Table Talk » Valentine's Day dinner at our house

Tonight's Valentine's Day dinner was simple and delicious.

I wanted fish, so I picked Braised Cod Puttanesca from Fine Cooking. Tom loves Israeli couscous, so I picked Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley from Epicurious. And a tossed salad.

One beauty of this meal was that it took less than 30 minutes to make. I don't want to spend the rest of the evening writing this blog post, so I'll just link to the recipes.

Toasted Israeli Couscous with Pine Nuts and Parsley: I halved the recipe, even halved, it makes a ton, but we both love this stuff, so leftovers are welcome. I used just 1 tablepoon of butter.

Braised Cod Puttanesca: The recipe calls for red snapper, but I used cod. I cooked 3 cod fillets (leftovers for lunch for me!), but didn't scale down the sauce ingredients.

What about dessert you ask? Well, we're full right now, but if we want dessert later, it will be Warm, Soft Chocolate Cakes by Jean-George Vongerichten and Mark Bittman. I'll use the Bitten suggestion of dusting the pans with cocoa powder rather than sugar. (And if you use the cocoa powder and chose a gluten-free chocolate, these cakes are gluten-free.) The cakes will take just a few minutes to mix, and are done in 12 minutes.