The Special Valentine's Day Dinner Carla Hall Is Dreaming Of - Exclusive
If you're scoping out the perfect Valentine's Day set menu from the restaurants in your city, you might want to skip the night out and plan to stay in. Enjoy a romantic evening at home by cooking up a cozy dinner for your special someone. In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Carla Hall shared her ideal Valentine's Day meal, which might serve as inspiration for your night. "I love a Sunday supper," she says, adding, "I would do an English Sunday roast."
Hall is a fan of adding twists to recipes and her English roast is no exception. "I would do different flavors," Hall explains. A classic Sunday roast typically consists of Yorkshire pudding, roast beef and gravy, roasted potatoes, and vegetables. But Hall would swap the beef for pork. "My husband can't do beef," she reveals. "I would do pork instead, like a porchetta with herb rub."
Roast potatoes don't need much dressing up, but Hall has a family trick for developing the best flavor. "My grandmother used to make potatoes and green beans cooked in stock," she describes. "I would do that and then take the potatoes out and roast those." Of course, a hint of Southern flair is a necessary component of Hall's dreamy Valentine's Day dinner, so she'd incorporate biscuits and gravy. "It's so heavy," she acknowledges.
There's always room for a Valentine's Day dessert
No matter how filling her Sunday roast-style Valentine's Day meal may be, Hall saves a bit of space for dessert. "I'm not a chocolate person, but I love chocolate malt," she shares. Of course, in true chef form, she brings her own variation. "I would do a chocolate malt mousse with just a light drizzle of a chocolate sauce with berries on the side," she describes. Even if you're not a chocolate lover, Valentine's Day is the time to lean into a chocolate-centric dessert. If you want to keep it low-effort, a simple chocolate fondue brings a festive flair to the holiday menu.
That said, Hall is also very fond of her grandmother's pound cake. To serve, she says, "Because I love clotted cream and just poured cream, I would do a brown sugar sour cream to go over it," she elaborates. According to Hall, this, along with a little molasses, gives the dish a tangy flavor that balances out the sweetness. Contrasting flavors is a surefire way to keep every bite playful and leave you eager for the next spoonful.