Valentine's Dinner

Can you believe I never once thought to break out the camera to take photos of before, during and after the Valentine's dinner?  Me neither!  It never even occurred to me till about 2 a.m. that I could have turned this into a beautiful post.  Damn.

But what I missed in photos I will fill in with recipes!  I made these beautiful Seafood Roulades with Compound Butter, Artichokes and Coconut-Lime Jasmine Rice.  We had wonderful champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries as well.  There were chirimoyas to finish up with but we were too full. I will make something out of them today.

Here is the recipe for the Seafood Roulades as written.  Below that I will tell you what I did differently and how I tweaked it and made it 100 times better!

Seafood Roulades with Compound Butter

2 salmon fillets, thin
3 flounder fillets
8 whole sea scallops
1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 stick butter, room temp.
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

On your counter top lay out a sheet of parchment paper and top it with a layer of plastic wrap.  Lay out your fillets of salmon, tails away from you. Over lay the fillets of flounder about 1 inch over the tails of the salmon. Then place the scallops on a metal skewer and set at the end of the flounder furthest away from you. Sprinkle the fish with the herbs and salt and pepper.

Using the plastic wrap lift and pull the far end of the fish towards you so that the plastic begins to pull the flounder over the scallops (jelly roll style). Be sure not to roll the plastic into the fish roll. Use a sheet pan to push the roll tightly as the pull the plastic toward you. (This is much like rolling sushi and is much easier to do than it is to describe!). The roll should be tight and you should be able to remove the sheet of plastic.  Then roll the fish in the parchment away from you so it is covered and can be placed in the refrigerator. Refrigerator for 1 hour or longer.

Meanwhile make the compound butter by placing the room temperature butter in a large bowl and using a wooden spoon mix all ingredients into it. Place the mixture on a piece of parchment in the shape of a sausage and roll the parchment around it and twist the ends. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to set up or just leave in the refrigerator.  When it is firm, slice into 1/4-inch rounds and remove the parchment.

Preheat your broiler and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heating element.  Remove the metal skewer and slice the roulade into 3/4 to 1 inch rounds.  You should get about 9 or 10 rounds out of this. Place the rounds onto a broiler pan that is lightly brushed with oil and then remove the parchment from each roulade. You can brush the tops lightly with the oil as well. Cook under the broiler for 3 to 6 minutes depending on how well done you like your fish and how thick your slices are.

Serve each fish roll with a slice of the compound butter on top.

****Notes****  I saw this done on Alton Brown's show in Food Network.  It really is easy to do and difficult to describe.  The first time I made this I was disappointed in how bland it all was.  Booooorrrriinggg!  But I knew this recipe had potential, so I upped everything and it was so flipping good this time, it was fabu-licious!!!

Here is what I did: My fish guy didn't have flounder, so I used Dover Sole.  I used marjoram and thyme rather than dill and parsley.  I added in several tablespoons of lemon and lime zest, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic and more salt and pepper.  Then I sprinkled this all over the fish before I rolled it.

For the compound butter I used the marjoram, thyme, lemon zest, salt and pepper but no garlic.

I cut the lemons and limes that I zested into thirds and threw them in the pot with the artichokes along with some garlic, salt and olive oil and just cooked till tender.

This is one of those dinners with lots of prep work and then it all comes together easy-peasy.  Give it a try and see what you think.

Oh, and last time I made the roulades I served them with roasted asparagus and sweet potatoes cooked in orange cups.  Think of the possibilities of using different types of fish, or rolling around shrimp or lobster or some lump crab.

Buen Provecho!