Treat your Valentine to a romantic meal for two

Feb 11 2011 By Julie Voyce

They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and in these times of equality (the Sky Sports farrago a distant memory) the same can be said for a woman, well this woman anyway.

The dining room at Stoke Park in Park Road, Stoke Poges, is now open to the public as well as residents of the hotel so my husband and I went along for a romantic meal for two as Valentine's Day approached

From the moment we were led to the table the staff could not have been more helpful. The restaurant manager Howard Davies introduced himself and made suggestions as to what we might like to eat. We were then left with an aperitif to peruse the menu, and what a menu.

Chris Wheeler, the executive chef, tries to use local ingredients where possible and we noted Shardloes . For his starter my husband decided to try the pan-fried scallops which came with celeriac puree, crispy pancetta, port reduction and caviar.

I opted for the Dorset crab, king prawns and avocado tian which came with cucumber, a quails egg and pink grapefruit segments. For my main I chose loin of lamb with a mini shepherd’s pie, rosemary and garlic roasted root vegetable and redcurrant sauce.

After our order had been taken we were presented with three little canapés, which were a delicious surprise that whetted the appetite as to what was to follow.

The dining room at Stoke Park, recently awarded two AA Rosettes, is a beautiful room with high ceilings that has been tastefully decorated in calming colours.

If you want the chance to cook these meals for a loved one in the comfort of you own home, we have two published two recipes below.

For the rest of the review, plus a chance to win a free meal in the restaurant pick up a copy of this week's Examiner or Advertiser.

Ingredients - 4 portions

1 avocado diced

8 Tiger Prawns

160 g white Dorset crab meat

10g Caviar

¼ bunch of dill chopped

¼ bunch of chopped chives

½ a lemon juice

Salt and pepper

100g crème fraiche

100ml Gazpacho Dressing

100g Mixed Salad and Cress

• Method Mix avocado, Dorset crab meat and prawns together with lemon juice, chopped garlic, salt and pepper

• Place in the Tian Moulds just above ¾ way up

• Mix crème fraiche with the chives, salt and pepper and lemon juice

• Place on top of the avocado mix

• Allow to set in the fridge

• To Serve Place your Tian ring on the plate.

• Garnish with your seasoned salad and cress.

• Pour your Gazpacho sauce around your tian and top your tian with ¼ of the caviarPan-fried Loin of Pea Shell Farm Lamb

• Served with a Mini Shepherd Pie, Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Root Vegetables, Redcurrant Jus

• as featured in EBLEX “Glorious Cookery Book”

• Ingredients - 4 portions

• 2 x 300g Lamb Loins

• 4 sprigs of red currants

• 200ml of lamb sauce

• Roasted Root Vegetables

• 8 cloves of garlic (skin on), 4 sprigs of rosemary

• 1 medium sized turnip

• 1 small Swede, 1 large Carrots, 2 sticks of Celery, 1 small Celeriac, 8 Cherry Tomatoes, 1 Parsnip

• Shepherds Pie

• 100ml of lamb stock

• 200g Minced Lamb

• 2 Jacket Potatoes (turned into mash)

• 4 sprigs of Thyme

• 1 medium onion, 1 carrot, 50g Peas

• Method - Shepherds Pie

• Finely dice the onion and carrot sweat in a little olive oil, add the minced lamb, season with salt and pepper. Add the lamb stock and peas, cook for ten minutes.

• Grease a small tian ring, half fill each ring with your lamb mixture

• Pipe the mash potato on top and garnish with a sprig of thyme.

• Place in a medium hot oven for ten minutes until the mashed potato is a golden brown

• Roasted Root Vegetables

• Peel all of the vegetables and cut each vegetable into different shapes. Blanch separately in boiling water.

• Roast all of the vegetables in a little olive oil and butter with garlic cloves and sprigs of Rosemary

• Lamb

• Season the lamb and seal in a hot pan with a little olive oil.

• Place in a warm oven for approximately 5 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your required taste.

• To Serve

• Place the Shepherds Pie at the top of the plate, carefully removing the Tian ring.

• Place a selection of the roasted vegetables at the bottom of the plate.

• Slice each lamb loin into twelve pieces.

• Place six pieces of lamb loin on top of the root vegetables.

• Warm the red currants up in the lamb sauce.

• Once warm, place on top of the lamb loin.

• Pour a little sauce around the lamb and Shepherds Pie and serve.