Valentine's Day Menu

This Valentines Day was a struggle. Earlier last month my car was towed in DUMBO, and although I was lucky to find this out quickly and was close enough to walk to the tow yard to pick the car up, I was down a couple hundred bucks. Needless to say, Valentine's was freaking me out a little bit. Luckily, we had enough basic groceries in the pantry and freezer that I was able to whip up a nice meal for Brittany, and Valentines ended up being quite nice. I started off with a risotto with asparagus and pancetta. We already had a little arborio rice, but not quite enough for a full serving. To make up for this I used some wild black rice that we've had stowed away forever. All I needed to buy was the pancetta. Next I made Chicken Francese, a meal I've tried and failed to make in the past. We had plenty of chicken in the freezer, so all I ended up buying was some lemons and a bunch of parsley. For dessert, I baked chocolate chip cookies with white and chocolate chips from scratch. Yeah. I bake.

Here's the recipe:

Wild-Rice Risotto with Asparagus and Pancetta

1/2 cup Arborio Rice
1 cup Wild Rice
handful of parsley
1/4 lb Pancetta, diced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
olive oil
3 tbsp Butter
freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
1/2 lb. Asparagus


1.Boil about 3 quarts of water in a large pot. Add the asparagus and blanche for about 1 minute. Remove the asparagus and immediately put it in a bowl of ice water to shock the asparagus. Chop the aspragus lengthwise into 1 inch portions, and put it aside.

(Now you can do one of two things. You can either save the hot water that you boiled the asparagus in and use that a sort of vegetable broth, just keep the water on a simmer. You can also use chicken stock, just use low-sodium if that's the direction you want to go in.)

2.In a large heavy bottomed pan (at least three inches high), heat about 2 tbsp. olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the chopped onion and pancetta. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until the onions turn opaque and the pancetta is fragrant.

3.Add both kinds of rice to the pan. Toast the rice in the pan for about 2 minutes, until the arborio rice turns opaque.

4.Ladle in the warm asparagus water or chicken stock, enough to cover the rice mixture evenly. Bring the mixture to a slow boil. Stir constantly, seriously, your arms will hurt.

5.Keep stirring till the stock evaporates below the line of the rice, and then add more stock one ladleful at a time. Do this for about 15 minutes. The arborio rice should be creamy and the wild-rice should still be a little firm.

6.Turn the heat off. Add in the butter, parsley, and parmigiano-reggiano. Stir it all together, add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Chicken Francese

1 1/2 lbs Chicken Breast
1 lemon
handful of chopped parsley
4 eggs
flour, about 2 cups to dredge
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
olive oil
2 tbsp. butter

1. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the trimmed chicken breast till it's about a 1/4 in. thick.

2. In a large skillet or cast-iron skillet heat about 1/2 cup of olive oil.

3. Assemble your breading station. In a large dish, add the flour with some salt and pepper. Use a fork to stir it all together. In a separate wide bowl, scramble the eggs with about 3 tbsp. of water to make an egg wash. First dredge the chicken in the flour. Give it an even coating and then shake off any excess flour. Next, drop it in the egg wash. Let any excess egg trickle off the meat and then add directly to the skillet. You can probably fit about 2 chicken breast per batch.

4. Fry the cutlets for about 2 minutes each side, or until each side is golden brown. When the cutlet is done put it in a large platter to reserve.

5. Meanwhile, cut half a lemon into thin slices and reserve the other half.

6.When the cutlets are done, drop the thin slices of lemon into the pan and cook for about 1 minute. The lemon should become fragrant, just don't let it burn.

7. De-glaze the pan with white wine. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Then add the chicken stock, and the juice of the other half of lemon you were holding aside. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for about 3 minutes.

8. Roll the butter in some of the flour from earlier. Swirl it into the pan. The sauce should thicken.

9. Next, add the chicken back into the pan with the lemon slices sitting atop the chicken. Simmer for another 3-4 minutes in the sauce. When all the cutlets are done and are assembled on a platter, season with salt and pepper, then cover the chicken with sauce in the pan. Garnish with some chopped parsley.