It was a Day of LOVE

Let me say that The Husband is not the most romantic person at all.  I had to listen to rant and raving on how Valentine’s Day is a scam and how girls get so much holidays and guys only have fathers day.  Blah blah blah.  My response was, “If you could give birth, you could have more holidays”.  As you could see, I’m totally looking forward toward child birth. 



In hopes to make him feel better, I decided to cook for him a dinner.  He has been the our chef for the last couple of months due this pregnancy.  As some of you know last week I was on the fence on what I wanted to make.  I was torn between making his favorites or try something completely different.  I knew that if made something complete off the wall he would look at the food funny.  Instead I made dishes I haven’t made for a while with a little twist.
My Valentine’s menu:
App: Baked French Onion
Entrée: Citrus Cornish Hen stuffed with Wild Rice
Side: Sautéed Asparagus  with Bacon
Dessert: Coconut Panna Cotta with a Mango Puree
French onion is The Husbands favorite soup.  He gets it every time we go out to dinner.  As for the Cornish hen, I haven’t made this for a good 3 years now.  I jumped at the chance to make it when I found the hens for sale.  To add a little twist, I marinated the hens in orange juice. 
Baked French Onions
(makes about 4 servings)
2 Lbs of Onions
1/2 Stick of Butter
3 Tsp of salt
3 Tsp of Sugar
1 Liter of Beef Stock
Garlic powder to Taste
4 Tbs of Worcestershire Sauce (you may want more depending on your taste)
Toasted French Bread
6 Oz of Gruyere Cheese
Directions

1. Place the butter, sugar, and salt into a large stock pot and cook until the butter is all melted on a med-high heat.
2. While that is cooking, sliced up the onions to either chunks or slices.
3. When the butter is melted, add the onions to the pot.  Cook the onions until it starts to sweat, about 5-15 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to a low heat in where it starts to simmer.  The soup needs to slow cook for a couple of hours. 
5. The onions will be come quite tender and the liquid from the onions will be come the base of the soup.  It took about 2 hours until the onions was cooked down.  I would occasionally stir to make sure the onions wouldn’t burn on the bottom. 
6. When the onions is cooked down, add the stock.  Bring to a boil.
7. Slowly add the garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce to taste. 
8. When the soup reaches the flavor you would like, pour the soup into a deep bowl. 
9. Pre-heat the oven to 350. 
10. Top the soup with the toast bread and cheese
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
12. Serve hot

Look at that cheese goodness

Citrus Cornish Hen with Wild Rice
Prepared Wild Rice
2 Cornish Hens
Butter
Marinate *This is all to taste
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Oregano
Orange Juice to cover
Directions

1. Place the hens in a zip lock bag the night before and add the marinate. 
2. This needs to be marinate for at least 8 hours.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F
4. Take the hens out of the zip lock back.
5. Take the wild rice and stuff the hens and place on a baking sheet.
6. Place it in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes.
7. Take out the hens after 15 minutes and cover in butter to create a nice brown texture.
8. Bake for 30 minutes.  Rotate the baking sheet and put another coating of butter.
9. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the hens is fully cooked.
10. Serve

This is The Daughter size chicken.  She did say Ewww when she saw it in the oven :D

Coconut Panna Cotta *The recipe will come in a later post.

I have a little surprised for you guys.

In honor of my 200th post, I would love to give to one of you a $55 gift card from the CSN Stores!  For the last couple of months, I haven’t had the desire to eat much of anything.  All I have been craving is bread, bread, and more bread.  To get yourself qualified, give me a recipe of your favorite bread recipe either in the comments area or message me.  I’m open to all but as a hint I made it my goal to master croissants.  

Update: I totally forgot to include the deadline:  February 21, 2011.  I will pick the name on Tuesday.  I figured I will be doing my paper last minutes at midnight on the Monday like always :D. 

Good Luck everybody!