For Valentine’s Day this year, I have prepared a special 8-course tasting dinner for my guests at The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco. The meal will be specifically designed for sharing, since each guest will receive a different dish per course.
As always, my menu will be designed around the freshest and most in-season ingredients. Recently I have been cooking a lot with root vegetables because they are very much in season this time of year. (They actually prefer the coldness!) I am a huge fan of carrots, specifically yellow carrots, which are especially flavorful right now. Meyer lemons, kaffir limes, sun chokes, black truffles, and Nantucket Bay scallops are also in season. The scallops are super sweet and caramelize beautifully!
The Valentine’s Day menu will likely include oysters, caviar, a Prime Beef Rib Eye with black truffles, and quince (which is also called the “Love Apple” as it was the proverbial apple offered to Adam by Eve.) I may poach the quinces and serve them with quail and caramelized honey, or make a great jam out of them and serve it with foie gras. I may also create a chilled salsify soup and serve it with caviar or create a caviar with sashimi dish.
February is the month for romance. I know there’s nothing more romantic than an evening with my wife, a nice dinner, and a bottle of wine, so I invite you and your loved one to come visit me at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco for Valentine’s Day.
Cheers,
Chef Ron Siegel
The Dining Room at The Ritz-Carlton, San Francisco
600 Stockton St.
San Francisco, CA 94108
415.296.7465
Prime Beef Rib Eye, Black Truffles, Root Vegetables and Madeira Reduction
Servings 4
Ingredients
» 8 ounces prime beef rib eye
» 6 carrots (2 yellow, 2 red, 2 orange)
» 8 baby leeks
» 4 pieces green garlic
» Handful of peacock kale and chard
» 1 large parsnip
» 1 package Maitake mushrooms
» ¼ ounce black truffles
» 2 medium and 1 large German butterball potatoes
» Sea salt and freshly ground pepper seasoned to taste
» Grape seed oil for the Madeira sauce
» 1 cup Madeira wine
» 1 shallot
» ½ cup beef stock
» 1 tbsp butter
Step 1
Pre-heat oven to 350 °F
Step 2
Clean all vegetables, dice the shallot and set aside for later use. Peel the carrots and potatoes and cut into baton sizes. Cut the ends off of the green garlic, baby leeks, parsnip and cut all remaining vegetables into baton sizes.
Step 3
Place all vegetables except the mushrooms and kale and chard on a baking sheet pan, drizzle with a tablespoon of grape seed oil and salt to taste. Roast vegetables until they start to caramelize, approximately 10 minutes. Set aside.
Step 4
Add 1 ½ tsp grape seed oil in a non stick pan and sauté the mushrooms. Fold in the kale and chard and remaining roasted vegetables to get them hot. Divide on four plates.
Step 5
Season both sides of beef with dash of salt and pepper. Sear for 4 minutes each side. Set aside and let rest.
Step 6
To make the Madeira sauce, combine Madeira wine and shallot in a pot, warm at medium heat until it is reduced to a syrup. Add the beef stock and butter and thicken. Cut the beef into four equal portions and set atop the vegetables. Drizzle the Madeira sauce on top of each plate.
