how to make a romantic meal that doesn’t weigh you down

Looking to create a healthy, romantic dinner for valentines day that impresses your partner while it nourishes, leaving you satisfied and still fit enough to dance afterward?

Look no further!

This curated and unique menu features a romantic red meat main course, a stunning dessert, and a refreshing mead pairing, all crafted with clean ingredients to nourish the body and soul, as per usual. If you’ve never tried mead by the way, my condolences.

Mead is a honey based wine, frequently found in ye olde days, and featured predominantly in movies in television that evoke a time bygone – Game of Thrones, The Witcher. It is the pub drink, the viking swill. It is delicious. 

The meals I recommend in this post will be pulled from a book titled The Art of Mead Tasting and Food Pairing Hardcover by Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor. I have been a Mead Maiden (girl who loves mead) since a close friend of mine began working at a meadery, and I was introduced to the most whimsical and pleasant alcohol there is. There’s just something so richly romantic about it, it evokes renaissance and medieval celebration, two things I adore. Plus, you can make it at home – and anything “DIY-able” has my heart. 

Okay, on to the food.

Here is the secret nobody tells you. Valentine’s Day recipe’s don’t have to be complicated, they only have to be good. 

I am an avid cooker, and I have been since I started college. I tried everything, ranging from sourdough bread (which I still struggle with, much to my chagrin) to beef wellington. I made that one for my dad’s birthday, and turns out, its delicious! And unnecessarily complicated. 

I love the warm, proud feeling that comes will pulling off a complicated recipe – but I have to admit, some of the best I’ve ever made have been simpler. That’s why I save the difficult ones for fun, and make sure that any events or holiday dinners are simple, easy, and impressive.

That’s what I’ve prioritized for you here. Dishes that are difficult to mess up, with a high pay-off. Remember – the quality of your ingredients go a long, long way, in ways you can see and taste. If you can, source organic produce and local meat.

An absolute showstopper, rack of lamb terrified me for a long time. It’s so beautiful, it seemed undoubtedly difficult!

Only this past Yule did I try making one, a different recipe but still impressive – and damn, did I kick myself for waiting so long. Turns out, its actually one of the easiest red meats to get right.

Aside from the protein, lamb is full of fatty acids and  conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), good for reducing inflammation and boosting heart health.

I will restate – if you can, source local, and grass fed. It gives it an incredible clean and fresh taste that doesn’t come in corn fed. 

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the onion, de-stem the figs, and slice each one lengthwise into six strips. Trim the fennel bulb, slice into quarters or eighths, so they’re similar size to the figs and onions. 
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the figs, onions, and fennel in the baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and thoroughly coat the pieces. Bake this just the way it is for 1-15 minutes – or just until they get a little bit of color. That way they’ll be perfect when the lamb is done cooking. 
3. Combine garlic, vinegar, and your spices (rosemary, thyme, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper) with about 1/4 cup of olive oil. If you have mortar and pestle, here is where to whip it out. 
4. Time to get your hands herby – massage that paste we just made into the lamb. Coat it generously, don’t skimp on this. 
5. In an ovenproof skillet, I use a cast iron, heat a little bit of oil and sear the rack of lamb on all sides. We just want to cook until it has a nice color, so make sure your pan is hot. This is also going to help keep all that moisture inside while its in the oven, ensure a tender and moist cut. Once its colored, place the lamb in the pan and cover in the fennel, figs, and onion we baked earlier.
6. Cover it all with foil, and lower your temp to 300 degrees. Bake for about an hour on this low temperature. Garnish if you’re feeling saucy. Serve. Impress. Win. 

2. Warm Ginger Cake w/ Candy Blood Oranges

Ginger is an underrepresented dessert ingredient – spicy in that light, sweet way. This warm ginger cake is going to play tastefully off of the herbal rack of lamb. I made this cake for a Over-The-Garden-Wall themed dinner for my partner, since it was their first time watching it. 

Ginger is a beautiful ingredient in any dish, and has many potential health benefits, including reducing nausea, improving digestion, and reducing inflammation. Our goal is reduce inflammation and aid digestion so we don’t leave our meal bloated and tired, so this is a great option for dessert, a traditionally filling course.

Instructions:

1. Preheat your over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter a nine inch round pan. Cut your oranges in half, and then begin to cut in slices – should be half circles. Make them as thin as you possible can! Mix the brown sugar and 2tbsp of butter until smooth, then pour into your pan and spread evenly. Lay your oranges on top, shingle style. The glaze will candy your orange slices, making them utterly delectable. 
2. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter until fluffy and light. Then, add eggs and molasses. 
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and all of your spices. Gradually stir this into the butter mixture, carefully, so as to fully incorporate. Add hot water and blend until smooth – but only until then. If you overmix the batter will get too thick, and the cake will turn out tough. Pour your batter into your prepared pan. 
4. Bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let your pan cool, and then flip onto a plate. Garnish as desired. 

 Okay. Ultimately, you can decide on whichever flavor profile you’d like, it is, after all, your dinner. I will however recommend some of my favorite options: while I am no professional, I can say I have a healthy and varied experience with mead. 

If you want to match the fig: Iqhilika Cape White Fig Mead

If you want to match the ginger: Superstition Meadery War Honey

If you want something simple: Honeygirl Wildflower Mead

If you want something unique: Superstition Meadery 2024 Girl Math

All of these meads are delicious, and I am particularly partial to any by Superstition Meadery – but you can also just read their descriptions and find something close. Mead is always reliably good, you can kind of approach it with a spray-and-pray mentality. 

 I selected each of these meals – with the exception of two our of the four recommended meads – from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Art of Mead Tasting & Food Pairing by Chrissie Manion Zaerpoor. If you are at all interested in mead, or have a partner or friend who has an eye for the strange and unusual, the quirky and unique, or they just really like the renaissance fair, this would be an excellent gift and surprise.