Valentine's Day To Stay
Your Valentine’s Day dinner kit is comprised of 4 courses. We suggest plating up your first course - the Fonduta with fennel salami and Giardiniera as a snack or precursor to the meal, however you may also want to do the full spread. Below we’ve included instructions for each course as well as a chronological steps for completing all cooking at the same time. You choose!
Set-up:
- 1 pot for reheating items
- 1 pot for cooking pasta
- 1 large sauce pan for finishing pasta & sauce
- 1 small sauce pan for heating polenta
- 1 small charcuterie board or plate
- 1 small bowl for fonduta sauce
- 1 plate for ravioli
- 1 plate for polenta & braised Oxtail
- 2 side plates for shared items
Course 1: Fonduta with Fennel Salami & Giardiniera (8 min)
1 - Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Float your deli container of fonduta in the water for 6-8 minutes until warmed.
2 - Neatly plate your salami and giardiniera on a small charcuterie board or plate.
3 - Transfer your fonduta to a small bowl for dipping. Keep your pot of water aside for later.
Course 2: Ravioli Carbonara (10 min)
1 - Bring a pot of water to a boil
2 - In a large sauce pan render pancetta over medium heat until browned on all sides, no cooking oil required. Once browned, turn heat to very low and allow the pancetta to continue to simmer in it’s juices, turn off heat if smoking. Do not strain fat or oils from the pan, these are used to emulsify your carbonara sauce.
3 - While pancetta is simmering, cook ravioli from frozen for 4 minutes.
4 - Add 1/2 cup of pasta water to your hot sauce pan, then transfer cooked ravioli to the pan, turn off the heat.
5 - Add your carbonara sauce to the pan and gently stir with a spatula or swirl the pan until the sauce is emulsified
6 - Plate ravioli onto a share plate and spoon carbonara sauce on top. Finish with ground Pecorino Romano cheese.
Course 3: Corn Polenta & Braised Oxtail
1 - Submerge your vac sealed bag of braised oxtail in boiling water for 20 minutes. Do not open the bag.
If you missed this step you can reheat in a covered pan and continuously add water to avoid reducing or drying the beef.
2 - Heat your polenta in a small sauce pan over medium heat until simmering. Salt to taste, add a tablespoon of butter for creaminess.
3 - Plate your polenta and spread evenly, then carefully transfer heated Oxtail using tongs to the plate. Pour all sauce on top.
Course 4: Budino
Ready to eat!
Follow these steps in order to ensure everything is ready around the same time (30 min total):
1 - Bring 2 pots of water to a boil.
2 - Place Braised Oxtail bag in one pot of boiling water to reheat, keep bag sealed (sous-vide method). Keep water at a simmer and allow beef to reheat while preparing other items.
3 - Neatly assemble your salami and giardiniera on a cutting board or plate with crostini.
4 - Float your small deli container of fonduta in you sous-vide pot to warm.
6 - Add your pancetta to a large sauce pan and render over medium heat until browned. Turn heat to very low and allow to simmer, turn off the heat if smoking.
7 - Cook ravioli from frozen in your 2nd pot of boiling water. Cook for 4 minutes.
8 - Add 1/2 cup of pasta water to hot sauce pan then add ravioli. Turn off the heat then add carbonara sauce. Gently stir or toss until sauce is emulsified.
9 - Plate ravioli onto a share plate and spoon carbonara sauce on top. Finish with ground Pecorino Romano cheese.
10 - Warm polenta in a pan over medium heat until it starts to bubble.
11 - Plate your polenta then carefully remove your oxtail from sealed bag and add on top.
12 - Transfer your fonduta from the deli container to small bowl.
13 - Your chocolate budino is ready to eat! No prep to finish off the meal.
pro tip - get your non-cooking partner to wash dirty pots as you go to avoid mess and arguments