to take advantage of our what-to-do panic, and raise prices. So fight back, stay home and cook it yourself! To help you get through the night, we’ve decided to make this year’s V-day more enthusing by adding a special ingredient that always does the trick. Here is our roundup of alcohol-based recipes, which will get you ‘drunk with love’ this year!

Start your meal slurping. If you don’t plan to get kissed that night, try Yummly’s yummy Creamy French Onion Soup that mixes the stinky vegetable with white wine, honey and cheese. Otherwise stick to Baker’s Royale Blushing Kiss Martini, made of grapefruit and thyme for that sweet lasting tang on your tongue.  

Recipe and Photography by Epicurious.com

Once you’re done with your drink, and ready to chew, get a taste of Epicurious’ Tequila Shrimp recipe, which seems ideal for that romantic tête–à–tête.  Their Brown Sugar and Bourbon Ribs’, on the other hand, should be exclusively gobbled among friends. For a classic, with a twist, your best bet is Playful Cooking’s Vodka Mac and Cheese. The pasta plate fuses Parmesan, feta cheese, spinach, cream and chili flakes, among other things, and is seriously mouth-watering.

A fun dish to dig into, no matter the company, is Saveur’s Beer-Steamed Crabs. These creatures of the sea are seasoned with Thai Chiles, lime and garlic to fully enhance their aroma. The magazine also shares their Fondue with Sparkling Wine recipe, which is a super easy dip to make and savor among any sized crowd.

Recipe and Photography by Saveur.com

For dessert, Sprinkle Bakes suggests making Red Wine Lollipops or Coconut Panna Cotta with Berry and Red Wine Reduction, to blend the red wine’s richness with some funky sweet stuff. The bloody liquid isn’t for everyone though, so if you prefer your drinks fizzy, indulge in butter, sugar, flowers’ Gin and Tonic Cake. Still feeling peckish? It’s time to fully bloat up with a Red Velvet Cookie Cocktail by Tablespoon, which beautifully blends vodka with the dessert.

To end the night in style, we recommend downing some Limoncello shots with your Valentine –or– actually learn How To Make Limoncello, thanks to The Kitchn’s instructions. Don’t forget to keep the spare drops, gather them, and use them to bake Fine Dining Lovers’ sumptuous babà the following day– although, from our experience, there never seems to be any leftovers when it comes to alcohol.

Recipe and Photography by ButterSugarFlowers

From Leonore Dicker
Content Curator

Leo has been obsessed with food for longer than she remembers. Raised in cosmopolitan London by a French mother (who could’ve been a chef) and a German father (who could’ve been a critic), food has always been the center of everything. Writing is her second big love, and she has done so in Paris, New York, Kazakhstan and Beirut. She is currently experiencing the threesome of her deepest fantasies and writing about food.

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