Food can be the language of love!
For a Valentine's Day dinner, we suggest a distinctive antipasto which is guaranteed to succeed, invented for you by our chef, Ferdinando Martinotti - it is the Cornucopia of Happiness.
To begin with, for the preparation of the shell of the horns, you will need some flared, metal, cannolo (or cream horn) moulds (cone-shaped) about 8-10 cm in length - one mould per person. Wrap the metal moulds with puff pastry which has been rolled out to medium thickness and cut into 2 cm wide strips; put the covered moulds onto an oven tray, brush them with lightly beaten egg and a pinch of salt and bake at 200°C. When cooked carefully remove the horns from the moulds and put them to one side in a cool, dry place.
For the filling, sprinkle thinly cut, smoked sword fish (roughly 50 g per person), with extra virgin olive oil from Garda, white pepper, salt, fresh marjoram and chopped chives and leave to marinade in the fridge overnight. Prepare a fresh tomato sauce: parboil small, ripe tomatoes, peel them and remove the seeds, then purée them with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and grated lemon peel (remember to use untreated lemons and wash them with water and bicarbonate of soda).
Drain the sword fish, cut it into small strips and stuff the horns just before serving; decorate the plate with the tomato sauce and a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs.
