A Valentine's Day four course meal

One of the things that really annoys me about Valentine's Day is that restaurants that you would normally pay, say, $40 to feed two people find it apt to charge, say, $120 just because it's a special "date night." This past Valentine's Day, we decided to shun the restaurant scene and instead took a blustery, wintry walk to the farmer's market to talk to the vendors braving the winds. We got two bone-in lamb shanks for cheap (from Hannewald), and picked up some bread and veggies too. Also bought on the way home: a loaf of bread, prosciutto, dried figs, strawberries and raspberries (definitely not seasonal, but it was a special occasion after all).

The lamb shanks braised in a garlicky tomato and wine sauce for a few hours, while we tossed together a salad and toasted up some bread slices to make some crostini. Mark rubbed garlic on the bread slices and topped them with prosciutto, fig bits, and mint, then drizzled it all with some fantastic, slick-as-oil, thick-as-honey, aged "diamond" balsamic from Madison's Vom Fass. This stuff is so good, it's being hoarded for special occasions only!

Lamb braising:

In the meantime, I whipped up some shortcake batter and put some scone-size dollops in the oven. While those were going, I made some chocolate tuiles and draped them over a rolling pin to cool. These were served with big dollops of home-made whipped cream and fresh fruit.

The end result:
Well, salad is salad.
The crostini were a huge surprise. The sweet fig really went well with the slightly salty prosciutto, the balsamic tied it all together, and the mint added more depth to the entire thing. Next time we'll definitely use thinner pieces of bread, but who can complain about big hunks of bread in the winter time? Braising lamb shanks made these cheap cuts really tender and flavorful; the marrow in the bone also absorbed the flavor of the cooking liquid and was really enjoyable as well. We ate the lamb shanks with a side of roasted garlicky potatoes, which got nice and crunchy in the oven.
Shortcakes and tuiles were refreshing and light (even with the whipped cream), especially after the lamb shanks. The fresh fruit was tart, the cream lightly sweetened, and the tuiles nice and crispy. Leftover mint from the crostinis were a good garnish.
So there you have it... a Valentine's Day, four-course dinner for two. It's important to note that we spent maybe $40 on the ingredients for this meal, which was just as good as anything we'd get at a restaurant (possibly better, if you think about all those times you order things you THINK you want, just because they're on the menu). This meal included all the things we knew we like to eat and cooked the way we wanted them cooked. But most importantly, we got to huddle up at home, get comfortable, spend time over the stove together, and eat what we made together. No dark restaurants squinting at each other over candlelight, with bad muzak -- just good wine, good food, and good company!