A menu in 4 shameless acts
Guest blog by`”Amira Alcazar”
Cooking is a purely erotical pleasure for me. Not really since Kim Basinger in 9 ½ weeks, as I was 12 back then and knew about as much of eroticism and cooking as a stalk of asparagus stuck in the ground.
It was rather because I had been a triple single mom for years and cooking was basically the only thing I derived any erotic pleasure from.
I love sniffing different spices and flavors, working a dough with my hands, wildly and randomly combining ingredients and licking all the lusciousness off of my fingers.
I`m currently in a relationship again, so what`s better than combining the two – the pleasure in cooking, and the pleasure in love! And which day would be more perfect for it than Valentine`s day?
I wanted to create an aphrodisiac menu. Therefore, I first researched what would really do great on the day of lovers, which we owe to some saint, or rather, which ingredients would really get us off!
Tons of ingredients are listed as being potentially aphrodisiac.
A lot of stuff is praised to raise potency. My boyfriend is 54 and always ready. I guess this makes my prospects „Bright with a chance of sausage“ like the animation movie. And this with him being a vegetarian!
Research shows that zinc is vital for virility, and this is found in meat and oysters in cumulative amounts. For vegans, zinc resorption by eating nuts, legumes or corn is recommended.
I found it quite interesting that eating chickpeas is supposed to help lubricate your pleasure grotto. Hmmm…maybe this is why I subconsciously love Hummus so much?
I say, eat what you like, eat what gets you hot, eat what you can take.
There is no use eating celery in raw amounts to make sure he stays hard if the poor guy ends up on a cortisone drip in the ER of the hospital thanks to a treacherous allergy instead of rolling inbetween the sheets with his loved one. Not sexy! Poor thing!
Really bad, too, if the notorious oyster causes your sweetheart to choke because it tastes so disgustingly like the ocean, if he`s not in love with garlic like you are or if she only feels an urge to sleep instead of a desire to make love after enjoying some prickly champagne.
My personal favorites are the things I generelly love to eat most. Being in high spirits gets you in the mood.
I, for one, am addicted to nuts, especially pistachios, as well as saffron and garlic. I could bathe in Moroccan salt lemons and good olives, and I love the smell of vanilla, cinnamon and the smokey flavor of pimenton dulce ahumado.
When I had a lychee once, I realized that it feels just like the … of a ….in your mouth! Try it for yourself! To each his own, what gets me hot migt not get the next one hot. If you lick some deliciousness off of your partner, it will get you extra hot.
Just the belief of something having an aphrodisiac effect can move a mountain, wake up your rocket and make your stomach tingle from the inside.
Maybe you even succeed in turning every day into Valentine`s Day in your relationship!
Get in the mood with the proper attire by Arcanum Fashion! Try new recipes with your partner! Cook and snack together! Let out your inner child and let the cooking turn into a 9 ½ weeks event.
If you are not in love or single you might aswell cook this menu with some good friends. There are all kinds of love after all! With the right partner by your side, it will be a tingly event even if all else fails. However, with the wrong date even this aphrodisiac menu won`t help you if it`s not meant to be. Only you can put the passion in the food that gets you in the mood.
Here are my recipes. 90% me, 10% inspiration.
As Marvin Gaye used to say: „Let`s get it on!“ Wishing you all a wonderful, tingling Valentine`s Day!
Love,
Amira
picture of guest blogger Amira AlcazarFirst off, a note or two from the cook:
I usually experiment when I cook. So I don`t use exact measurements. I have tried to measure these recipes for you to the best of my knowledge but cooking is a creative process so feel free to deviate from the measurements and adjust things and ingredients to your liking!
I know that Valentine`s dinners are meant for 2, but you should be able to serve these treats for other occasions aswell or to make it a family`s Valentines`s Dinner, so the recipes are for4. Just cut the measurements in half for a Valentine`s Day partner dinner.
- Cupid`s Arrow: virgin mango – raspberry – ginger aperitif
Alcohol free aperitiv with mango, ginger and raspberries
Personally, alcohol just makes me tired and dizzy at first and then gives me poor sleep afterwards. So I`ll go with this virgin drink. If you do need a buzz, try mixing Prosecco Rosé (2:1) with peach juice.
Aphrodisiac ingredient: ginger.
Ginger is a powerful tool. It´s hot and spicy, improves circulation, is a natural blood thinning agent, helps digestion and has antibacterial effects on the body.
Ingredients:
250ml apple-mango-juice
juice of 1 lime
125g raspberries, fresh or frozen and thawed
2cm ginger root
raspberries and lime slices for garnish
Preparation:
Wash ginger with hot water if organic, otherwise peel.
Mix juice, lime juice, raspberries and ginger finely in a blender. Pour into 2 small glasses (this contains a lot of fruit sugar, so a small glass is enough) and garnish with fresh raspberries and lime slices. Cheers!
- Eros` Sparks Salad: mache salad with pinenuts, pomegranate seeds, medjoul dates wrapped in ham, mushrooms and eggs
mache salad with dates wrapped in ham, pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, oyster mushrooms and egg
Aphrodisiac ingredients: dates (rich in amino acids which enhance stamina), pomegranate (the culinary symbol of Aphrodite, rich in antioxidants and vitamins, fights depression), pinenuts (supposed to boost male drive because they are high in zinc), eggs (protein).
Ingredients for 4:
250g mache salad
8 medjoul dates
8 slices of lean turkey breat or beef ham
2 hard boiled eggs
1 pomegranate
125g oyster mushrooms
frying oil
5 tbsp olive oil or other cold pressed oil like pistaccio, hazelnut etc.
2-3 tbsp date crema di balsamico or regular crema di balsamico
about 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic scliced in half lengthwise
salt, freshly gound pepper
2 hard-boiled eggs
Preparation:
Wash the mache. Chop the pomegranate and peel out the seeds. Roast the pine nuts in a teflon pan without oil until slightly brown.
Pit the dates. Wrap each date with a slice of the ham folded lenthwise. Fixate with 2 toothpicks each. Fry in a little oil while turning several times until the ham is nice and crispy.
Take a small bowl for the dressing and rub it with the insides of the garlic halves for a slight garlic flavor that is not obnoxious (my greatgrandmother`s secret tip!) . Mix all the ingredients for the dressing in this bowl and season to taste.
Last, fry the oyster musrooms in oil until crispy. Assemble the salad: Mix mache with pinenuts and pomegranate seeds and top with the dates, eggs and mushrooms. Drizzle the dressing over it. Feed the dates to each other and don`t forget to lick the dressing off your fingers!
This salad is wonderful even without the mushrooms or eggs! It also works well with arugula instead of mache or a mix of both.
- French Kiss – Garlic Soup with Puff Pastry Hearts
garlic soup with puff pastry hearts
This soup only works if you are both fond of garlic, of course. I am an garlic addict. I don`t need to mention that ist antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties are amazing. Garlic thins the blood aswell and thus protects the heart and the arteries. It was used as a potency remedy in ancient Egypt. Other powerful aphrodisiacs in this recipe are parsley, which enhances the function of the sexual organs, celery, which has a scent that is supposed to resemble male pheromones and nigella sativa (blackseeds), a natural remedy for impotence.
Ingredients:
2tbsp butter, a few drops of oil
10 -15 cloves of garlic to taste
1 onion or 3 shallots
2 potatoes
1l beef broth
250ml heavy cream (150ml for the soup, 100ml whipped for garnish)
about 200ml white wine
chopped fresh parsley to taste
salt and freshly ground pepper
Preparation:
Chop the garlic and the onion(s). Fry in butter mixed with a few drops of oil to prevent burning. Peel the potatoes and dice them. Deglaze with the white wine. Add the potatoes and the broth and bring to a boil. Simmer on medium heat for about 25 minutes. Blend with a mixer until smooth. Add the cream and heat without boiling. Season again to taste with salt and pepper.
Garnish with the chopped parsley, a dab of whipped cream and the puff pastry hearts on top.
Puff pastry hearts:
Ingredients:
1 roll of ready made puff pastry
a handful of nigella sativa seeds (blackseeds)
eggwash (1 eggyolk mixed with s splash of water or milk and stirred thoroughly)
Preparation:
Preheat oven to fan 180°. Roll out the pastry. Brush whole dough with eggwash. With a heartshaped cookie cutter, cut out hearts. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 20min or until puffy and golden brown.
- Main course: Aphrodite`s lap: Saffron risotto with caramelized apple, chestnuts and scallops
saffron risotto with caramelized apples, chestnuts and scallops
Aphrodisiac ingredients: saffron, celery, scallops
According to the latest scientific reviews, saffron is proven to boost sexual desire. Much has been said about the drive boosting effects of celery. Now saffron, according tot he latest reasearch, can miraculously boost male drive.
I only buy the finest Iranian saffron on Grand Bazaar, Ramazan Canbaz No. 27 in Istanbul with Anca Pislaru and her partner Deniz. Anca is a natural health professional and makes sure to find only the best wild saffron, which is, contrary to normal saffron, not chemically treated,like a truffle pig. In order to do so, she even travels tot he Turkis Iranian border herself. If you visit their store, you will come as a guest and leave as a friend. I promise!
Now, as far as the scallops, Aphrodite herself is said to have been carried to the earth on the shell of a scallop, so I just had to chose this lean and mild seafood as part of my aphrodisiac menu!
Ingredients:
1 onion
2 stalks of celery
2 large Boskop apples (must be tart cooking apples, not sweet!)
1 bag (125g) of preboiled chestnuts (Turkish stores offer them at the best price)
250g risotto rice
200ml white wine
about 800ml to 1l chicken or vegetable stock, hot!
About 1/3 teaspoon high quality Iranian saffron threads, pulverized with a mortar and pestle and dissolved in about 3 tbsp hot water or broth
a handful of grana padano parmigiano
butter, oil
about 2-3 tablespoons of agava juice (sub sugar)
a little chopped garlic
16 scallops, preferably freh
juice of 1 lemon
Preparation:
For the risotto, chop the onion and celery. Peel the apples and slice them into 1cm thick segments. and fry in olive oil with the rice for a few minutes. Be careful not to burn the rice. Deglaze with the white wine. Add the hot broth a little at a time, stirring often. Continue on medium heat until all the liquid has been absorbed, the rice is cooked through and the risotto has a creamy consistency. (about 25 mins). In a seperate pan, heat some butter with a few drops of oil and sear the apples and the chestnuts with a few tablespoons of the agava juice until nice and brown.
Ten minutes before the risotto is done, add the saffron water. When the risotto is done, add 2 tbsp of butter and the parmigiano and stir.
For the scallops, (if frozen, thaw), wash them and carefully pat them dry with a papertowel. Drizzle the lemon juice over the scallops. Fry them in butter with a few drops of oil until brown on the outside and just done on the inside. Be careful not to overcook.
To make the sauce, add the chopped garlic to the scallops pan and cook with a shot of white wine. Add a little cold heavy cream and simmer down for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Arrange the risotto on plates and top with the hot apple chestnut mixture. Serve with the scallops drizzled with the sauce. Enjoy!
- Dessert: Caramel Ecstasy – The Walker Treat
caramel creme dessert with bananas, chocolate ganache,chili and peanuts
I created this dessert for a dear internet friend of mine named Walker who has helped me through a very rough time last year even though I have never met him in real life. I wanted to capture his personality in this treat.
His skin has a caramel complexion, so I knew it had to be something with caramel, also because he is sweet and kind.
The chili (botanically known as capsicum annum), a major aphrodisiac due to its bloodthinnning and artery widening effects and the heat that gives us a major sexual flush came into play to accentuate the sharpness of his bright mind. The bananas and the rum symbolize his worldwide exotic buiness trips. He is very confident and professional, thus the hard shell (bittersweet chocolate ganache) with a sweet, soft heart (cream) inside. Since he is American, I just had to add peanuts, besides I am addicted to nuts. The coarse sea salt is for the edge in him.
This dessert is pretty rich, so make sure you use small glass jars;)!
Ingredients for 4:
about 100g salted peanuts
about 4 tbsp maple syrup
a shot of liquid heavy cream
some vanilla powder or vanilla paste
½ – 2/3 of a can of dulce de leche or Russian caramel (= caramelized, sweetened condensed milk), available at large supermarkets in the Russian section or online
½ tsp cinnamon or to taste
about 150ml whipped cream
2 large or 3 small bananas
2 tbsp rum if desired
100g semisweet chocolate, finely chopped in blender
about 3tbsp coconut or almond milk (sub cream)
about 2 tsp organic coconut oil
1 chopped fresh red chili (sub dried chili)
coarse seasalt for garnish
Preparation:
Caramelize the peanuts by roasting them in a pan with the maple syrup and about 2 tbsp of cream on high heat. Distribute the nuts into 4 glass jars while hot. The cream helps to make the caramel a bit softer.
Next, whip the cream (you may ad a bit of cream stiffener powder) and gently fold in about ½ to 2/3 of the caramel according to your personal desired level of sweetness. Add the cinnamon. Spread a layer of this cream over the nuts in the glass jars.
Now, add a layer oft he sliced, fresh bananas. If you like rum, mix the bananas with the rum before arranging in the jars. You may also fry the bananas in rum if you like.
Follow with another layer oft he caramel cream.
Chill the jars in the fridge while preparing the ganache.
For the ganache, place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the coconut milk with the coconut oil in the microwave until boiling hot. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for a minute. After about 1 min, stir until smooth. Spread this ganache over the cream layer in the jars and top off with a little chopped chili (remember the hotter the better your circulation, however, do not exaggerate) and the coarse sea salt. Indulge!