Romantic Valentines Day Meal

This Valentines day, OXO Good Grips set us a new challenge – to cook a 3 course meal for our loved ones. So I decided to make crispy duck pancakes for starters, duck breast with cranberry sauce for main and waffles with strawberries for dessert.

In order to help me with this challenge, I have picked the 3 piece large bowl & colander set, mandoline slicer and 9” tongs with silicon heads to use along with all my other OXO Good Grips kitchen accessories.

This 3 piece nested bowl & colander set is quite huge! It comes with a bowl, colander and lid. I wanted this set to complement the berry bowl & colander that I have which I have found very useful for washing and storage. This makes a great set for salad and all sorts! The bowl features a non-slip bottom for stability while mixing and dual tone colours provide kitchen-to-table appeal. The curved bowl has no internal angles or corners, ensuring efficient mixing and easy cleaning. The colander has an elevated ring along the bottom to keep it stable in the sink or on the countertop and elongated holes for fast, efficient draining. The lid seals the Bowl for convenient food storage in the fridge, or rests on the nested bowl and colander to stack while storing. They are dishwasher safe.

Next is the mandoline slicer where the tab slides to easily adjust between three slice thickness settings, julienne setting and storage setting. The angled stainless steel blade slices even soft foods with ease, and the textured runway ensures that no food gets stuck while you’re slicing. The soft handle provides a soft, comfortable grip and the non-slip feet keeps the mandoline slicer steady while in use. The spring-loaded food holder comes with generous rim to protect your fingers and it is easy to use. The integrated blades are easy to clean and easy for storage. I enjoyed using it and now I can create well-presented food on my plate. I used to perform these slices freehand and the end result was slices of differing sizes which didn’t look very presentable.

To make the starter, I went to Wing Yip and bought ready-made frozen pancakes, frozen crispy duck and hoi sin sauce. I used the mandoline slicer to slice the carrots using the julienne setting. To make these crispy duck pancakes, I roasted the duck according to the packaging and steamed the pancakes. I hand sliced the spring onion roots and cucumber into tiny strips. When eating it, I generously apply the hoi sin sauce onto the pancake and added all the ingredients. I also used the mandoline slicer to slice the courgette to make the petal of a flower with a carrot in the middle for decoration.

For my main, I bought fresh duck breast, seasoned it and pan fried it for 8 minutes before I roasted it in the oven for 20 minutes 200°c. I love using the tongs as it is well made and of great quality. I used it to move the duck breast from the pan to the oven. Either steam the vegetables or boil it. For the mash, I added some milk, butter and OXO Herbs and More thyme in it to give it added flavour.

Lastly for the desserts, I made waffles using my waffle machine!

The recipe to make a plain waffle are:

• 250g Plain flour
• 2 tsp Baking flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp Vegetable oil
• A pinch of salt

Mix them well and pour it into the waffle machine. Once ready, add sliced strawberries and fresh cream with it!

The food went down a storm and I loved using my new OXO kitchen gadgets to expand on my culinary abilities. Thanks to OXO Good Grips for their brilliant kitchen gadgets to make cooking easier with great food presentation.

Disclosure: We received the samples for the purposes of writing this review, however, all thoughts and opinions remain our own.