Eat Gay Love: Part 3 – Elliott and Simon

We reached out to three married couples to ask about their relationships. How did they meet? What keeps them together? And just for fun, we asked them to provide recipes to create a three-course meal for you to enjoy on Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re with your lover, your friends or your family, food and love are universal. In part one, Dennis and Tony shared their starter recipe Figs and Mozzarella with us, and in part two, Kerry and Carsten shared their Fish Tacos recipe as the main course. This is the final part in a three-course series: Eat Gay Love: Part 3 – Elliott and Simon.

Related: ROMEO Love Story

Eat Gay Love: Part 3 - Elliott and Simon — Elliott and Simon (and Maggie the French)

Dessert – Truffle Hearts

Our dessert couple, Simon and Elliott, got married recently and live together in Amsterdam. They relocated to Holland two years ago from the UK and work together in Rumour Has It, a company founded by Simon. We’ll let the happy couple fill you in on the love details, but just to mention, they’ve got Truffle Hearts dessert for you at the end, to continue your ROMEO romance with food.

What is love?

“Love has to be what you want it to be ultimately. You can’t buy into the traditional ideal of it. Love for us is knowing that someone you trust implicitly has your back. Someone who will go the end of the earth with you and someone who can see you at your worst and still want to be with you. It’s also the feeling you get when you see his cheeky smile from across the room and when his eyes meet yours. It’s knowing that no matter what is happening when those arms get wrapped around you, you are safe and secure. ” – Simon & Elliott

Pub Love

Where did you meet, how did you start dating?

We met in Clapham, London, at a Bar called The Two Brewers. Elliott used to run a Drag bar, Halfway to Heaven in central London, and was at The Brewers with one of his acts. I was there on a night out with one of my best friends. We had caught each other’s eye early on in the evening, but it took some time to muster up the courage to talk to one another. Finally, we did – albeit in an awkward exchange in the toilets (don’t ask, it wasn’t as seedy as it sounds). The rest of that night was a whirlwind of kissing and chatting.

However, after that first meeting, I played hard to get, as I wasn’t quite ready for a relationship, though luckily Elliott pursued and the rest as they say is history. We began dating a few months after that, and after some ups and downs we ended up here.

Oh the Drama!

Who was the first person to say; I Love you? When and where was this?

It was Elliott! Elliott was in a gay amateur drama club, and I think by the time I had sat through the third performance of the show The Bitches Of Oz, he obviously thought I was a keeper and told me, ‘I love you’, during one of the songs. I may have blushed just a little!

Recipe for Love

What’s the key ingredient that keeps you two together? How do you work on keeping the love going?

Our key ingredient is honesty and openness – through the bad and good times, we have always made sure that we are totally honest with each other. We try, where possible, to have a grown-up discussion together.

I think also we grew up together – during a period that we were both changing, so we dealt with personal issues together, which made us able to really get to know one another. We keep the love going by having fun and not being too restricted to things in life. We know as we grow we change, that’s inevitable, but we work that out together. We still do date nights and cheeky weekends away, as well as our holidays every year. We also have nights out with friends and make sure we have our separate space – it’s amazing to have stores to come back and tell each other.

Let’s Eat!

So, what have you chosen to be our Valentine’s Day dessert?

We have made truffle hearts for dessert. I’m a big dessert fan, Elliott not so much, so these are great, as they are sweet and full of chocolate, but for Elliott they have that bitterness of dark chocolate, so aren’t too rich. The great thing is you can make a large batch and any spare mix can be made into small truffles, which means you can sit watching a movie and eat them as well.

Simon and Elliott’s Truffle Hearts

Ingredients

200g semi-sweet (70%) chocolate, finely chopped

400ml heavy cream

2 tbsp. single-malt Scotch (optional)

400g extra dark (85%) chocolate, finely chopped

Sprinkles or candy for topping

How to Make It

Instructions

Line an 8×8 inch square, 2-inch deep baking pan with aluminum foil, overlapping the top slightly, and set out a fine-mesh strainer.

Place the 70% chocolate in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir gently with a heatproof spatula until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Do not whisk or splash the mixture by stirring too briskly, or the texture of the chocolates will be cakey and granular. Add the Scotch (if using) and stir.

Strain the mixture (ganache) into the prepared pan. Tilt the pan to level the ganache. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 4 hrs or overnight.

Transfer the pan from the freezer to the refrigerator to soften for 20 minutes. Choose a baking sheet or dish that will fit in your freezer and line it with parchment paper.

Place a sheet of foil about 12 inches long on a flat surface.

Using the overlapped foil you used to line the pan, lift out the ganache.

Flip over onto the clean sheet of foil. Peel the foil from the bottom.

Using a 1½-inch heart-shaped cutter, cut out hearts as close together as possible to avoid excessive amounts of scraps, and transfer to the baking sheet or dish. Roll the leftover chocolate into round balls to make a more traditionally-shaped truffle. If the ganache becomes too soft to work with, cover with plastic wrap and return to the freezer to harden.

Once all of the hearts are cut, cover with plastic wrap and freeze until very hard, at least 4 hours or again overnight.

TO COAT THE HEARTS:

Choose a baking sheet or pan that will fit in your refrigerator and line with parchment paper.

Melt the 85% chocolate and stir until smooth. Put the bowl of melted chocolate next to the prepared baking pan. Remove the hearts from the freezer one small batch at a time.

Place a heart in the center of the bowl of chocolate and, using a fork, flip it over and push it under the surface of the chocolate to coat completely. Slip the fork under the center and lift the heart out of the chocolate.

Tap the fork on the side of the bowl so any excess chocolate drips back into the bowl. Wipe the bottom of the fork on the edge of the bowl and set the heart on the prepared pan.

Working quickly cover the heart in your choice of sugar sprinkle or candy topping.

Repeat with the remaining hearts.

Refrigerate for 1 hour, or until the chocolate has hardened.

Makes 10-15 hearts.