DIY Valentine's Dinner With "A Little Help" From Emile's 'At Home'

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Husband achieves restaurant meal in the privacy of our own home!

Combining 19 years of marriage and the current age of austerity spending Valentines in a restaurant filled with tables for two, was not on our list of an ideal way to spend the 14th February - don't get me wrong to coin a phrase from ad from a decade ago we still "want to be together"!

Emile's At Home service offered a great alternative for a husband who is no stranger to the kitchen but nor is he a regular cook! 24 hours earlier a quick call to Emile's in West Putney resulted in a 3 course meal that he could cook - with no mess and less washing up for the non-chef of the night aka me!

The food is packed in boxes with clear instructions and laid out as you would present the final product.....so very easy to make it look good.

We started with wild mushroom souffle with white wine beurre blanc which needed baking & the white wine (supplied by yourself) adding to the sauce (£2.95). The souffle was very light and impressive visually - I would certainly have that again.

For our main course he went for Emile's signature dish - the individual beef wellington serve with madeira sauce (£7.95) which he had to baste with egg yolk and bake for 20 minutes which resulted in crispy pastry but tender rare fillet - just as I like it! The other half managed to steam a selection of vegetables but for those less able (?!) you can also order a selection of vegetable and potatoes from Emile's. We cracked open a fine bottle of Saint Esteve de Neri Grande reserve 2007 from a vineyard we had visited owned by a fellow Scot in the Luberon - delicious!

To complete the meal a treacle tart was ordered (winner of our call for the best pud in Putney in July 2009) (£8.50 - serves 6) - sadly I was too full to try but the feedback from the other half was that it was delicious and I know that our sons will enjoy the remainder today!

Don't wait for next Valentine's to try this service - it really was an easy way to have a relaxing meal with out the schlep of preparation (& mess!) - highly recommend for a birthday or anniversary treat or simply to have a treat. The meal cost £30.30 excluding our own wines.

February 24, 2012