Recipes: Celebrating and sharing life together at the table

He says that a couple that can share this enjoyment “have at least once every day, a delightful reason for being together”.

In ancient Rome February 13, 14 and 15 were celebrated as a pagan fertility festival and this is thought to be the origin of our celebration of romantic love on Valentine’s Day.

It became a Christian day of celebration in the 5th century and was mentioned as such by Chaucer and Shakespeare. By the mid 18th century it became common for lovers to pass notes to each other and this ritual is thought to be the precursor of the Valentine Day card which became commercial in the 1920s.

Today we not only celebrate Valentine’s Day with cards but with special romantic foods and meals.

Chocolate, oysters and champagne are most often associated with Valentine’s day because they are sensuous and sexually symbolic.

Eating together is usually one of the first things couples do together when they meet. It is a real joy to find that you love to cook and eat the same kind of food.

Crisp Yorkshire Chorizo and scallop with roast tomato and woody herbs

Stacking little pieces of delicious food on a stick is a brilliant way to serve a first course, especially if you are drinking a celebratory glass of Champagne.

The base of this canapé is a disc of tasty Yorkshire picante Chorizo made by Paganum the award-winning online butcher based in Kirkby Malham. It is flavoured with black pepper, ginger, garlic and smoked Spanish paprika which work really well with shellfish such as scallops, or prawns, and slow-roasted tomato.

Serves 4

8 cherry tomatoes; sprig of rosemary or thyme, chopped finely; freshly ground black pepper and sea salt; 1 tbsp olive oil; 80g Chorizo, cut into 8 thin discs; 8 small scallops, rinsed and dried with kitchen paper; 8 cocktail sticks

Preheat oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, season and sprinkle with chopped rosemary or thyme. Dribble with a little olive oil and roast for 45 min. Place chorizo on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 5 min.

Coat scallops with a little oil and season. Preheat a frying pan and cook each scallop for one minute on each side. Thread chorizo scallop and roasted tomato on a cocktail stick and serve with some torn rustic bread.

Roasted turbot with oysters

Turbot, a large flat fish is described as the “king of the sea” because it tastes so good. Roasted it develops a stickiness which enables aromatic herbs to adhere to its flesh and scent its delicate flesh.

Oysters are associated with romance and taste wonderful poached in a little fragrant fish stock laced with wine and a little of butter.

Serves 4

2 tsps finely chopped fresh herbs such as bay, thyme, rosemary, garlic and parsley; 2 tbsp olive oil; freshly ground black pepper and sea salt; 4 pieces of turbot (175g each); 200ml fish stock; ½ fennel bulb, cut into chunks or fennel trimmings; 1 shallot, finely chopped; 50g unsalted butter; 75ml white wine; 4 oysters.

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas mark 6. Mix the chopped herbs with olive oil and rub over the surface of the turbot. Season well and set aside.

Place turbot in a roasting dish and cook for 10 minutes before you are ready to serve.

Place the fennel in the stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove fennel from stock and discard. Continue to simmer the stock until it has reduced to half its original volume.

Open the oysters (a fishmonger will do this for you) and set aside.

Sweat the shallot in a little butter; add wine followed by the stock. Add the oyster meat and their juices to the fish stock and allow to poach for two minutes. Just before serving whisk the remaining butter into the stock.

Serve the oysters in a shell with a little of the fish stock on the same plate as the turbot.

Rhubarb and vanilla fool

Vanilla is one of rhubarb’s best friends. The soft, creamy, scent of vanilla offsets the sour fruity notes of rhubarb really well.

This is a simple recipe which can be made more romantic with the addition of heart shaped shortbread or ethereal spun sugar.

Serves 4

400g young, pink rhubarb washed; 3 tbsp water; 4 tbsp caster sugar; 250ml fresh custard (either homemade or bought); 1 vanilla pod; 200ml double cream; 200g granulated sugar.

Cut the rhubarb into cork length pieces.

Place in a stainless steel saucepan with water and sugar and cook gently until the rhubarb is soft.

Cool and then chill thoroughly in the fridge.

Drain excess juice from the rhubarb and reserve for serving.

Mix the custard with the rhubarb flesh.

Split the vanilla pod lengthways and scrape the dark seeds from the inside and mix with the cream. Whisk the cream until it just slides from a spoon. It must not be too stiff. Gently fold the vanilla flavoured cream into the rhubarb and custard.

For spun sugar, melt the granulated sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. When it begins to turn golden brown use a metal whisk to stir so the colour develops evenly.

When it turns deep golden, remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

Use a fork to flick back and forth over the back of a ladle to form a cage.

Set aside to cool a little and carefully lift the cage from the ladle and scrunch into little balls if you like.

For more information about Yorkshire Chorizo go to www.paganum.co.uk

Joan Ransley is membership secretary and workshop co-ordinator for the Guild of Food Writers.