Meals to rock your valentine

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/02/2018 (3075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If the love of your life rocks your world, then Valentine’s Day is your shot to treat them like the rock star of romance they are. Start by lining up the right music (you know what you like). Then get your groceries organized and cook up a meal together. Follow that with up with some live music here in the city.

But first, the victuals.

The recipes being suggested here are suitably cool, coming from Mark Bego’s Eat Like a Rock Star: More Than 100 Recipes From Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Greatest (Skyhorse Publishing, $38.99).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFlNBqKl9nA

Bego (markbego.com) is a New York Times best-selling author of 62 books on rock ’n’ roll, country music and show business. The guy pumps out pop music biographies the way the Beatles used to churn out chart-toppers.

Accordingly, he has made a lot of friends in the business, and some of them can cook. He’s put them together, with anecdotes and plenty of photos (of both food and stars) in this upbeat compendium. The contents cover everything for all three mealtimes plus hors d’oeuvres, sides, desserts and cocktails, which yield servings that range from one to 12, and it’s a handy book to have on the shelf. And because these recipes are from “rock stars” not “rock stars of chefdom,” there are enough super-easy ones to choose from until you get your kitchen chops in order.

There are four recipes here, chosen not for their musicality, but for their compatibility on your plate. These yield enough for four or more (maybe a double date?), but you can cut them in half or save the extras for lunch tomorrow. All are excerpted with permission from Skyhorse Publishing from Eat Like a Rock Star: More Than 100 Recipes from Rock ‘n’ Roll’s Greatest by Mark Bego. Copyright © 2017.

Ginger Scallion Salmon

Chef: Sean Lennon

Serves 4

Ingredients

250 ml (1 cup) fresh ginger

250 ml (1 cup) scallions

30 ml (1/8 cup) olive oil

4 salmon filets, with or without skin

60 ml (1/4 cup) soy sauce

Peel or cut the skin off of the ginger. With a very sharp knife, carefully cut the ginger into thin coin-sized slices. Then, cut the slices into what Sean describes as “spaghetti strips.” Next, Sean says, “Chop the scallions vertically into thin slices.”

In a large frying pan or grilling pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. If your salmon filets are skinless, place them meat side down to sear them. If your salmon has skin, start cooking with the meat side down and the skin side up.

After 3 minutes on that side, turn the salmon filets over. Sean instructs: “Smother the salmon with a blanket of ginger and scallions. Cover the pan with the lid for 5 minutes. Then sprinkle soy sauce into the pan, and heat for 10 seconds, covered. Whatever you do, do not burn the soy sauce. You know how bad it smells burned; you want to avoid that.” I gave the fish closer to a full minute with the soy sauce to make sure the flavour steamed into the salmon. I served it with additional soy sauce to give it an added Asian-flavoured tang.

Asian FusionGarlic Noodles

Chef: Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men

4 servings as a main course or 8 servings as a side dish.

Ingredients

Water, to boil noodles

454 g (1 lb) linguini, spaghetti, or rice noodles

30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil

8 to 10 cloves minced garlic

1 stick (125 ml / 4 oz or 8 tbsp) butter

30 ml (2 tbsp) garlic powder

10 ml (2 tsp) chicken bouillon powder, dissolved in 1/8 cup of boiling water

30 ml (2 tbsp) Chinese oyster sauce

125 ml (½ cup) grated Parmesan cheese

Garnish:

Chopped scallions

Boil the water, then add the noodles. In a small frying pan, add olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until it starts to brown. Turn the heat off, and add the butter to the hot pan to melt it. Add the garlic powder, chicken bouillon liquid and oyster sauce, and mix together.

When the noodles are done cooking, drain and return them to the pot they were boiled in. Pour the buttery garlic-flavoured sauce on top of the noodles. Add Parmesan cheese, and toss together.

Garnish with chopped scallions. Serve immediately.

Spinach Sauté

Chef: Sarah Dash of LaBelle

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

90 ml (3 tbsp) olive oil

90 ml (3 tbsp) butter

1 chopped Spanish onion

5 to 6 cloves chopped garlic

454 g (1 lb) fresh baby spinach*

30 ml (2 tbsp) water

1 ml (¼ tsp) sea salt

1 ml (¼ tsp) ground black pepper

1 ml (¼ tsp) cayenne pepper

In a very large frying pan, wok, or Dutch oven, add olive oil, butter, chopped onion, and garlic, and sauté. Cook over medium-high heat until the onions and garlic are slightly brown.

Next, add the spinach, water, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Stir upward from the bottom, incorporating the hot oil, onions, and garlic onto the spinach leaves. Very quickly, what once looked like an insurmountable mountain of spinach will wilt to about one-fifth its original size. Sauté the mixture for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how you like your spinach.

That is all that there is to it, and it is ready to serve!

* Sarah shares a shortcut version of this recipe: “I like to use frozen spinach, because the block of spinach almost instantly defrosts, and it works just as well.”

Bourbon Passion Cocktail

Chef: Mary Wilson of the Supremes

Ingredients

2 oz bourbon

2 oz passion fruit nectar or passion fruit cocktail

2 oz sweet and sour lemon bar mix

Lemon slice

Pour the bourbon, passion fruit nectar or passion fruit cocktail, and sweet and sour lemon bar mix into a shaker with ice. Vigorously shake, and strain into a martini glass. Garnish glass with lemon slice.

Twitter: @WendyKinginWpg