Valentine's Day Menu

Happy Valentine’s Day! In case you’re planning to spend a cozy night in cooking with your sweety (or with friends!), here is a menu idea:

To start: a Pomegranate Cocktail aperitif and Bacon & Basil Wrapped Dates

First Course: Red Valentine Chopped Salad

2nd Course: Red Roasted Carrots

Main Course: Beet, Onion & Eggplant Stack with Pesto (which is great alongside any meat entree´ if you want something a little more filling!). It’s also good with big round slices of fresh bufala mozzarella mixed into the stack.

For Dessert: Spiced Apricots dipped in dark chocolate with chili powder

Cheers!

Blackberry Negroni

Blackberry season is just ending here in the woods, but I can still find a few on the bushes just off our deck. I was shooting a new restaurant in Napa recently that features a Negroni on their menu and I thought, oh!, what a lovely end-of-summer cocktail. 

A traditional Negroni is garnished with an orange twist, but since there aren’t many oranges around here these days, I garnished mine with a few blackberries…and I’ll say, it’s pretty delish!

Blackberry Negroni: Equal parts Gin, Campari and (sweet/red) Vermouth. I stirred mine in the mixing glass you see above from Umami Mart. Serve it chilled or on the rocks. Garnish with a blackberry and sip outdoors when the sun is getting low and golden!

***

More warm-weather drink ideas: Nectarine Campari Soda, Strawberry-Maple Fizz, Blackberry Shrub Mocktail.