Preparing the 2008 Valentine's Day Menu

With a little planning, you can prepare this romantic menu while staying cool, calm, collected and utterly charming. First we'll walk you through the recipes, and then give you a timeline. And, if a recipe doesn't appeal to you, feel free to substitute something more to your liking.

Lobster Parfaits with Teardrop Tomatoes, Hearts of Palm and Cilantro-Avocado Dressing

• This recipe is easier than it looks. The first nine ingredients are for making a poaching broth. If you want to save time, consider buying pre-cooked lobster meat and season it with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.


• If you boil the lobster yourself, do it the day before, remove the shells and refrigerate overnight.


• Clean lettuce, halve tomatoes, dice hearts of palm and cut orange segments up to four hours before dinner. Refrigerate everything except the tomatoes.


• Make cilantro-avocado dressing, using store-bought mayonnaise to save time, up to four hours before dinner. Cover tightly with plastic and refrigerate.


• Put salad together right before serving.

Rack of Lamb with Caramelized Shallots and Thyme Crust

• Ask your butcher to trim and French the rack of lamb.


• Make the bread-crumb topping up to four hours before dinner and set aside at room temperature.


• Two hours before dinner, bring rack of lamb out of fridge. Allow to come to room temperature.


• One hour before dinner, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.


• Fifty minutes before you want to sit down, start cooking the lamb according to the recipe. It will take about 10 minutes to sear it, then 25 to 30 minutes in the oven (it's best to use an instant-read thermometer to know when it's done) and 5 to 10 minutes' resting time.


• Slice right before serving.

Lemon-Butter Green Beans with Pine Nuts

• Clean and blanch (cook in boiling, salted water until crisp-tender, then drain and put into a bowl of ice water) the green beans up to 24 hours in advance.


• Before serving, make the lemon-butter pine nut mixture and add the beans to warm up.

Hasselback Potatoes

• About 75 minutes before dinner, start prepping the potatoes according to the directions. Make sure you're using small baking potatoes — about 6 ounces each (a large baking potato weighs about 12 ounces).


• If you only have one oven, bake the potatoes in the same oven you've preheated for the lamb; it might take a couple of minutes longer because the temperature is a little lower than the recipe calls for.

Classic Coeur a la Crème

• This dessert (coeur and coulis) is best when made the day before (or even two days before), although four hours ahead of time is fine.


• Make the Raspberry Coulis the day before.


• Unmold the dessert after you finish eating dinner ©? it needs to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes. You can snuggle up with your honey or make the Hot Chocolate while it's losing its chill.

Citrus Hot Chocolate

• Chop the semisweet chocolate ahead of time, set aside.


• Make the hot chocolate right before serving.


• Whip cream at the last minute, if using fresh.

Cooking timeline:

Items you can prep the day before:

1. Cook the lobster and remove shells. To save time, consider buying fresh cooked lobster meat. (Lobster Parfaits)


2. Trim and French the lamb, if your butcher didn't do it. (Rack of Lamb)


3. Clean and blanch green beans. (Green Beans)


4. Make the Coeur a la Crème (must be made at least four hours ahead of time), (Coeur a la Crème)


5. Make the Raspberry Coulis. (Coeur a la Crème)


6. Chop semisweet chocolate. (Hot Chocolate)

Items you can prep up to four hours in advance:

1. Clean lettuce, halve tomatoes, dice hearts of palm and cut orange segments. (Lobster Parfaits)


2. Make cilantro-avocado dressing. (Lobster Parfaits)


3. Make the bread crumb topping and set aside. (Rack of Lamb)

Two hours before meal:

1. Bring lamb out, let come to room temperature.


2. Prep potatoes, and do first step (cook, basting, until half-cooked — 25 to 30 minutes).


3. Make grated cheese mixtures for potatoes.

45 minutes before meal:

1. Sear lamb and finish cooking in preheated oven.


2. Heat butter, shallots and pine nuts for the green beans and set aside.


3. Stuff half-cooked potatoes with cheese-bread crumb mixture and return to oven. Finish cooking. If they're done before dinnertime, remove from oven and keep in a warm place.

Right before sitting down to first course:

1. Compose Lobster Parfaits.


2. Add green beans to butter mixture, heat while eating first course.

Right before sitting down to main course:

1. Slice lamb into chops.


2. Plate lamb, potatoes and green beans.

After dinner:

1. Unmold Coeur a la Crème — let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.


2. Make Hot Chocolate.


3. Whip cream.


4. Serve your romantic dessert.