Serve Your Sweetheart One of These Valentine's Menus This February 14th

Allow your plate to take you to France. Steak au poivre is a classic for a reason—the romance between good beef and the creamily piquant sauce is timeless. They are perfect partners. You'll need a bright Bibb lettuce salad to enjoy alongside it and a dessert that leaves you feeling refreshed yet pampered to end the meal well. Pears in red wine are sent over the top with the addition of crème de cassis. (We know you'll have leftover dessert, but trust us, these pears make a brilliant breakfast.)

Surprise your special person on Valentine's morning with a Champagne cocktail bedazzled with a dash of blood orange juice. Follow up with the ultimate edible I-love-you: a piping hot cheese soufflé, with arugula and bacon salad on the side. (Soufflés have an undeserved tricky reputation. Make sure your roux is smooth, and eat the soufflés the minute they are out of the oven for best results.)

A hearty appetizer of succulent sardines served in a lemon and caper dressing lays the foundation for a staple of warmly lit French brasseries: mussels swimming in flavorful broth. They may be the ultimate finger food (use one of the hinged shells as a nifty implement to nip the meat out of all the others). Crisp fingerling oven fries stand in for fussy frites. Finish the meal with our delectable riff on pots de crème, easily made in advance.

Fondue is for lovers: The silky, wine-napped cheese, those suggestively melting strands, the dipping of bread of bread (or crunchy vegetables). This rich main course begs for crisp salad alongside, and the nutty bitterness of radicchio in lemon dressing is just the thing. Dessert is a svelte farmers cheese and crème fraîche tart, perfumed with vanilla.

Our vegetarian Valentine's feast plays on the prettiness and symbolism of halves: Avocados filled with pink grapefruit makes a bright appetizer; nutty acorn squash stuffed with whole grains, shallots, and grapes that caramelize deliciously in the oven's heat; and baked apples overflowing with Mexican chocolate and lava-soft marshmallows. To make the menu vegan, simply substitute olive oil for the butter in the dessert.

The most romantic day of the year falls in the middle of the coldest month. Shake off the chill with soul-warming bowls of velvety onion soup (its secret is the slow caramelizing of the onions, and a very good, strong beef broth) accompanied by a winter salad bedazzled with scarlet pomegranate. After you have slurped the last, endless strand of melted Gruyère you deserve a neat but decadent dessert: scented Meyer lemons stand out in our version of a classic tarte au citron.

If you are toasting Valentine's day on your own, we've got you covered. Petite game hens suit a special occasion; root vegetables, tarragon, and mustard infuse the little bird as it roasts, leaving you free to do other things, like sip a Manhattan. For dessert, tuck into a blood-orange and cranberry meringue tartlet-for-one.

Family togetherness on Valentine's Day can be just as festive as it is for swooning couples. Begin this meal for four with the grownups sipping Cider-Bourbon Cocktails while kids enjoy Pomegranate Sodas (with a cherry on the top!). What shows more love than individual chicken pot pies, filled with aromatics and healthy collard greens? The dessert-finalé is a flock of make-ahead Chocolate Eclair Hearts. Invite the kids to help drizzle the smooth chocolate glaze over the finished choux.

We love wrapping dinner. Cooking sparkling fresh flounder with meaty shiitakes and early asparagus en papillote not only seals in flavor but spells, "Surprise!"—as the mouthwatering steam escapes. While dinner bakes, sip a couple of pink martinis. This light main course leaves you room for a milk tart so suave you may want to fast forward to dessert.

If love can be bought, we think this duo of vegetarian pizzas may the best currency. To whet your appetites, shape up a couple of spicy Habanero-Hibiscus Sours. Then tuck into a three-cheese pie topped with a forest of peppery arugula. The meal finishes with figs, the most sensual of fruits (although technically a flower!). They're baked atop ricotta, flecked with thyme, and drizzled with honey for a dessert pizza you're sure to remember.