Ours will be on Sunday..... Short Ribs in a Nebbiolo sauce and creamy Gorgonzola Polenta... some sauteed rabe or dandelion greens, and my favorite Valentine's Dessert, Coeur a la Creme, for dessert. (The mold is heart-shaped!
) (this is MY recipe)
Coeur a la Creme with Raspberry Sauce
4 servings
The following is a very romantic and unexpected dessert. The white heart with the raspberry sauce makes such a beautiful presentation. If you can find Fromage Blanc, it will give you the lightest texture mold. It won't upstage a glass of Inniskillin's fabulous Ice Wine, or a glass of Framboise from Domaine Lucien Jacob (of Echevronne, France).
1 cup Fromage Blanc or cream cheese, or 1 cup cottage cheese that has been rubbed through a sieve or pureed in a food processor
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 egg whites, stiffly beaten with the above sugar, but not dry
Raspberry Sauce (recipe follows)
Blend the cheese with 1 cup of the heavy cream until smooth. Fold in the sugar and egg whites. Line a heart shaped basket or mold with holes in it, using several layers of cheesecloth. Spoon the mixture into the mold, place it in a shallow bowl, and allow to drain overnight in the refrigerator. Unmold, pour on the remaining 1/2 cup cream. To serve, surround heart with raspberry sauce, and pass the rest in a sauceboat.
Teacher's Tip: Prepare cheesecloth by rinsing to remove the sizing and lint. Cut several pieces large enough to line the mold and overlap the sides. This will make unmolding much easier.
Raspberry Sauce
1 quart raspberries or two 10-oz pkgs frozen berries
1 cup sugar, or 1/2 cup if using frozen sweetened berries
2 tablespoons Framboise (the liqueur, not the eau de vie)
MASH the berries. COOK over low flame with sugar until soft. PRESS through a fine sieve to remove the seeds, Add Framboise, and chill.