We love everything about Valentine’s Day, so much so that we send out Valentine’s cards every year instead of Christmas cards! 💘 To be fair, it all began when I had three little kids and was just too busy to get holiday cards out on time. We went from Christmas, to New Year’s and finally settled on Valentine’s. Anyway, it’s always been a really fun holiday in our household, so we love to make a special dinner with an extra-special dessert to celebrate Valentine’s Day. In case you plan to cook at home for this year’s Valentine’s Day (which, let’s face it is so much easier than trying to get a reservation on this particularly Cupid of days) we’ve crafted three special Valentine’s menus for you so you can enjoy a romantic dinner-your style, at home!

Your Special Valentine Will Feel the Love with Any of these Delightful & Delicious Menus.💘
Have you been thinking about making a special dinner for your sweet Valentine? 💕 This Valentine’s Day, set the mood with a menu tailored to your perfect evening. For those who love indulgence, Cupid’s Decadent Dinner offers a rich and luxurious dining experience featuring velvety sauces, gourmet flavors, and a touch of chocolate bliss. If you prefer a lighter yet equally romantic meal, Healthy Happy Hearts brings fresh, wholesome ingredients to the table, ensuring a delicious and nourishing feast without compromising on flavor. And for those looking for a simple yet heartfelt dinner, Sweet & Simple Supper provides an easy-to-make menu that’s both elegant and stress-free, so you can spend more time savoring the moment. No matter your style, love is always the main ingredient!
All of these take some time, and even though we’ve tried to make the easy meal pretty darn easy, you will have to set aside some time whenever you embark on creating a special five-course meal. It will be a labor of love, so to speak!
All of these menus use beautiful, fresh ingredients, with plenty of red colors to make the meal delicious as well as aesthetically pleasing. For our main courses, we’ve chosen lobster, salmon and chicken, but you can always substitute your favorite steak or a portobello mushroom if you lean toward beef or vegetarian. And, naturally, you can mix and match from any of these recipes to arrive at a menu that pleases you best!
If you haven’t made homemade pasta before, our Cupid’s Decadent Dinner will take some practice and you might want to practice on a good friend before making it for the love of your life, but if you’re familiar with making pasta, then this will be no problem for you! All you need to do is roll out the pasta into thin, wide sheets, make the sauce and filling and then you begin to shape the ravioli. Cooking the ravioli is quick, so that is super helpful!
You really can’t go wrong, no matter which menu you plan to make. Just be sure to have all of the ingredients and equipment needed on hand before you start your dining adventure. We love and appreciate that you are here on our site, and hope that you create the most amazing meal yet for your 2025 Valentine’s Day! 💘
CUPID’S DECADENT DINNER

- Appetizer | Shrimp a la Diavola
- Salad | Radicchio Caesar Salad
- Veggie | Herb Ranch Grilled Asparagus
- Main Course | Lobster Ravioli
- Dessert | Lava Cakes


SWEET & SIMPLE SUPPER

- Appetizer | Cream Cheese Salsa Dip
- Salad | Caprese
- Veggie | Honey Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts
- Main Course | Chicken Diavola
- Dessert | Stuffed Strawberries with Hot Fudge Sundaes




HEALTHY HAPPY HEARTS

- Appetizer | Caramelized Shallot Crostini
- Salad | Buttermilk Herb Ranch Dressing with Greens & Cherry Tomatoes
- Veggies | Tomatoes Provençal
- Main Course | Grilled Salmon with Kalamata Olives, Tomatoes & Feta
- Dessert: Strawberry Yogurt Parfaits





Homemade Lobster Raviolis
Equipment
- 1 pasta maker (We use the Marcato Atlas 150 hand crank pasta maker, see link in notes below.)
Ingredients
Homemade Egg Pasta
- 10 oz. 00 Extra Fine Pasta & Pizza flour
- 1 tsp. salt (we use pink Himalayan salt)
- 3 large whole eggs
Lobster Tails
- 5 small lobster tails, meat removed from shells (save shells for broth)
- 2 cups water (to make lobster broth from the shells)
Onion-Shallot Mixture – split, half to be used each for filling and for sauce
- 2 large shallots, very finely diced
- 1 medium yellow onion, very finely diced
- 2 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 1 tsp. fresh dill
- 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp. salted butter
- 1/3 cup dry white wine (for deglazing pan in between ingredient additions)
Sauce
- 1/2 of the shallot-onion-garlic mixture.
- 3/4 cup red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
- 3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 2/3 cup dry white wine
- 2 tbsp. heavy cream
- 1 cup lobster broth
Lobster Filling
- 1/2 shallot-onion-garlic mixture
- 3 lobster tails, cooked and finely chopped
- 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
- 1/2 tsp. fresh dill weed
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. white pepper
Garnishes
- 2 small lobster tails, grilled or cooked on the stove
- 1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Instructions
Egg Pasta
- Place flour and salt in a bowl or on a large plate or cutting board. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs right into the well. Using a fork, stir the dough, gathering up more and more flour as you go. When you can make a ball of the dough, transfer the dough to a cutting board or pastry cloth that has been dusted with flour. Knead the dough for about five minutes, until the dough is smooth.
- Cut the dough into two smaller balls and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 20-30 minutes, or until ready to roll out dough.
- When your pasta filling is ready, it’s time to shape the ravioli. Remove dough from the refrigerator for about 5 minutes before rolling out.
Lobster Broth
- Once you remove the lobster tails from their shells, place the shells in a sauce pan and cover them with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Discard shells. Or save shells as garnish.
Base for the Filling and Sauce
- Heat 2-3 tbsp. olive oil and butter in a large saute pan. Cook shallots, onions, garlic, and herbs over medium-low heat until veggies are translucent and just beginning to brown. Deglaze pan with 1/3 of the wine. Add 3 of the lobster tails and heat until cooked through. Remove lobster tails from mixture and finely chop. Deglaze the pan again with 1/3 of the wine.
- Divide onion mixture into two portions: one for the filling and one for the sauce. Leave the half for the sauce in the pan and transfer the half for the sauce into a bowl.
Making the Filling
- Place half of the onion mixture into a mixing bowl. Add chopped lobster, ricotta cheese, Parmesan, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper. Mix well, cover and refrigerate until ready to make the raviolis.
- *Note – you can adjust this filling as you desire by adding extra lobster or more ricotta.
Making the Sauce
- With the remaining onion mixture still in the saute pan, add the red bell pepper and cook until soft. Add tomatoes and cook until soft and beginning flatten. Deglaze pan with the remaining 1/3 of the wine.
- Transfer mixture to a food processor and process until smooth. Return to the saute pan. (This mixture will not be completely smooth, but as smooth as you can possibly get it.) Add cream and lobster broth. Heat to sauce to a low simmer, whisking to blend ingredients. Set aside
- If you are making sauce ahead of time, be sure to refrigerate the sauce until ready to heat and serve.
Assembling the Ravioli
- Roll the pasta dough out to your desired thickness. We roll our pasta to #5 on our Marcato Atlas. Even the pasta sheets off to straight edges using a knife and a ruler and cut into rectangles approximately 2 x 4 inches in size.
- Place a healthy spoonful of lobster filling into the center of 1/2 of the dough rectangles. Using a brush or your fingers, lightly brush the edges of the entire rectangle with water. This helps to seal the edges. Fold the dough in half covering the half with the filling. Seal the edges using a fork. See photo. When completely made, store raviolis in the refrigerator in an airtight container until ready to cook.
The Final Touch
- When you are ready to cook and serve the pasta, heat a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil in your pasta pot. Heat pasta sauce in a separate pan or pot, and also heat your pasta serving bowls or plates in the oven or microwave so they are hot.
- Add raviolis to the boiling water and cook until al dente, approximately 3-5 minutes, or until they float. Strain and serve with a heaping spoon of the sauce over the top. Sometimes, we like to spoon the sauce on the plate and place the cooked ravioli on top of the sauce, reserving a little extra sauce for drizzling over the top of the raviolis.
- Serve a grilled or sautéed lobster tail next to each serving and garnish with freshly grated Parmesan.