You have two choices for Valentine's Day dinner: jockey for a reservation, or make a meal from scratch. If you decide to cook, we've gathered a few elegant recipes to help fill out your menu. Think earthy mushroom and truffle pasta, Nobu's classic black cod with miso, and fragrant Thai-spiced rib eyes, with a few salads and vegetable sides to match, too. Add a nice bottle of wine and some candles, and you'll be glad you stayed in.
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Lobster Thermidor
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Classic lobster thermidor stuffs gently cooked lobster meat back in its shell with a wine-based sauce and a touch of cheese before coming together under the broiler. We can't think of anything more impressive (and delicious) for date night.
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Moroccan-Style Lamb Shanks
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Red wine, tomatoes, harissa, almonds, mint, and cilantro give these slow-braised lamb shanks lots of bright flavor. Serve the lamb over couscous for an easy but impressive meal.
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Farro Mafaldine with Black Truffle Butter and Mushrooms
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Truffles are undeniably a special occasion ingredient, and there’s no better time to use them than a Valentine’s Day dinner. This elegant yet hearty dish pairs creamy butter, nutty farro pasta, and a fortifying mix of wild mushrooms with just enough truffle to elevate each forkful.
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Prakas' Rib Eye
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Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano adds an unexpected hit of nutty, sweet flavor to rib eye steaks marinated in Thai seasoning sauce, white pepper, and soy sauce. Stirring fresh Thai basil into the warm steak and tomatoes just before serving allows it to gently perfume the whole dish.
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Oysters with Yuzu Kosho Mignonette
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This simple appetizer is perfect for romantic special occasions. The dish combines citrusy and slightly spicy yuzu kosho with briny oysters on the half shell.
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Venetian Shrimp with Polenta
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Inspired by Schie con Polenta in Venice, Italy, David McCann tops simple polenta with garlicky, buttery shrimp he's cooked in white wine and chicken stock.
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Cocoa-Spiced Steaks with Red Wine–Chocolate Sauce
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These special occasion-worthy steaks start with a cocoa powder spice rub and finish with a luxurious red wine pan sauce. When combined with sweet paprika, allspice, and cayenne pepper, the cocoa powder offers a delicious, rounding earthiness in the spice rub. You won’t taste chocolate outright, but rather a depth of savory flavor that heightens the meatiness of the steak.
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Scallop Grenobloise
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Grenobloise means in the style of the southeastern French city of Grenoble, and refers to a classic French sauce of lemon and capers. Here, beautifully seared scallops with a golden crust are served in a sauce popping with acidity from lemon, brininess from capers, and slight warmth from mildly piquant jalapeños.
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Pomegranate-Glazed Salmon with Oranges, Olives, and Herbs
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Rich salmon is brightened up by winter citrus, paired with tartness from pomegranate molasses and butteriness from Castelvetrano olives.
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Roast Chicken with Hot Honey
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Save any leftover hot honey from this recipe to drizzle on pizza, cheese plates, and more.
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Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Strawberry–Merlot Sauce
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Chef Alex Hrabovsky leans on savory pork drippings and lush Merlot to balance the sweet-tart strawberries in this rich sauce for pork tenderloin. A gentle finish in the oven keeps the pan drippings from over-reducing.
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Grilled Lobster Tails with Stelline and Lemon
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Paula Disbrowe loves to make grilled lobster tails for Valentine’s Day, serving them over stelline (a small, star-shaped pasta) with a nice glass of white wine on the side.
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Black Cod with Miso
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Chef Nobu Matsuhisa's iconic, buttery miso cod recipe is both easy and elegant. This streamlined recipe delivers all the luxury and flavor in a fraction of the time.
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Gnocchi with Roast Chicken, Bacon, and Kale
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Roast chicken, crispy bacon, tender kale, and sweet red onion are tossed with gnocchi and topped with lemon zest and Parmesan for this sophisticated yet simple meal.
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Thousand-Layer Duck Fat Potatoes
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Duck fat lends richness to these crispy, fluffy potatoes, a worthy labor of love for an impressive dinner.
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Roasted Beet, Ruby Red Grapefruit, and Warm Honey Salad
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If you’re going for a red and pink theme for dinner, look no further than this roasted beet and grapefruit salad.
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Cauliflower Salad with Yogurt Sauce and Pomegranate
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Cookbook author Reem Kassis tops fried cauliflower with toasted nuts, pomegranate arils, and lemon-and-garlic-laced yogurt for this pretty salad. Cut the recipe in half if you're only cooking for two.
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Baked Goat Cheese Salad
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Don’t be put off by the long timestamp on this recipe — almost all of it is devoted to letting the goat cheese rounds refrigerate overnight. Besides, the end result is so good that we named the dish one of our 40 best recipes of all time.
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