Four Simple and Romantic Dishes That Will Impress Your Valentine
The ideal romantic meal should be easy to prepare, easy to clean, and not so filling that you are too burdened to enjoy other, mmm, activities. A steak dinner is never unwelcome, but it’s a bit heavy and you don’t want to smoke in the house or worry about overcooking the ribs. Luckily, there are tons of dishes you can cook to impress your candy, even if you’re not exactly the best chef stuff.
Just delicious pasta
According to the most romantic movie of all time, Lady and the Tramp, spaghetti is the perfect date food. Seasoned with a delicious homemade sauce, dried pasta is a thoughtful and soothing dish. Best of all, the sauce is very easy to make.
- Pasta in One Pot: This streamlined pasta dish from Martha Stewart, shown in the video above, can be cooked in about twenty minutes in one pot. Simply place the dried pasta in a tall pot or Dutch oven along with halved cherry tomatoes, basil, chopped onions, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Pour in enough water to just cover everything, bring to a boil and simmer, stirring it around with mites every five minutes or so, until the pasta is al dente.
- Cacio e Pepe: This minimalist recipe is much more than the sum of its parts. This recipe from Bon Appetit has all the delicious details, but it’s so simple you can almost blow it up. Simply boil a few spaghetti by removing them from the pot a couple of minutes until cooked through, and leave ¾ cup of water to cook. Melt a few tablespoons of butter, grind some fresh pepper in a skillet and brown. Pour 1/2 cup pasta water over the pepper and bring to a boil. Return the pasta to the pot, along with a little more oil and grated Parmesan, and stir with tongs so everyone will recognize each other. Once the cheese is nice and melted, sprinkle with more fresh pepper and serve.
- Marcella Hazan Tomato Sauce: This three-way sauce is almost magical in how simple and delicious it is. Pour a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes into a saucepan, along with five tablespoons of oil and peeled, halved onions. Bring everything to a boil and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally and kneading the tomatoes with a spoon. The stewed onions will give the sauce a mild sweet flavor. Just remember to remove it before serving.
Serve with a simple green salad (you can whip up a light vinaigrette using this picture) and garlic bread and you’re done.
Perfectly matched cheese and cold cuts
There is literally nothing easier than unrolling the cheese and placing it on a tray, but with a little attention to the decoration, a plate of fancy cheese and cold cuts can feel quite special. To make a beautifully balanced plate of delicious snacks, you’ll need something from each of the following categories:
- Anything soft and buttery like Camembert, Brie, and Taleggio are good options.
- Anything Spicy : Take a super-spicy cheddar or crumbly aged gouda and be sure to cook a few apple slices.
- Something funky: Not all blue cheeses are created equal. Walk around the pre-shredded material and grab a piece of Roquefort, Stilton, or Gorgonzola. (I really like Cambozola now .)
- Salted Meats: Unless you’re a vegetarian, you’ll want to supplement all of these dairy products with something jerky. Serious Eats has a great selection of quirky salami , but you can’t go wrong with prosciutto, mortadella (with pistachios) or – if you don’t like pork – bresaola .
- Something Sweet: A little honey, quince paste, or fig jam makes a nice sweet balancing act to funky salty cheeses.
- Something crunchy: Crackers, crostinis and breadsticks not only serve as a mouth-watering delivery system, they also provide the texture you need. Toasted nuts are also a good crunchy option. (Bonus points if you catch Marcona brand almonds.)
- Fruit: Apples, pears and grapes keep things from getting too rich, and there’s something undeniably sexy about a bunch of juicy grapes.
Place everything on a large wooden cutting board along with small knives, spatulas, and small spoons for honey or canned food and head out into town.
Super sexy oysters
Oysters may seem a little intimidating, but once you learn how to peel them, they become a very easy dish that doesn’t need to be cooked. You don’t even need any special equipment, just a tea towel and a regular double knife. The video above may give you a good idea of the process, but you will need to fold a towel over the bivalve clam (to stabilize the oyster and protect your hand) and wiggle the thin knife blade in the front crack. rupture of the adductor muscle. It opens easily so you can focus on creating the elastic.
This simple minonetka – a good starting point, and for her only a few ingredients you need:
- 2 teaspoons champagne vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped shallots
- A pinch of coarse black pepper
- Pinch of sugar
- 1 teaspoon fresh flat parsley, finely chopped
Whisk everything together and let sit for half an hour or so for the flavors to mix. If you want to mix things up and get really interesting, you can add a couple tablespoons of booze – Campari is a great choice – or freeze fancy flavored granita . Just take some flavored liquid like Campari, some fresh herbs, some salt and pepper. Place the tasty mixture in the freezer and, when freezing, scrape with a fork over the shards. Scoop small ice crystals onto your artfully peeled oysters and be amazed at your imagination.
The lightest fondue
Traditional fondue can be a little fussy, and you’re limited to cheeses that don’t turn fat when heated. Luckily, thanks to the magic of sodium citrate, you can turn just about any cheese (or cheese mixture) into a delicious sauce. You can make this silly dream come true with an immersion circulation pump or do it on a stovetop. You will need:
- 8 ounces of your favorite cheese, cut into thin slices
- ½-1 teaspoon sodium citrate
- 1/2 cup liquid (water will work, but I would use beer, sherry, or wine).
Add ½ teaspoon sodium citrate and liquid of your choice to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add cheese and stir until melted. If the product is lumpy instead of tough, add a little more sodium citrate until it softens. Serve with bread cubes, raw carrots, apple slices, tiny chips, and whatever else you want to dip in cheese.
No matter what food you cook, remember that only the thought is important, and your Valentine will feel loved regardless of the taste of the food (well, within reason). Tip: Buy a really good bottle of wine to take your mind off culinary imperfections. Wine always helps.