Anniversary Dinner

As you know, Micah and I recently celebrated our two-year anniversary, so I thought I would share our anniversary meal. Micah had started to feel sick and he was working 12+ hour days on a film shoot for three weeks in a row, including Saturdays, so we knew it would be a quiet night at home. So, I borrowed a recipe idea from a friend, Christa Baca for easy home-made calzones (check out her blog here). I bedazzled the calzone a little bit more by adding hearts to the crust in honor of our anniversary, and I also made a delicious Italian salad with roasted asparagus.

I won't lie and tell you I made the dough from scratch, but rather I got the dough near the crescent rolls and cinnamon rolls and just unrolled that flat, filled with sauce, cheese and toppings and folded it back over and pinched the sides together. I baked according the instructions on the roll. It was so simple and delicious! (thanks Christa for the idea!).

The salad was also super easy, but I unfortunately wolfed it down so fast I didn't take a picture:

• To roast the asparagus, you wash and then trim the bottom ends. Lay on a baking sheet and generously salt and pepper and dot with butter. Roast in a 400 degree oven, tossing once, for about 10-15 minutes (depending on how thick the spears are). Then add on top of the salad!
• I also made croutons that night since Micah really likes them and I don't typically buy them (why add unnecessary carbs to a salad!?). Cut up the heel of a loaf of bread, toss in a bag with about 1 tblspn. olive oil, salt, garlic powder and really any seasonings you want depending what salad you are making. I put them on the same pan as the asparagus and just pulled them out a bit early and voila- delicious homemade croutons!
• The rest of the salad was capers, feta cheese, green olives, grape tomatoes, red onion, field greens and mushrooms.

To finish the evening was our favorite dessert that I made from scratch- Creme Brulee and then we un-romantically watched one of our favorite tv-shows before finally sleeping in separate beds (like I said, he was sick and coughing all night; little baby and I need sleep!).
The creme brulee recipe is surprisingly simple, and oh, so delicious! But you do need to make it the day before so it has time to cool in the fridge and then make the crust the day of. Here is the recipe:

• 1 quart whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar (I added a little more)
• 1 tblspn vanilla
• pinch salt
• 8 egg yolks
• dark brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 4 ingredients in a heavy saucepan and warm slowly over low heat until the cream is scalded (180-185 degrees), stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, beat yolks in stainless steel bowl until lemon colored. Very slowly pour hot cream into yolks; do not beat or mixture will foam.
Pour into a 6-8 cup baking dish or individual 6oz. ramekins. Place in a larger baking pan. Fill pan with hot water so water comes halfway up the custard container(s). Bake until knife inserted 1 inch from the edge of custard comes out clean (center will be soft) about 25-30 min. Remove custard from water bath and allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat broiler. Sift brown sugar to depth of 1/4 inch evenly over top of custard. Place custard under broiler 6-8 inches from heat. Watch carefully as sugar will melt in 1-2min. Do not let it burn. When sugar is melted, return immediately to refrigerator to stop the cooking. Serve very col. Crust will hold up for 4-6 hours.

To add a little romance to the evening, I did light our stone fireplace wall with small tea-light candles, moved the roses he gave me to our table, and I had Teitur playing in the background (Teitur is the artist that we danced our first dance as a married couple at our reception, "One and Only" was the song). So, despite the sickness and an evening in, we still managed to celebrate that remarkable day.