This Valentine’s Day, give your sweetheart something truly unique. Here are a few of our favourite recipes for dishing up a serve of handmade love — a romantic Valentine’s dinner menu featuring some gorgeous West Australian Seafood and native bush tucker ingredients you can also grow in your own backyard.
Bush Tucker Cheese Plate
Our friends at RiverMint Dining gave us some delectable ideas for a pre-dinner cheese board (or post-dessert treat):
- Gidgegannup Goat’s cheese log rolled in Lemon Myrtle, pepperberry and Aniseed Myrtle — be sure to dry the herbs beforehand
- Blue Cow Brie
- King Island Cheddar
- Southern Forests Honeycomb
- Desert LIme Chutney
- Tucker’s crispbreads and damper
Fresh Oysters with Finger Lime Pearls
Depending on where you live, you may get an early enough Finger Lime crop in your own backyard. Otherwise, you may find these little beauties in your local gourmet supermarket. Simply chop the lime and squeeze out the pearls. The flavour is sharp and strong, so you’ll only need a few pearls per oyster.
Rosella in Sparkling Wine
- Photo credit: mahinui on Visual Hunt / CC BY-SA
Preparing a Rosella calyx for sparkling wine is just a simple modification of a Rosella syrup recipe — skip the pectin, and remove the seed pods inside the calyx. But if you’d prefer to skip the hassle, look out for pre-made rosella or hibiscus calyxes in syrup at your local supermarket or bottleshop. (In WA, you can find them at Liquorland, BWS, and in bulk at European Fine Foods in Northbridge.)
River Mint Sorbet
- Photo credit: Breville USA on VisualHunt.com / CC BY
The best part about Native River Mint (and all of the Australian mints) is getting to enjoy a fresh harvest year-round. Try this sweet River Mint sorbet recipe, combining just a few handfuls of leaves, common kitchen ingredients and an ice-cream churn.
Chocolate RiverMint Truffles
Creamy, sweet chocolate combined with the freshness of Native River Mint and a more-ish touch of salt. And with the help of a mold, even the most butter-fingered cook can make these Chocolate River Mint Truffles look impressive. Once they’ve set, serve them up on a fancy tray, or pop them in a decorative box for a heart-warming gift.
Macadamia, White Chocolate and Lemon Myrtle Parfait with Red Back Ginger Syrup
Parfaits are a whimsical and romantic addition to any Valentine’s dinner. They’re creamy like ice-cream, but light and fluffy thanks to the extra egg whites. In this Macadamia, White Chocolate & Lemon Myrtle Parfait, the spicy flavour of Red Back Ginger adds a refreshing touch to the sweet and nutty flavours.
Lemon Myrtle Shortbread
- Photo credit: the Italian voice on Visualhunt / CC BY
For a small batch of shortbread, fluff together 125g of butter with 55g white sugar. Add 180g of plain flour, half a teaspoon of ground Lemon Myrtle and a pinch of salt, and mix thoroughly. Roll out into a rectangular slab roughly half a centimetre thick, cut into slices and chill in fridge for 20 minutes. Bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven at 190°C.
Chocolate-coated Candied Quandong Halves
With a little planning, you can have your own homemade candied fruit — you may never want store-bought versions again after this! This Chocolate-coated Candied Quandong Halves recipe uses Quandong, a sweet and juicy native peach, once eaten by Central Australia’s Pitjantjatjara people as a substitute for meat.