2 Recipes To Cook This Valentine’s Day

Swerving busy restaurants to cook for your other half this year? Impress your date by whizzing up these Valentine’s Day recipes from chef Shaun Rankin of Grantley Hall. Kick things off with a fragrant seafood risotto ahead of a decadent vanilla cheesecake topped with a blackberry and mint compote.

2 Valentine’s Day Recipes

Seafood Risotto

Ingredients:

• 400g of risotto rice
• 900ml of fish stock
• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 100ml of white wine
• 1 pinch of saffron
• 100g of cooked prawn, peeled
• 100g of mussels, cooked and shelled
• 4 scallops, sliced
• 75g of peas, cooked
• 1 tbsp of coriander, chopped
• 1 tbsp of tarragon, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of chervil, chopped
• 1 tbsp of dill, chopped
• 50g of butter
• 50g of Parmesan, grated
• Salt
• Black pepper, freshly ground

Method:

1. Heat 900ml of fish stock in a pan and keep warm
2. In a heavy saucepan, add the olive oil, onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf. Cook on a low heat for about 10 minutes, without colouring the onion, until soft and translucent.
3. Add 400g of risotto rice to the pan and with a wooden spoon, mix the rice into the onions. Once you hear the rice crack, add the white wine followed by a ladleful of stock and then the saffron and begin to stir. Make sure the rice has fully absorbed the stock before you add another ladle. Continue adding stock until the rice is tender and cooked through.
4. Beat the butter into the rice and add the prawns, mussels and lastly – the sliced scallops, peas and herbs. Stir with care, as you want to just warm the seafood and gently cook the scallops.
5. Finish with some grated Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Divide the risotto between plates or bowls and serve immediately.

Vanilla Cheesecake with Blackberries & Mint Compote

Ingredients:

• 110g unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
• 225g digestive biscuits
• 100ml double cream
• 2 eggs
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 vanilla pods
• 675g cream cheese
• 250g blackberries
• 2 tbsp icing sugar, heaped
• 1 dash lemon juice
• 6 mint leaves, chopped

Method

1. Start by making the compote. Place the blackberries, icing sugar and lemon juice in a pan with 3 tbsp of water. Bring to the boil and cook the fruit for 4 minutes. Transfer the blackberries and their juices to a bowl and leave to chill in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas mark 4. Grease the base and sides of the individual tins.
3. Melt the butter in a saucepan and remove from the heat.
4. Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin to make breadcrumbs. Mix the crumbs well with the melted butter and place the mix into the cake tins so the coverage is around 1 cm thick. Using the back of a spoon, press down firmly and evenly onto the biscuit until flat to form solid bases.
5. Place the cream, eggs and caster sugar into a large bowl and mix well. Split the vanilla pods and scrape the seeds into the mixture. Add in the cream cheese and beat until smooth.
6. Pour the mixture onto the biscuit bases. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes until set.
7. Turn the oven off and open its door, leaving the cheesecakes to bake out for 10 minutes before removing. Allow to cool.
8. Before serving, add the chopped mint leaves to the compote. Transfer the cheesecakes onto plates and spoon over the blackberry compote.