Happy Valentine's Day

This year we decided to spend our first Valentine's Day as a married couple surrounded by friends. I hosted a six-course Italian dinner based recipes from Lisa Caponigri's Whatever Happened to Sunday Dinner? I love Hallmark holidays, so I was so excited to go all out. I have to apologize for the lack of photos. Since I was running around the kitchen like a mad-woman, I didn't have much time to capture the dinner. 

Valentine's Day 2016 Menu

White Bean and Rosemary Crostini

Ensalata

Porcini Mushroom Pasta

Porterhouse Steaks

Mushroom and Anchovies

Zuccotto Cake

While I would love to go into every detail of the cooking, I'll only highlight one recipe for this post. And really, I won't spend too much time on the recipe itself: The Zuccotto cake. When approaching Caponigri's recipes, I always make the dessert first. I actually had to Google what one looked like because I had no idea what I was doing. I am terrible with desserts. Baking, one of my new years resolutions, does not come easily to me. So I challenged myself to not buy a pre-made pound cake, but to bake my own. Well let's just say I dipped my toe in the water, I opted for the box recipe. I had a minor oven disaster when I filled the cake pans too full. Luckily, I was ahead of the game and save myself from burned cake batter crusted oven by placing the loaf pans on an old cookie sheet. The loaves turned out beautiful and perfect for the dessert.

I my dessert started early in the morning, layering the pound cake in a plastic wrap-lined Pyrex bowl. As I chatted on the phone with my mother, I had some serious doubts as to whether or not it would turn out. But the recipe calls for brandy, so brandy fixes everything right? After soaking the pound cake with the liqueur (in the future I would use a fruit brandy or a port), I layered a chocolate and whipped cream mixture over the pound cake. Here is where things got a little hairy. I did not wait long enough for the chocolate to properly cool, making the whipped cream runny, rather than stiff. Never fear, the mixture didn't separate. Next, I filled the remaining space in the bowl with slightly sweetened whipped cream and topped the bowl with another layer of pound cake. The dessert sat covered in the refrigerator until it was served after dinner. Upon inspection, an hour before serving, we decided to add about another 1/4 cup of brandy.. because why not?

When I flipped the bowl on to my cake plate and lifted, I was astonished that the cream had set and the cake didn't implode on itself. It had a beautiful pinwheel design from the slices of pound cake. I topped it with a dusting of powdered sugar (next time I'll also add some chocolate glazing). 

Well, that extra brandy really came through. Although the chocolate mousse had gone a bit flat, the flavors were delicious, the cream wasn't too sweet, and the brandy added an extra punch. 

It was the perfect way to finish a great dinner. The seven of us spent the night, until 12:30 AM, drinking wine and more brandy. These are the moments I want to build my life around. I want to spend my life around a cramped table on a Sunday night debating politics as the volume of our voices rises from the effects of alcohol. That is where family is built. 

For other recipes, see Lisa Caponigri's Whatever Happened to Sunday Night Dinner?