Valentine's Day Menu:Sides

I am going to do things a little bit differently this week. I'm going to post the recipes I'm using for Valentine's Day Dinner today, that way if anybody wants to use them they can get their shopping and possibly some of the prep work done ahead, then I'll either post or just update the post with pictures (as long as I don't forget!) Friday. There will be a separate post for most items otherwise it would be stupid long, although I'm going to combine the two side dishes in this post, then just so that if people want to find them later on I'll do a master post with links to the individual items.

Salad with Pink Peppercorns, Lemon and Thyme Vinaigrette:
Can be made 1 day ahead
1/2-1 Tsp pink peppercorn Lightly crushed (you can do this with a fork, bottle, rolling pin etc.)
1/2-3/4 Tsp Lemon Zest
1/2-1 Lemon Juiced
1/2 tsp minced thyme
1/2 tsp minced shallots
1/2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8-1/4 tsp anchovy paste
1/3-1/2 cup good olive oil
Sea Salt and pepper to taste (I'm going to use gray fleur de sel for extra oomph, but any will do)

1. Whisk everything but salt and pepper together and then season to taste. You may not need the additional pepper.

You can obviously customize this based on whatever you want to put in the salad, croutons, cucumber, tomato etc. We're a little light on salad fixings this week, so for me it's probably just going to be red leaf lettuce, which is fine since it's not even the sub-sub-focal point of this meal.

Mashed Potatoes and Cauliflower with Caramelized Shallots
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter**, divided
2 cups sliced shallots
3/4 cup whole milk
1 pounds large Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, quartered

1 medium-large cauliflower*

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy medium skillet over medium heat.

2. Add sliced shallots and cook until tender and brown, stirring often (20 minutes). 

3. Transfer shallots to small bowl. Add milk to skillet. Set aside.
4. lace quartered potatoes in large saucepan. Add enough cold water to pan to cover potatoes by 1 1/2 inches. Bring to boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer until potatoes are tender (15 minutes). Drain. 

5. Return potatoes to pan and stir over medium heat until dry, about 1 minute. 

6. Add remaining 4 tablespoons butter**. 

7. Bring milk in skillet to simmer, scraping up any browned bits. 

8. Blend cauliflower and hot milk till smooth.

7. Add cauliflower puree to potatoes. Mash potatoes. 

8. Stir in caramelized shallots and season to taste with salt and pepper.

* Instead of using cauliflower you can just double the potatoes.
**Instead of using 4 Tbsp of butter I used the remaining Pink Peppercorn Butter from the steak recipe + 1 tbsp regular butter.


Post-Dinner Update:
Both of these items turned out really nicely. The vinaigrette was really bright and light as a nice counterpoint to the richness of the other dishes. Next time I make it I might add a little more honey than I did, the lemon and shallots made it really acidic and I think a little honey might ease that bite. Overall though it was really nice. As for the potatoes, I didn't have as much shallots as the recipe called for, but that wasn't really a problem since I was also using the pink peppercorn butter which added a lot of good flavor. If you are making this without the butter I would definitely make sure you have the full amount of shallots. I have a ton left over, which is going to be a pain, since Chris is on a diet that only allows simple carbs once a week...

Master Post

Main Course
Dessert