Every February brings the return of candy hearts to the grocery store aisle and the plans to celebrate what many consider a “greeting card” holiday in the name of love.
If you’re tired of celebrating the Hallmark holiday of St. Valentine, this February I urge you not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, remember the best part of Valentine’s Day — delicious sweets —- or celebrate your love in your own way on one of these five oft-forgotten other February holidays.
Here are some cookbooks to get you started:
Groundhog Day: Feb. 2
“Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish” by Jesse Griffiths
I’ve never wanted to learn to hunt so badly as when I cracked the cover of this cookbook — cue Downton Abbey-inspired shoot in the countryside. Griffiths, a James Beard Award finalist, shares recipes for smoked goose sausage, smothered boar chops and squirrel with herb dumplings (you can substitute turkey legs if desired). It also tastefully shows you how to pluck and prepare a meal of doves — perfect for a pair of love birds.
Publisher: Welcome Books; price: $40
Super Bowl, Feb. 7
“Beer Bites” by Christian DeBenedetti &Andrea Slonecker
Yes, I realize this isn’t a nationally recognized holiday, but it’s near enough to make it on this list. Maybe you’re married to a sports nut like I am. Here’s the opportunity to score kudos twice. Once for making a sporting event the center of your date and again for food paired with beer. Serve fried burrata sandwiches and blood orange-tomato soup with a Pfriem witbier and you’ll find the way straight to your date’s heart.
Publisher: Chronicle Books; price: $24.95
Chinese New Year, Feb. 8
“Lucky Peach: 101 Easy Asian Recipes” by Peter Meehan &Editors of Lucky Peach Magazine
Given that the Gregorian New Year falls so close to Christmas, I hardly notice it in my recovery from holiday revelry. The Chinese New Year is a perfect opportunity to reset. These are indeed easy recipes, and any novice home cook will be whipping up a meal to rival the best takeout classics in celebration of the year of the monkey.
Publisher: Clarkson Potter; price: $35
Mardi Gras, Feb. 9
“Besh Big Easy: 101 Home Cooked New Orleans Recipes” by John Besh
My experience of Mardi Gras is limited to the long-gone Everett restaurant Alligator Soul and my childhood experience of Carnival in the Caribbean — all king cake and cheap trinkets. It’s a holiday for some of the best comfort cuisine, and one I’ve grown to love. Besh packs his book with Nola favorites along with the perfect hangover food: Red Beans n’ Rice. Grab a copy, your date and laissez les bon temps roulez!
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing; price: $25
Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14
“The New Sugar &Spice: A Recipe for Bolder Baking” by Samantha Seneviratne
Of course you can stick with this classic holiday, and I would be remiss If I didn’t take advantage of this day of love to give you a dessert selection. With recipes separated into sections on peppercorn &chile, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove &cardamom, vanilla, ginger and savory herbs &spices, Seneviratne’s book is an exploration of spice and will help you bake the perfect treat.
Publisher: Ten Speed Press; price: $27.50
Presidents Day, Feb. 15
“The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America’s Food” by Matthew Gavin Frank
The Mad Feast is indeed a bit mad, if not maddening, and certainly not a book for everyone. If the love of your life is a bit sarcastic, snarky and enjoys their cookbook with some salty language, this is one to consider. Frank, a creative writing professor, is more writer than cookbook author, but he makes his trip through the dishes of our United States anything but dull. Enjoy such classics as Philly cheesesteak, Key Lime pie or our founding father’s peanut soup from Virginia along with stories of origin — or at least how Frank came to find each recipe. Then regale your date with Washington’s love story to the aplet, of Aplets &Cotlets fame.
Publisher: Liveright Publishing; price: $35
I should also say that Feb. 10 is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, should you need a holiday to stick to a New Year’s resolution of cutting back. This could include a long walk on the beach or gazing into your true love’s eyes while sipping a cup of bone broth or turmeric lemon water.
However you choose to celebrate your love in February, don’t feel restricted to the 14th.
Follow Erin Pride on Twitter and Instagram @edibleshelf.
Aplets
4 cups apple pulp
4 cups sugar
4 tablespoons gelatin
1 cup cold water
3 cups chopped nuts
¼ teaspoon rosewater
Use Jonathan apples or Winesaps. Cut up and cook with sugar in as little water as possible. Drain and press through a sieve. Soften gelatin in water; add to apple pulp and mix thoroughly. Add nuts and rosewater after mixture has partially cooled. Pour into buttered pans ¾ inch thick. Let harden, cut in even pieces, and roll in powdered sugar.
Excerpted from “The Mad Feast: An Ecstatic Tour Through America’s Food” by Matthew Gavin Frank. Copyright © 2015 by Matthew Gavin Frank. With permission of the publisher, Liveright Publishing Corporation.
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