13 Romantic but Budget Dishes
There are many alternatives to dining out on Valentine’s Day, but none are as classic as simply cooking up a cozy meal at home. While ordering Taco Bell may seem meaningful and romantic to you and your partner (I know a couple who celebrate with chicken nuggets and champagne), if you’re interested in cooking, I’ve got some easy, budget-friendly options that are still pretty darn romantic.
Stuffed mushrooms in the deep fryer
These savory mushroom bites are one of my favorite things on planet Earth. They make a great appetizer or side dish, and using the air fryer means you can have them on the table in about 10 minutes. The filling consists of sausage, cream cheese and some chopped aromatics, providing a lot of flavor at a lower price.
Stuffed Shishito Peppers
The best way to make your vegetables holiday-worthy is to stuff them with cheese. Shishito peppers have aromatic flavor and tender seeds, so you can eat them whole without them becoming weird or bitter. Use the cream cheese and bacon filling recipe and place them in the air fryer for a few minutes.
Decorated frozen pizza
Pizza for Valentine’s Day dinner is certainly romantic, but ordering a specialty pie can easily get expensive. Instead, buy a frozen pie and decorate it yourself with a few unusual ingredients. Cut a ball of burrata (or two, they often come in pairs) on top, tuck a few strips of torn prosciutto into the cheese and drizzle with truffle honey.
Safe cacio e pepe
Let’s move on to the pasta course. Carbohydrates are and always have been the key to feeling satisfied on a budget. Cacio e pepe is flavorful and decadent mac and cheese, and there’s an easy way to make sure the sauce stays creamy and doesn’t clump. ( Read here to find out.) Serve this delicious dish with a glass of wine and candles for a simple and sweet presentation.
Gnocchi on a baking sheet
Crispy on the outside with a soft center, sheet pan gnocchi is both simple and damn delicious. Instead of making your own gnocchi, use soft, shelf-stable, packaged varieties that you can buy at the store. Toss it with the oil and other ingredients you want to brown, such as peppers, onions and sausage. This dish is cooked entirely in the oven and requires little more than shaking from time to time to ensure the ingredients cook evenly.
Browned butter and tomato paste
Here’s another romantic pasta dish that packs a lot of punch into one. This dish combines great taste with little price: all you need is a knob of butter and a little tomato paste. Simply cook your favorite shape of pasta according to package instructions. Fry the butter in a frying pan and mix with a portion of tomato paste. The paste goes into the sauce and absorbs all those deeply concentrated flavors.
Ricotta gnocchetti
If you thought making fresh, handmade pasta at home would never be possible, you haven’t heard of these easy ricotta gnocchetti . A paste of flour, salt and spreadable ricotta cheese is cut into tiny pads of pasta, ready for a quick boil. Add these gems to your favorite pasta sauce and place it on a plate with a piece of bread.
Chicken marinated with feta and capers
If you love a crispy, salty exterior and a juicy, tender interior, then this chicken recipe should be a priority this Valentine’s Day. Highly briny and salty ingredients are mixed together to make a marinade for this chicken, and the lactic acid from the cheese does double duty by tenderizing the meat (much like buttermilk marinades do). This is a three-ingredient recipe you’ll come back to again and again.
Pork tenderloin
These days, a whole Trader Joe’s pork loin can cost you less than a dozen chicken eggs. And once fried, it will certainly be more impressive than egg salad. A quick marinade in Bachan Japanese barbecue sauce, oil and a boost of MSG transforms this budget-friendly cut of meat into a sophisticated centerpiece. Serve it with fried fingerling potatoes or mushrooms stuffed on top.
Light rolls with shrimp
Forget lobster rolls: shrimp rolls are a delicious taste of summer that you can try anytime the mood strikes, thanks to frozen shrimp. Simply defrost and cook a handful of shrimp per person. Dress them with a simple mayonnaise dressing and tuck them into cut-top buns, adding a couple of onions.
Fried chicken with mayonnaise
Few main courses are both comforting and impressive, but a whole fried chicken does it superbly. To ensure your bird has beautiful bronze fur and juicy meat, coat it all with mayonnaise. Then prove to your Valentine that you’re a real grown-up by properly cutting up your fried chicken for serving.
Rainbow Cookie Egg Rolls
One of my favorite show-stopping desserts comes from a baseball stadium, specifically the Wok n’ Roll at Citi Field. This holiday dessert involves wrapping Italian rainbow cookies in an egg roll wrapper and then frying them until crisp. It’s fun, it’s decadent, it’s colorful. There’s no better way to say, “You got a kick.”
Unusual mille feulier
Puff pastry is one of those beautiful puff pastries that takes time and skill to make by hand. Luckily, buying frozen food from the supermarket doesn’t require these things. Use these instructions to bake a flat sheet of puff pastry and top it with vanilla pudding (a bag of vanilla snacks will do the job). Top it off with powdered sugar and you have a sweet Valentine’s Day dessert worthy of any restaurant in town.