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What’s your inclination for a Valentine’s Day meal: elegant and involved (ala Martha Stewart) or fast and fun (Rachael Ray)? Culinary speed queen Rachael Ray and domestic authority Martha Stewart recently sat down with The AP to chart out their ideas for the perfect at-home dinner for the Valentines Day.
Hoping to ease some of the Hallmark moment anxiety couples new and old face on this day defined by hearts and cards, both agreed that the perfect ending to the perfect meal is a snuggle on the couch accompanied by a good movie; some options are Casablanca or When Harry Met Sally, Ray’s picks, or Out of Africa or the 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice, as Stewart suggested.

“Cards have to be sent. I love cards and I send them to every man I care about, whether they’re boyfriends, former boyfriends or business colleagues,” Stewart said. “And I make up silly cards because I think Valentine’s Day is a silly holiday.” Before the meal, Stewart would serve a cocktail or rose Champagne. And she likes the idea of a duet, a meal the couple plans and prepares together. “Some men don’t like to cook at all, so you just let them get drunk,” Stewart said, laughing.

Start the dinner with a salad of gently roasted vegetables, perhaps wild mushrooms and baby asparagus tossed with fresh herbs, mache (a salad green) and sliced endive. Then move on to pasta, such as fettuccini Alfredo with shaved white truffles. If white truffles aren’t your thing, or are out of your budget, Stewart suggests a Parmesan souffle. Then continue the theme into dessert with a pistachio soufflz with a molten chocolate center.
For a special touch, Stewart enjoys making a heart-shaped box, which she fills with chocolates, candies or pastries. The directions for making such boxes appear in the current issue of Stewart’s magazine. And don’t forget to set the mood with an attractively set table, flowers and, of course music. Stewart opts for Leonard Cohen.

For this dinner, Ray suggests starting with a salad of caramelized onions and toasted hazelnuts over baby spinach and plum tomatoes.
Pair that with a skillet steak with a cognac sauce, a good opportunity to impress your date by getting fancy with flames in the kitchen. It’s also a good chance to end the evening in the ER, so don’t get too cocky. And for dessert, chocolate cups topped with fresh whipped cream.
Most importantly, don’t stress. If the meal tanks, get takeout.
“Even if you burn everything, even if it looks like charcoal briquettes or there’s too much salt or if you brought a cassava melon home instead of a spaghetti squash, it doesn’t matter because the effort was made,” Ray said.