In planning a romantic dinner for your significant other, there are several factors to consider. First and foremost, consider what your mate's tastes are. I know Jessica is not crazy for too sweet, and she relishes the acidic. I also know my woman loves lighter foods. When planning your meal, don't forget that you need to eat too, so balance the selections with what you like. Second, consider how your partner likes to eat. Jessica really likes to avoid waste and particularly seems to like fusion dishes inspired from classical cuisines. She also wants her meals to be balanced with veggie, protein, and grains. And third, come up with a consistent theme in both taste and appearance. All three of these factors helped me dream up my Valentine's Day menu for Jessica.

Appetizer: Blackstick, Pork, & Pear in Endive

Even 1/4" dice of Forelle Pear and cooked, left-over pork tenderloin combined with English Blackstick, with just a touch of salt and black pepper. Served in rinsed endive leaves. The saltiness of the cheese was a great accent against the pear (they're a classic combination) plus the protein texture from the pork. It came together really well. The creaminess of the cheese was just perfect.

Entree: Grapefruit-Steamed Turbot Fillet with Blackberry-Ginger Sauce

A large grapefruit was juiced into our wok, then the rinds were added, plus some water and marjoram. After bringing that to a boil, seasoned turbot fillets were placed into a bamboo steamer over the wok.

Meanwhile, minced, fresh ginger took a sautee in unsalted butter with kosher salt and white pepper. After a few minutes, cayenne pepper and granulated garlic were added. Then fresh blackberries and cold water were added. Throughout the covered, low simmer I regularly stirred and mashed the blackberries. The aroma filled the air. Finally, I strained the sauce through a fine mesh and pressed all the liquid out.

After plating the fish, I dressed it with the sauce. The fish was buttery and perfectly cooked, but I was let down when I tasted it. It did not take enough of the acid I was hoping for. I should have bathed it in the grapefruit juice after cooking it. But it was delicious and the sauce was perfectly fruity and tangy.

Grain: Parsley Rice
Coming home late from work, I wanted to move dinner along as quickly as possible. So I tried to cook things is the ideal order. The first item that started was rice, since that takes 25 minutes by itself. I measured out a cup of rice, added a healthy dose of dried parsley and kosher salt. After bringing it to a boil, then steaming it for 20 minutes, I fluffed it and let it sit until plating.

Vegetable: Starry, Yellow Wax Beans

After rendering out the fat from chopped bacon, I quickly mixed in thinly sliced halves of star fruit and quarters of cherry tomatoes. The mixture was lightly seasoned with black pepper and marjoram. And finally, cleaned and blanched yellow wax beans were mixed in.

While the bacon should have been a bit crisper, I really loved the fat from the bacon against the fruitiness of the star fruit and acid from the tomatoes. The crisp wax beans were amazing in the dish.

Final Plating
The rice and fish were plated on our most basic white plates. The overall look was very clean: white plates, white rice, and white fish. Then I dressed the fish with the beautiful, dark red sauce. Normally, this color contrast would be a bit too stark for a meal, but it seemed appropriate for Valentine's Day, so that it was focused on the red.

The yellow beans, yellow starfruit, and red tomatoes were a great side accent to the plate.

Dessert: Blackberry & Pear Sauce over Almond Cake

I really wanted to pick up on all the flavors we've had in the dessert. I took left-over almond cake that Jessica made for Monica and Sarah (who launched her new food blog! Savory / Sweet) and cut them into about 1.5" rounds with a cookie cutter (with corrugated edges).

Then I added honey and vanilla extract to the leftover sauce from the fish. I tossed in diced pear and blackberries and dressed the cake. Final decoration included a whole blackberry and powdered sugar.

In summary, we both enjoyed the meal very much, and we particularly loved how the dessert tasted. It was so distinctive: spicy and sweet, just wonderful. I had seconds.

We hope you get seconds of everything you taste on your Valentine's Day. ;-)