Let’s be honest. Valentine’s Day is stressful. With all the pressure to show your beloved that you love them, even more than you do any other day, it can be hard to feel like we’ve done everything just right. I’ve always worried that my gifts aren’t grand enough, my dinner plans may leave us disappointed, or that I’ll just forget entirely and rely on the nearest pharmacy to help me pull through with a stuffed animal and even more sad-worthy chocolate.

The good news is that this year’s V-day falls on Sunday. This leaves us with an entire day to fill with activities, love, spoiling, food, and more love. I have elected more often than not to cook for my Valentine rather than subject myself and said Valentine to the insanity of restaurants on this lovey dovey day.  If you haven’t made reservations yet, there’s a good chance you’d be taking your meal at McDonald’s anyway.

We’ve just received and fresh and incredibly aromatic shipment of fresh truffles from Italy, which is Valentine gift enough for me already. Take one home for brunch or dinner (or both!) and show your Valentine just how much you adore them by cooking with one of the most covetable ingredients available. Nothing says love like luxurious truffles, so take full advantage!

Soft Scrambled Eggs with Truffle
Serves 2

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 eggs
• Salt & Pepper, to taste
• 1 medium black truffle, thinly shaved

Break eggs into a bowl with a pinch of salt. Whisk until completely combined, there should be no veins of white. Heat butter in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Allow butter to melt and foam. Once finished foaming, pour eggs into the pan and allow for a thin layer of cooked egg to appear at the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle half the black truffle over the eggs and use a rubber spatula to sweep and push eggs across the skillet. Once curds begin to form and the eggs appear to be just set with the top still runny, remove from heat and divide between plates. Finish with the remaining truffle and additional salt and pepper.

PAIR WITH: Blood orange mimosas, coffee, and cuddles

Fettuccine with Robiola and Black Truffle
Serves 2

• ½ stick unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
• ½ pound dried egg fettuccine
• ½ pound Robiola, cut into small cubes
• 1 medium black truffle
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Carefully continue to cook until butter solids become brown and butter has a nutty aroma. Pour into a bowl and reserve.
Cook pasta to al dente in salted water and reserve ½ cup pasta water. Drain pasta and return to the pot. Add reserved pasta water, browned butter, freshly shaved truffle, and Robiola, tossing with two forks to incorporate. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to serving bowls and shave the last bits of truffle over each bowl to garnish. Serve immediately.

PAIR WITH: Prosecco

We’re always for looking for new ways to step up our kitchen game. New flavors are welcome in the hands of our Caputo’s team. In this case, the flavor is new to us, but not necessarily to new to Greek culinary enthusiasts. Friends, meet Chios Mastica.

On one particular Greek island just south of Lesvos and nearer to mainland Turkey than mainland Greece, there is one particular tree grown for one particular sap. The island of Chios is known for the most flavorful sap harvested from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus). A close cousin of the pistachios we regularly eat, mastic is grown for the sap and is dried out to produce chewing gum, a distilled spirit, and the pure dried teardrops of sap. Bark is cut early in the morning and revisited later in the afternoon to collect the seeping, sticky sap. In the kitchen, mastica is finely ground and added to breads, pastries, and ice cream for its pine-y flavor and bright aroma. Mastica is exported to Egypt, Turkey, and Lebanon for use in jams, meat marinades, and even coffee.

Think of your favorite breads and pastries that rely on typical baking spices like clove, cinnamon, and allspice and then imagine incorporating one more layer to that recipe that complements those warm spice notes, but also offers a brighter, more green aroma. We get both increased depth of flavor and, for me, an aroma reminiscent of the first days of having a fresh Christmas tree at home.

We’re just scratching the surface of the endless possibilities mastica has to offer. Stay tuned for recipes and uses are we dive even deeper into this new pool of tasty obsession.

Caputo’s is known for many things. Our exceptional cheese program, enormous amounts on craft chocolate, and our 20 years of award winning sandwiches are among them. What you may not know, however, is that we’re taking cocktails and bar menus just as seriously as we are our cheese caves and chocolate brands. Our own home bars are spilling over with the necessary and essential cocktail components. One of the most important pieces of the cocktail puzzle? Bitters.

If you’ve enjoyed a cocktail lately, there’s a good chance Dale Degroff had a hand in restoring it’s popularity. The art of the craft cocktail has slowly been revived since its near extinction from the time of Prohibition. During his time at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center, Mr. Degroff helped to restore the respected position of bar-tending while also helping to resurrect America’s appreciation for  the classic, balanced cocktails of decades past. After countless mixology awards, two published books, and a decade later, we can now bring a piece of Dale Degroff home with us by way of his own handcrafted bitters.

Dale Degroff teamed up with noted absinthe distiller T.A. Breaux in France to create a spiced bitters highlighting both allspice and anise with a warm backbone of many more spices. The result is an aromatic, warm concoction perfect for classic rum and whiskey cocktails. From sazeracs to rum punch, the possibilities are endless. If we had to pick just one bitters to keep on hand at home, this would be one of the top selections. What’s more, these bitters are just as useful in the kitchen as they are at the bar. Finish any grilled or seafood dish with just a dash for enhanced complexity of whip into pastry creams and meringues in the place of vanilla extract for an intriguing new take on your favorite desserts. You’ll be amazed by how often you find yourself reaching for these bitters, and we don’t blame you, we’re doing it too.