Romanticizing Your Valentine’s Day Reunion Diet Dinner Many of these foods physically represented the male and female anatomy. Foods like figs, asparagus, orchid bulbs, nuts were all used for their symbolic representations while others, like garlic, ginger, curry, mustard where consumed for their heating properties. Although, each culture has their own rituals and food friendly helpers among the most common are basil, garlic, ginger, carrot, honey, pistachio, sage, strawberries, figs, fennel and oysters.
Our recipe includes a few of these item in a warm pine nut crusted oyster salad served with a refreshing citrus, peppered arugula, mildly steamed asparagus and drizzled a slightly spicy honey mustard. A perfect dish for its balance of spicy and sweet that is not too heavy. Serve with full body Chardonnay or Champagne.
Pine nut crusted Baked Oysters
Over Arugula and Asparagus Salad
Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
Pine nut crusted Baked Oysters
Serves 2:
12 dozen Oysters
2/3 chopped fine Pine nuts
½ teaspoon garlic-chopped
1 Tbls grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp butter
2 cups of Arugula
1 cup of Asparagus- steamed 1 minute in micro-pinch kosher salt-cooled-cut 3”
8 orange sections- 4 each salad-blood orange or tangerine good options
4 each cherry tomatoes- cut in half
Honey Mustard Dressing
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup of honey
½ lemon juiced
1 Tbls of Dijon mustard
Directions
1-Preheat oven to 325° F.
2-Generously spray with Pam, an ovenproof baking dish large enough to hold oysters in one layer.
3-Melt 1 teaspoons butter in a 6 to 8-inch skillet. When foam subsides, add pine nuts and garlic; toss in butter until crisp and golden.
4- Spread pine nut garlic mixture in bottom of baking dish and top with oysters.
5-Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and spread over oysters.
6- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the crust are golden and juices are bubbling. Serve immediately.
Salad
Serves 2:
Ingredients:
2 cups of Arugula
1 cup of Asparagus- steamed 1 minute in micro-pinch kosher salt-cool
8 orange sections- 4 each salad-blood orange or tangerine good options
4 each cherry tomatoes- cut in half
Honey Mustard
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup of honey
½ lemon juiced
1 Tbls of Dijon mustard
1-Combine all ingredients.
2- Shake and serve.
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