The origins of Valentine's Day seems to trace back to an ancient Roman celebration called Lupercalia held on 15 February. Lupercalia honoured the gods Lupercus and Faunus, as well as the legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The festival involved a huge feast, but it also included the pairing of young women and men. Men would draw women's names from a box, and each couple would be paired until the next year's celebration.
The pairing of these couples set the tone for what we now know as Valentine's Day but the actual name came about when a priest named Valentine, a romantic at heart, disobeyed Emperor Claudius II's decree that soldiers should remain bachelors. Claudius believed that soldiers would be distracted and unable to concentrate on fighting if they were married or engaged. Valentine defied the emperor and secretly performed marriage ceremonies. As a result of his defiance, Valentine was put to death on the 14th February. He was named a saint after his death and, as christianity moved through Rome, the priests moved Lupercalia from 15th February to 14th February and renamed it St. Valentine's Day in honour of Saint Valentine.
I don't know if you've ever tried to book a table at a restaurant on the 14th February but, unless you book months in advance, you are going to be disappointed! Here's my suggestion: surprise your sweetheart with a delicious, home cooked meal complete with red wine, candles and a yummy chocolate dessert (because nothing says I love you like chocolate;) The nice thing about being at home is that you can decorate how you want, make your Valentine their favourite meal AND you can drink a glass of wine without worrying about driving. There's also the added advantage of privacy... ;)
These days, custard is NOT what it used to be. It used to be made from real ingredients. Now you buy a tub of custard powder and mix it with milk and it is full of things you really don't want to be eating. Artificial colours and flavours being the main things to avoid aside from preservatives and loads of sugar. It's so easy to make from scratch and it tastes SO MUCH BETTER!
So, here is a yummy, decadent, creamy chocolate dessert which will go equally well on a slice of cake OR on your Valentine! But I will leave that to your imagination;)
Chocolate Custard
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (you can find the REAL one at Dischem)
2 Tbs raw honey
1/4 teaspoon unrefined mineral salt (himalayan rock salt or sea salt)
3 egg yolks
85 grams dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (Woolies has a delicious, organic dark chocolate)
Method
- If you don't have a double boiler, half fill a pot with water and place a smaller pot inside it.
- Pour the cream into the small pot and warm it for 3 or 4 minutes
- Mix in the vanilla extract, honey and salt.
- Keep mixing until all the ingredients combine
- Put your egg yolks in a glass bowl and spoon a bit of your cream mix over them and mix them up (this is called tempering the eggs and you need to do this so that the yolks don't cook as soon as you put them in the hot cream mix)
- Pour the eggs into the pot
- Stir continuously for 2 to 3 minutes
- Stir in the chopped chocolate and continue stirring until it melts and combines with the cream and eggs
- It will thicken enough to coat the spoon
- Spoon the custard into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap so it doesn't form a skin
- Refrigerate or serve straight away!
To make it even more Valentine-y, you can serve the custard in a heart-shaped dish;) Just a thought?
This, served along with your Valentine's favourite meal is BOUND to ensure they remain your Valentine for as long as you want;)
P.S. I CAN say that my belief in Valentine's Day has changed drastically since I met my GLM! While every day truly IS Valentine's Day, she has also definitely given the actual day new and special meaning for me:) Yay us!
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