Countless couples have gotten engaged at Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans through the years. Since 1978, the establishment has made it their mission to help people orchestrate the perfect proposal over a meal and their newest offering is hard to beat. Priced at $9.85 million, the Strawberry Arnaud comes with a 10.06 carat royal blue diamond ring supplied by MS Rau Antiques, which basically guarantees wedding bells. But if you don’t want to shell out that much cash on a dessert or if you don’t live anywhere near New Orleans, the eatery shared a scaled-down recipe to make it easier for home bakers to recreate (sans ring, of course).
If you did propose at Arnaud’s though, you should definitely make this as an anniversary treat.
Ingredients:
- – 1 cup ruby port
- – 1 cup red burgundy-style wine
- – 1/2 orange, sliced
- – 1 whole clove
- – 1 cinnamon stick
- – 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- – 3 cups vanilla ice cream
- – 3 cups sliced fresh Louisiana strawberries
- – Lightly sweetened whipped cream, for garnish
- – Six whole, perfect strawberries with their stems, for garnish
- – Sprigs of fresh mint for garnish
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine the port, wine, orange slices, clove, cinnamon and sugar. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for at least 30 minutes. Strain the sauce, cover it and then refrigerate until serving (the sauce will keep for up to two weeks).
To serve, place one scoop of ice cream in six Champagne glasses. Cover the ice cream with sliced strawberries and drizzle generously with the port sauce. Add a dollop of whipped cream, a whole strawberry (if desired) and a sprig of fresh mint for show and serve at once.
