It is coming up to the most romantic meal of the year and you might like to cook at home. These recipes will impress and you will be able to prepare them relatively easily. Chicken supremes are chicken breasts with the fillet and wing bone attached. You could also use a thick chicken breast and roast for five minutes less. Leave the skin on and try to buy free-range. The wild mushroom and tarragon sauce can be made a few days before and reheated just before. It is also a great sauce with pork or lamb cutlets. If you add a little smoked bacon it is perfect with pasta.

This chocolate dessert is guaranteed to get a “wow”. It is traditionally made with puff pastry so this is the Valentine’s Day version. You can make it a week or so in advance, leaving very little for you to do on the day. It is worth getting good chocolate. I use Callebaut, which I buy from BD Foods in Monaghan, and they are online. This dessert is also delicious with passion fruit instead of raspberries.

Chicken Supremes with Wild

Mushrooms and Tarragon

Serves two

Donegal rapeseed oil, for frying

2 chicken supremes

25g (1oz) butter

2 shallots, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

100ml (3 1/2fl oz) dry white wine

200ml (7fl oz) chicken stock

4 tbsp cream

150g (5oz) mixed wild mushrooms, trimmed and large ones sliced in half

1 fresh tarragon sprig, leaves stripped

1 heaped tsp Dijon mustard

Squeeze of lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Buttered noodles or creamy mashed potatoes, to serve

1 Preheat the oven to 200oC (400oF/gas mark six). Heat a little rapeseed oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a high heat and cook the chicken, skin-side down, for three to five minutes until golden. Set the pan aside.

2 Transfer the chicken to a baking dish, skin-side up and roast for 20-25 minutes until cooked through. Leave to rest in a warm place.

3 Add a knob of the butter to the reserved pan and put on a low heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for five to six minutes until well softened but not coloured.

4 Increase the heat to high and pour in the wine and stock and reduce over a high heat for about 10 minutes until the alcohol has been cooked off and the liquid has reduced by half. Stir in the cream and reduce again for another two to three minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

4 Meanwhile, heat a separate pan with the rest of the butter. Once foaming, tip in the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and sauté for five minutes, tossing occasionally until dark golden. Stir into the cream sauce with the tarragon, mustard and enough lemon juice to taste. Pour in any resting cooking juices from the chicken.

5 Arrange the chicken supremes on warmed plates with noodles or mash and spoon over the wild mushroom and tarragon sauce to serve.

Chocolate iced millefeuille

Serves two (with plenty of leftovers)

100g bar plain chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces

150g (5oz) white chocolate, broken into pieces

225ml (8fl oz) cream

1 vanilla pod, split in half and seeds scraped

1 large egg white

2 tsp icing sugar

Cocoa powder, to dust

Fresh raspberries, to serve

1 Use a little water to dampen a 450g loaf tin (the more square shaped the better) and then line with a double layer of cling film. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 Melt the plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Spoon half the melted chocolate on to each sheet of parchment and spread it out to the edges in a thin layer. Put in the fridge to set.

3 Melt the white chocolate and five tablespoons of the cream in a separate heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, give it a good stir and then set aside to cool.

4 Whip the rest of the cream in a large bowl with the vanilla seeds until the cream is just holding its shape, then fold in the cooled, melted white chocolate.

5 In a separate bowl, whisk the egg white and icing sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold into the white chocolate mixture.

6 Peel the chocolate from the parchment paper and break into pieces.

7 Place a couple of spoonfuls of the cream mixture into the prepared loaf tin and cover with a layer of the chocolate pieces. Repeat the layers until the loaf tin is filled up, finishing with a cream layer. Cover the top with cling film. Freeze overnight or for up to one month.

8 About an hour before serving, transfer the loaf tin and reserved chocolate decoration to the fridge. To serve, carefully turn out on to a serving plate and peel away the cling film. Break up the reserved plain chocolate into small jagged pieces and use to decorate the top. Add a light dusting of cocoa powder and serve. Cut into slices and arrange on plates with some raspberries.