2.15.2011

Kitchen Chemistry for Valentine's Day

That's right- we scrapped our plans for the laundromat and made dinner instead! What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with some chemistry in the kitchen?

We dashed through the rain to the market, where we found a fabulous deal on salmon fillets. Since stuffed salmon rolls are one of our favorite collaborative recipes, it seemed meant to be! 
We've served dish with several variations (I'm partial to a goat cheese & thyme version that I dreamed up!). This time around we decided to spoil ourselves with a luxe crab & artichoke filling. Adam melted 2 parts cream cheese, 1 part butter, and 1 part cream, then poured it over crabmeat and artichoke hearts. I stirred in a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese, a dash of onion powder, and plenty of salt and pepper. We added the lovely fresh dill we had on hand, but you could use any chopped herb of your choosing. 
A crunchy topping gives the rolls texture. Adam likes to use a mixture of panko bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese, with a sprinkling of herbs for color and a dash of salt and pepper.
Your rolls are done when they are warmed through. You can test this by pulling out the bamboo skewer and feeling the middle. The crust should be browned, and you can broil it briefly to speed this up.
Stuffed salmon is so incredibly rich, you'll want a light green vegetable as a contrast. We garnished with lemon wedges and continued the theme with a pitcher full of sparkling vodka lemonade. Conversation hearts in our glasses were a sneaky way to sweeten our beverages!

Hope your Valentine's Day was as delicious as ours!

Love,

Elizabeth & Adam

8 Have Spoken.:

cottagefarm said...

aww. it looks like you guys had a lovely evening. and bravo to adam - the salmon looks so good. might have to test my stills and try them out.

Empress said...

After the great success of the shortbread recipe, I'll have to give this one a whirl! I substituted rosemary for the thyme, and took them into work - five minutes later they were gone, and everyone demanded the recipe, so I hope you got a few new readers!

Alcira Molina-Ali said...

This looks delectable...mmm.
And btw, your new profile portrait is absolutely stunning -- you look like a beautiful image on the cover of a Jane Austen novel, or perhaps a star in a Bronte flick.
Breathtaking....

Rock on, Alcira

nerochronicles.com

Anonymous said...

Wow that looks fantastic! I think that using the "official candy of love" in a wine goblet is a stroke of genius.

Elizabeth said...

cottagefarm... We did! Definitely give the salmon a go- easy to assemble, and amazingly tasty.

Empress... So glad to hear that! I'm going to blog another shortbread recipe next week. Let me know if you have any recipe requests!

Alcira... My goodness, you certainly know how to flatter a girl! Thank you, thank you! The photo is an outtake from "shoot" for my etsy shop. I took it one-handed, and those darned earrings wouldn't hold still... seemed a shame to waste the picture though!

Anonymous... That was a good idea, wasn't it? Credit goes to my brilliant Dad!

Andrea Krummel said...

oh god that looks so good!

Rosie said...

Looks deeeelicious!! Kyle and I had Trophy cupcakes AND frozen yogurt on Valentine's Day, but didn't get to make a homemade meal like this... looks amazing! Love the recipes, keep bringin them to the blog readers!!!

Laura said...

Mmm! I will definitely be trying this sometime soon. Candy hearts in the glasses: so cute!

Happy Valentine's to a lovely couple.