Valentine's Dinner / new dish: Scallop & pate bruschetta with wine-caramel sauce

Hey guys, so I thought I'd start transitioning to posting more of the cooler things I decide to make, rather than having strictly all science-related projects.  About a week ago, I let my girlfriend choose from a menu of things for our valentine's dinner.  She chose some tricky stuff, but it was fun to make together.  

1st course: Scallop & pate bruschetta with red-wine caramel sauce
2nd course: Pork milanese (picture here with roasted leeks and 6 minute eggs)
Dessert: Apple pie

I'll go into the first course a bit, since it was a bit of an original idea of mine, and I think it came out pretty well.  Pork milanese you can find plenty of great recipes online (I totally just followed the one in that link, with a few changes), and that apple pie is something of a family recipe.

Pate is best made a day or more in advance, to give the flavors time to mellow and to let the mixture set.  You start off by sauteeing some aromatics (shallot, thyme) in butter, followed by searing off cleaned pieces of chicken liver (duck liver if you're fancy and have access to some).  Once browned, aromatics and liver pieces are added to a food processor.  

The pan should be deglazed with some booze (rum, wine, cognac, plenty of options), and the alcohol reduced.  Once you add the reduced alcohol and any additional flavorings (ginger powder, five spice powder, again you have some options here) to the food processor, you're good to go on the first round of blending.  Once smooth, add some extra fat (heavy cream, butter, or both) and blend again till smooth.  Pass the food processor contents through a sieve into a container, seal, and refrigerate until use.

For the rest, just sear some bay scallops on high heat, about 4 minutes on one side until brown and crispy.  Toast some bread (400 in the oven for say 10-15 minutes or in a toaster).  Make red wine sauce as described here, and assemble.

Left: seared bay scallops. Middle: chicken liver pate, Right: red wine caramel sauce

Check out my pages to the right for more detailed recipes!