Liquid Assets

For this Valentine's Day, I've come up with a simple, elegant menu composed of foods rife with aphrodisiacal qualities and matched some delicious wines. Keep it simple, light, and elegant, and make sure to finger-feed each other at every opportunity. Each of the dishes below are filled with purported aphrodisiacs.

First and most famous of the love-foods is the bivalve. Oysters are obvious, but it takes a brave heart to eat raw oysters these days. If that appeals to you, go for it, and add a bottle of

Sauvion et Fils Muscadet La Nobleraie ($8) for a classic combination.

Or, how about mussels done in a wine sauce (look up Moules a la Mariniere in a cookbook or go to www.foodtv.com/foodtv/recipe/0,6255,20936,00.html with a handful of toasted pine nuts and a few quartered cherry tomatoes added at the last minute. Serve it with Gruet Blanc de Blanc Sparkling Wine ($13) or, if you want to show off your bank account, a bottle of Taittinger Compte de Champagne Brut Blanc de Blancs ($130).

Next up, finger food. Steam some large asparagus, and serve with a poached egg, white truffle oil, and a good grind of pepper. Dip the asparagus in the egg yolk or the truffle oil, and feed them to each other. Finish the egg by rolling it around in the truffle oil. Asparagus is notoriously difficult to match with wine, but a citrusy New Zealand sauvignon blanc does well. Brancott's Reserve Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc ($20) would be just the thing. The Casa Lapostelle Sauvignon Blanc ($8) from Chile and Spicewood Vineyards Sauvignon Blanc ($10) are also great and a little less acidic.

For the main course, how about more shellfish? Everyone loves shrimp. A simple pasta with steamed shrimp, a little sautéed fennel and garlic, some lemon zest, and Italian parsley would be delicious. To add another aphrodisiac, cut a couple of Serranos in half and throw them in the boiling water with the pasta, discarding them along with the water. Or you can convert most of the ingredients into a fine soup called

Gamberoni al' Acqua Pazzo (recipe

at www.foodtv.com/foodtv/recipe/0,6255,10973,00.html).

The perfect wine is Ceretto Arneis Blangè ($16), a delicious wine filled with apple and peach aromas. An equally good choice would be Texas winemaker Becker Vineyard's scrumptious Viognier ($14), an even more intense wine that would mate perfectly with the shrimp and fennel.

If shellfish isn't your thing, try lamb shanks. They are earthy and filled with flavor and go wonderfully with various aphrodisiacal foods like truffles, figs, garlic, and radishes. If you have a favorite recipe, follow that, but try to incorporate plenty of garlic and put in a few figs for more oomph. You can find a good recipe that covers all the bases at www.foodtv.com/ foodtv.recipe/0,6255,13975,00.html. A perfect wine to match is the Jaboulet Parallele 45 ($6), a ridiculously underpriced French Rhone wine. For a nicer wine, the Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel 1999 ($27) has an absurdly long name, but once you taste it, you won't mind asking for it. Texas wine lovers should head straight to Alamosa Vineyards' Grenache Akashic Vineyard ($15) for a wonderful variation.

Dessert has to feature chocolate, and what sexier dessert is there than dipping strawberries into warm chocolate and feeding them to each other? Well, maybe bananas. If you want something more to drink, try Dale Degroff's Island Rose from The Craft of the Cocktail. Mix an ounce and a half of tequila, an ounce and a half of Kahlua, an ounce of Chambord, and three ounces of cream. Shake well with ice, and serve straight up. For a nice little piece of romance, float a petal from an organically grown rose on top.