It's Delish: Vegetarian Valentine's Day Dinner

Hello my darlings!

Today I thought I would finish last week's theme of Valentine's Day. So here is how to prepare a wonderful heart shaped savory puff pasty.

Start with some red potatoes. I used one per person.

Also, preheat your oven to 400.

Oh, and be sure to take out the puff pastry from the freezer to let it defrost.

Slice the potato in half and then in half again.

Then turn the slices over and cut into thirds

Then slice the potato in thirds going the other way. Then place the cubes into a baking dish.

Dice up 1-2 garlic cloves and add to the potatoes.

To this you are going to add a few fresh thyme sprigs.

There they are!

Then add some salt, pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the potatoes and mix.

Put in oven for 25-30 minutes.

Next, you are going to slice up some leeks.

Cut off the dark greens and the bottoms of the leeks. Then slice in half lengthwise and then cross cut them into small slices. Then rinse under a colander to get all the grit out of the leeks.

Add the sliced leeks to a pan with some heated olive oil. Add a pinch of dried thyme, some salt and some pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes.

I like to combine the clean fresh flavors of the fresh thyme with the savory depth of the dried thyme.

Dice up another garlic clove and add to the leeks. Then put on a lid and lower the heat to a medium-small flame. Let cook for about 6 minutes until the leeks are soft and may have started to brown a bit.

After the leeks are done, remove the lid and add 1/4 cup dry white wine.

Let that cook for a minute or two until the wine has pretty much evaporated and then take off the flame.

At this point the potatoes are probably done. Take them out of the oven, discard the thyme sprigs, and mix with the leeks.

Add a tsp fresh chopped thyme to the vegetable mixture. Taste to see if you need some more salt and/or pepper.

Here is what the filling should look like. Isn't that amazing!

The sweetness of the leeks pare perfectly with the earthiness of the potatoes and the fresh and dried thyme combine to give the whole mixture a punch of flavor. The dry white wine adds a bit of acidity to heighten the delicious flavors.

Next we need to get the puff pastry hearts ready.

I start with a sheet of parchment paper. I find it help the pastry dough from sticking to my counters, which always happens to me no matter how much I flour it. I add some flour to help the puff pastry roll out smoothly.

By now your puff pastry should be defrosted, so lay it on top of the parchment paper, sprinkle some flour on top of it, and start to roll it out.

As you can see, it doesn't have to look pretty because we are going to cut the pastry using a large heart shaped cookie cutter. You can see it on the top right corner of the photo.

As you can see, I could get six hearts per sheet.

Place a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet and then lay the hearts down so they are not touching each other.

Then, place a few spoonfuls of the mixture on each heart. Move the filling around so it is heart shaped.

Then place a puff pastry dough heart on top of the first heart.

Using a fork, fold the BOTTOM heart over the TOP heart (or have them fold together). Then use the tines of the fork to mush the two layer together.

This was tricky on the first one, but it got easier after that.

Brush the top of each pastry with some egg wash and bake in the oven (still at 400) for about 25-30 minutes, or until the puff pastry turns brown.

Doesn't that look pretty?

I served this with a green salad and a roasted beet salad.