So, there is St. Valentine’s day and all the relevant expectations. In a corona-tinted lockdown it’s hard to make this glorious occasion special.
- Spend an evening together?
- Cook a festive dinner for two?
- Order pizza or curry (if you are lucky enough to have an option of restaurant delivery)?
- Talk?
- Exchange news?
- Play truth or dare?
- No, really?
We went as far as agree to have separate dinners with my parents — as an opportunity to split into two romantic couples for one night. Plus a child, but she’ll go to bed eventually. It’s raining cats and dogs (literally: on Corfu the only creatures out there in this weather are cats, dogs and the god of water), which calls off a lovely walk in the mountains. So we’ll stay at home and stare at each other.
Actually we’ve been in this mode for a year now, and we are still more or less sane, and saying “I love you” once in a while, isn’t that a reason to celebrate?
I decided not to cook (much). We found a nice little grocery shop within a walking distance (i.e. a distance that doesn’t wear your soles off), they still sell some of their summer supplies and occasionally refresh the contents of the fridge. We bought a few interesting local cheeses (they looked interesting, not sure how they are going to smell), there is a bottle of red wine on the top of the cupboard, I made a sour-sweet syrup out of kumquats and passion fruits (not something anyone sells, it just grows on trees around here) to complement the cheese. I’ll also have a go at ciabatta tonight, but can’t promise any results. I’m only going to do it because it needs just 1/4 teaspoon yeast for a big loaf. I’d like to bake a bread with almost no yeast.
I used to have a weakness for romantic gestures. Even now, I started to think — is there anything cute I can buy or cook?
Buying isn’t really an option. For example, I made an online order at Marks & Spenser Greece about 1,5 months ago. The order, among other things, contained an unspecified present for my husband. New Year or St. Valentine’s, I thought, whatever will be nearest by the time of delivery. I didn’t expect that M&S Greece would import goods from the UK though. Neither I expected that it would get stuck in Athens in a non-stop clearance. I called DHL eventually, they said oh well, after Brexit you’d have to fill out a few forms. They sent me the forms (name, address, ID). They requested a full description of the shipment contents. I sent them a full description including links to the website and cost per item (I work in IT, I know how to copypaste). Clearance goes on. Right now I’m hoping we’ll get it sorted before we fly away. It’s not as urgent but a nice to have, for sure.
So if buying isn’t an option, I resort to cooking. Something heart-shaped. Probably sweet. I thought gingerbreads. I don’t have any ginger here (I don’t like it either), so this is what I used:
- 1 egg
- 1 orange. We need a teaspoon or two zest + all the juice we can squeeze. There is no juicer, so I squeeze with my hands [superhero emoji].
- 3–4 tablespoons oil
- Honey (quantity defined by your taste, I plan 2–3 tablespoons)
- Some ground pepper (to replace ginger and actually the aroma is much more intense)
- Cinnamon (1 teaspoon), cocoa powder (1 tablespoon), pinch of salt
- Flour (I take wholemeal, obviously; if you read my blog, you’ll know I’m no fan of plain wheat)
- Baking powder (I’d say 1 tablespoon)
- Crushed nuts (I take almonds)
I also added a tablespoon milk and around four chopped dates, but that’s entirely optional. Most of the ingredients are optional or replaceable.
- Mix salt, egg, orange juice, oil, honey, pepper, cinnamon and cocoa. I use a mixer, it’s more fun.
- Add zest, nuts, stir with a spoon or a fork.
- Add baking powder, stir.
- Gradually add flour until you get this consistency:
The dough will be very sticky and rather thick, you can form shapes on the baking paper with it.
5. Actually I was after shaping. I wanted hearts if you remember. Now, if I had heart-shaped baking forms here, it wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t have them though, so I used the next best thing (wet hands + toothpick + some devotion). Here are our nicely formed gingerbreads on the tray with baking paper.
6. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180 C. These gingerbreads will bake very quickly (10–15 min), so keep an eye on them and don’t go away. We are aiming for a plump shape, a hard brown cracked crust and a dry wooden stick.
7. This wasn’t quite enough, I thought, so I covered them with crunchy chocolate glazing. But that’s easy, you take a couverture (I had Nestle), melt it and coat your gingerbreads. You can melt plain chocolate too. Decorated with candied kumquats (of which I have plenty, as I said already).
Now let them rest until they are cool and the glazing has set. I’ll wait until tomorrow. They are St Valentine’s gingerbreads, after all.
