February 9, 2021
No Comments
Culture, Food and Drink

Valentines Day Dinner Date Night At Home

Chef Andres Garcia showed us how to prepare two exquisite entrees, two side dishes, and a classic dessert that you can easily make at home for a delicious Valentines Day dinner date at home. Want to impress your girlfriend, wife, boyfriend, husband, or side-boo? Follow the recipes below and you will not disappoint.

Andres also made the dishes look as they would when made at home to help us non-experts feel more confident about our potential results at home. To see his professional, elegant, restaurant-grade dishes checkout his Instagram page @chef_desigual.

Couples cooking at home with wine in hand

Peruvian Ceviche

If you have never had Peruvian ceviche before, you are missing out! This dish is so easy and quick to make and so delicious. For our recipe we used the Mahi-Mahi fish. The sweet potato, the corn cob, and the corn-nuts were something new for us to have with ceviche but they  balanced out very nicely the other flavors of sour lime, salt, and the spicy habanero. It was also fresh and light so perfect as an appetizer or as an entree since you will want to keep eating more of it. Peruvian cuisine is one of Chef Garcia’s favorite food from Latin America and he really impressed us with his ceviche. Below are the ingredients and steps to make it.

Ingredients:

  • 2 pounds of fish (Tilapia or Mahi-Mahi)
  • 2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 glass of lime juice
  • 1 habanero pepper without seed
  • 1/2 red onion (feather cut)
  • 3 branches of coriander finely chopped
  • 1/2 boiled sweet potato
  • 2 boiled corn
  • 2 oz corn nuts or toasted corn

Process:

  1. Cut the fish to the size of a sugar packet, add the salt and let it rest for 3-5 minutes.
  2. Add the black pepper, mix and incorporate with the fish, add the lemon juice.
  3. Let stand for 5 to 10 minutes, mixing during this time a couple of times so that it is well incorporated.
  4. Add the habanero pepper to taste, the finely chopped cilantro and onion and mix.
  5. Cut the sweet potato into squares and the corn into slices.
  6. Serve the ceviche and garnish with the corn, sweet potato and corn nuts.

Chipotle Braised Rib

This is a classic American dish to which Chef Garcia added a Latin twist with the chipotle sauce. We used the short rib for our recipe but you can also use flank steak. It was tender, it was juicy, it was flavorful, with a very nice aroma, and in other words absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 3 Pounds of short rib or flank steak
  • 1 Brown Sugar Teaspoon
  • 1 Teaspoon of Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon of black pepper
  • 3 garlic
  • 1/2 white onion
  • 1 jalapeño
  • 2 branches of celery
  • 1 medium carrot
  • 1/4 of glass of red wine
  • 1/4 of glass of red wine
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 14 Oz Can of Dice tomatoes
  • 1/2 can of 7 Oz chipotle chili
  • 1 cube of chicken or tomato broth (Knorr)
  • 1 cube of beef broth (Knorr)

Process:

  1. Chop everything into squares
  2. Cut the meat into medium pieces and put them in a container, add brown sugar, salt and pepper, mix until everything is completely incorporated.
  3. In a frying pan, add oil, once very hot add the pieces of meat and seal on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. Once the meat is ready, transfer to a container to take it to the oven.
  4. In the same pan, sauté the garlic, onion, carrot jalapeño and celery for 3 minutes. Add the wine and boil for 2 minutes, add tomato paste and leave for another 2-3 minutes.
  5. Add the diced tomatoes and the finely chopped chipotle or mash with your hands using a glove so that a few good pieces of chipotle remain.
  6. Add the chicken and beef cubes and simmer for 3-5 minutes over medium heat.
  7. Add this sauce to the container with the meat, cover with aluminum foil and bake in the pre-heated oven at 350F for 2 1/2 -3 hours depending on the cut of the meat, I recommend 3 hours so that the meat is very soft and juicy.

Mash Potatoes

Ingredients:

  • 5 pounds of Idaho Potatoes
  • 2 oz butter
  • 1/2 glass of heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Process:

  1. Boil the potatoes until soft about 1 hour over medium heat.
  2. Transfer the potatoes to a container, add the rest of the ingredients and mash the potatoes with a potato press, incorporating evenly.

Sauteed Asparagus

  1. Wash the asparagus
    Cut 1/4 of the bottom of the stem
  2. Put the asparagus in a hot pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.
  3. The cooking time will depend on the size and thickness of the asparagus, they should be cooked but crisp.

Chocolate Covered Straberries

Ingredients:

  • Fresh strawberries
  • Chocolate to melt of your choice

Process:

  1. Wash the strawberries and pat dry
  2. In a container in a bain-marie (over a pot with boiling water) add the chocolate that is to the texture of honey
  3. Dip the strawberries in the chocolate
  4. Immediately put them on a plate and refrigerate for a few minutes. Chef Garcia recommends sprinkling the plate with oil or pan spray before placing so that the strawberries do not stick to the plate after they harden.

It was an honor to have Chef Garcia in our kitchen. Every one of the dishes that he prepared for us were absolutely delicious. It is evident that he is passionate about the culinary arts and enjoys being in the kitchen. Truly a master of his craft.

Thank you Chef Garcia for sharing with us these unique recipes with a Latin heat. We look forward to partnering up again soon to share more recipes from all over Latin America.