Local chef shares recipes for Valentine's Day dinner at home

With Valentine’s Day coming up, you may be scrambling to make plans.

The San Diego News Now podcast team has an idea for you: a fine-dining experience — by you, at home.

Mike Minor, executive chef of The Marine Room in La Jolla and the new Lounge at The Marine Room, joined SDNN host Debbie Cruz with some easy-to-make restaurant-style entrees, a dessert and a drink for you to celebrate Valentine's Day at home.

Chef Mike's pan-seared beef tenderloin

Ingredients:

• Beef tenderloin
• Butter
• Rosemary sprig

Instructions:

1. Cook steak in a sauté pan to your liking.
2. Remove steak, let it rest on a plate to the side.
3. To make a sauce for the steak, add butter and a sprig of rosemary in the same sauté pan you used to cook the steak in and cook until it has a saucelike consistency.
4. Pour sauce over steak.

Chef Mike's side of asparagus

Ingredients:

• Asparagus
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Fresh garlic
• Lemon
• White wine

Instructions:

1. Preheat a sauté pan on the stove.
2. Add extra-virgin olive oil to the pan.
3. Add asparagus in the pan.
4. Add shaved garlic into the pan.
5. Drizzle fresh-squeezed lemon on top of the asparagus.
6. Add a little bit of white wine.
7. Let everything reduce down until it is the consistency of a sauce.

Chef Mike's side of mashed potatoes

Ingredients:

• Potatoes
• Butter
• Heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Boil potatoes in hot water.
2. Once softened, drain water.
3. Mash the potatoes.
4. In another pot, heat up butter and heavy whipping cream.
5. Add cream sauce to mashed potatoes.

Courtesy of The Marine Room

Chef Mike's Sichuan-seared tofu with vegetables

Ingredients:

• Bok choy
• Brown sugar
• Cornstarch
• Fresh cilantro
• Fresh mint
• Garlic
• Ginger
• Lime
• Medium-firm tofu
• Red bell peppers
• Red onions
• Sichuan peppercorns
• Soy sauce
• Water

Instructions:

1. Cut tofu into 1-inch by 1-inch squares.
2. Sauté vegetables and tofu.
3. Deglaze vegetables with soy sauce and a little brown sugar.
4. Grind the Sichuan peppercorns into powder consistency and then sprinkle it over the tofu and vegetables.
5. Separately mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with two tablespoons of water to create a cornstarch slurry.
6. Mix the slurry into vegetables and tofu.

Chef Mike's chocolate-covered strawberries

Ingredients:

• Large strawberries
• Olive oil spray and parchment or wax paper
• Semisweet chocolate chips
• Semisweet white chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Create a steamer by boiling water in a small pot.
2. Place a metal bowl on top of the pot of boiling water.
3. Add semisweet chocolate chips into metal bowl to temper the chocolate.
4. Stir the chocolate until it melts.
5. Take chocolate off of heat once melted.
6. Dip strawberries into melted chocolate.
7. Spray a sheet pan or plate with olive oil or cover with parchment or wax paper.
8. Lay chocolate-covered strawberries on sheet pan or plate.
9. Let strawberries sit in room temperature so the chocolate hardens.
10. (Optional) Repeat steps 1-5 with semisweet white chocolate chips.
11. (Optional) Once the white chocolate is tempered, take a spoon and drizzle white chocolate over the chocolate-covered strawberries for a tuxedo strawberry.

Chef Mike's rose martini

Ingredients:

• Ice
• Rose water
• Rose petals (optional)
• Simple syrup
• Vodka

Instructions:

1. Mix rose water, simple syrup and vodka.
2. Pour over ice.
3. Garnish with rose petals (optional).