steak – Simi's trinkets and treats

This week has been so much fun preparing so far. Today we can put together all the foods for our Vampire Valentines dinner. It will include some lovely tomato soup,some medium to raw steak with a cherry wine sauce and red velvet brownies. Also don’t forget your Vampire Blood cocktail

I’ve tried to use foods with shades of red because vampires when I think of vampires I always think of red and blacks.

Tomato soup

I’ve used my homemade soup recipe for this meal.

Steak and sauce

Red wine and cherry sauce

1tbs honey
2 tbs sugar
1 cup pitted cherries
1 cup red wine

Heat the honey in a pan on a low heat, add the cherries then add the sugar. Let it simmer until the sugar has disolved. Add the wine and bring to a simmer. This sauce is great to add to steak. You can even cook the steak or pieces of beef in this sauce for a lovely bold wine infused taste.

I’ve chosen steak because vampires would probably be more into meaty dishes than vegetables…. you can cook the steak the way you prefer, but I made mine extra raw for visuals.

Red Velvet and Oreo truffle brownies.

Red velvet brownies. To keep things simple for the brownies I used a red velvet mug recipe as it reduces the baking time especially since Valentines day is on a week day this year and you might not have a lot of time to prepare your meal.

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INGREDIENTS

3 tbsp buttermilk
1½ tbsp vegetable oil
red gel food colouring
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch salt
4 tbsp self-raising flour, see notes

Truffle topping

4 Oreo cookies
1 tablespoon cream cheese
100g melting chocolate

Mix all the wet ingredients together. Then and the sugar cocoa and salt. Whisk mixture together. Fold in the self-raising flour. Grease a square (5×3 1/2 inc) microwave proof container. Microwave at high for 1-1/12 minutes.

Crush the Orea cookies and melt the cream cheese in the microwave (1/2 minute). Mix the cookies and cream cheese together and scoop onto the red velvet cake. You will have to help the mixture along with your finger. Top with melted chocolate and cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes. It could also be served warm.

….and there it is, your vampire inspired Valentines dinner.

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When I was really young I remember watching a movie where they asked the criminal what his last meal would be. It makes one think… if you had one last meal to wish for what would it be. I suppose it will change from day to day, depending on what you really crave.

In my current state of mind, if I had one last meal to choose I would choose the following.

For an entree I would like garlic snails, it is something my dad use to make at home and we could buy it in any restaurant in South Africa. They use to drench the snails in cheddar cheese. Nowadays you only get garlic snails with cheese sauce, which is definitely not the same thing. This picture is from Spur restaurant in South Africa.

For my main meal I would like a medium to rare steak in red wine sauce with caramelised sweet potato, green beans in cream and some baked potatoes.

Then for a desert I would like Malva pudding. It is my absolute favourite dessert. It is a traditional South African pudding in a creamy buttery sweet sauce.