Valentine's Day advice from Chef Kevin Dundon

Chef Kevin Dundon tells RTÉ LifeStyle about his most romantic Valentine's day, the perfect gift to give a loved one and the easiest way to whip up a romantic dinner for two.

What's you and your wife's ideal Valentines Day date?
Traditionally Valentine’s Day for us is very busy with the hotel so we try to celebrate a little earlier – this year as a sort of double celebration for Valentine’s and Catherine’s birthday I took her to the Moscow ballet in St Petersburg. We were in Rome for the Ireland match last weekend too which was very romantic.

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What is your ideal Valentine's Day meal?

I think when you're talking about your favourite Valentine's meal, I think it's very important that you understand the person that you're cooking for.

If I’m cooking for Catherine and trying to get into her good books, without question, it would have to be Dover sole on the bone, that's literally just pan fried with lemon juice and butter on the top. Catherine is a chocolate freak so it would have to be a chocolate fondant or a chocolate fondue for dessert.

Have you any memorable Valentine's Day dates to share?
Our best Valentine’s Day was totally unique – we were on holidays in a gorgeous log cabin, Jasper Park Lodge in Canada. The cottages are located beside a lake, which was frozen over and we had the picturesque snow scene outside, blazing fire inside. It was ideal.

We have loads of fond memories of some great holidays. I think Venice was amazing, going in the gondola.

It was funny because we met these guys the night before Valentine's Day, just randomly in a restaurant and they ended up being gondola goers and they brought us out the next day and sang to us...so it was quite romantic.

What, in your view, is the best Valentine's day meal for the amateur chef?
The most important thing to remember is the best meals are the ones that are kept really simple – yes, you’ve made the effort but you’ve kept it simple allowing you both to spend more time together so everyone will be happy.

"The most important thing to remember is that you're doing it because you love the person"

And for the more experienced?
For the WOW factor, I’d have to say, Beef Wellington – it’s a superb dinner time treat and so fulfilling when you prepare it from scratch. For those who are really adventurous, try the Chocolate Lava Cakes or Chocolate Fondant. They’re worth it!

"It's also a dish that you share together which is kind of important on Valentine's Day"

You have done a lot of work convincing us, and children/families, in particular, to eat healthier - do you see it working?
It’s 100% working. Anybody I talk to, at my in-store demo’s or wherever it is, people are all about healthy, wholesome food and cooking from scratch and this has really grown over the last two years. I’ve spent a lot of time in America and while I know there are a lot of states who are into healthy eating, they’re really not on board as much as we are in Ireland.

"There are pockets of greatness in America but overall I think they're far behind where we are in Ireland"

What are your food plans for 2017?
Lots of exciting projects with SuperValu, Taste, Donegal Food Festival and we’re also in pre-production for a new TV Show with RTÉ One. It's going to be really exciting, traveling all over Ireland looking for mad people that are doing mad things in their garden with food.

Kevin spoke to Ray D'Arcy about his Valentin'e Day plans today, listen below here:

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Valentine's Day advice from Chef Kevin Dundon

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