The Cooking Date

[meatz]

So i'm cooking for my girlfriend for the first time this coming weekend, and i'm trying to come up with a menu that will a) impress her 2) let her try new things. See her family was never big on trying new foods and hence she hasnt had the opportunity to experience the many wonderful flavours of the world. However, the good thing is, she is very open minded and really wants to try new stuff. So here's what i was thinking:

appetizer:

roasted red pepper with caramelized onions and a dab of goat cheese all on top of a toasted slice of a baguette

entree:

Linguine with fresh atlantic scallops, done in olive oil, garlic and some parsley, with a homemade cesar salad

dessert:

i was thinking maybe poached pears with some vanilla ice cream

all comments and recomendations would be appreciated, i will be cooking for her this coming saturday

thanks

[Daniel]

So i'm cooking for my girlfriend for the first time this coming weekend, and i'm trying to come up with a menu that will a) impress her 2) let her try new things. See her family was never big on trying new foods and hence she hasnt had the opportunity to experience the many wonderful flavours of the world. However, the good thing is, she is very open minded and really wants to try new stuff. So here's what i was thinking:

appetizer:

roasted red pepper with caramelized onions and a dab of goat cheese all on top of a toasted slice of a baguette

entree:

Linguine with fresh atlantic scallops, done in olive oil, garlic and some parsley, with a homemade cesar salad

dessert:

i was thinking maybe poached pears with some vanilla ice cream

all comments and recomendations would be appreciated, i will be cooking for her this coming saturday

thanks

←

I personally would not like carmalized onion red pepper on a baguette to start.. Are you going to eat this sitting down, or just standing around.. Are you going to have one baguette on a plate and eat with your hands or knife and fork.. Or if you are doing baquette maybe do several kinds..

I might do like a Bresaola with bitter greens to start.. Or maybe a tuna tartare to start instead of the baguette.. Or work a crostini into a salad..

The linguine sounds very good.. If you can find yourself razor clams, I think this is a more "exotic" presentation... To use a razor clam you just need to steam for a minute and remove the clam. .Then treat it like a scallop..

Here I might do a meat course.. You had asked about Venison.. If you found it, I would make like a 6-8 ounce piece each.. I have rubbed it in an equal portion of cracked pepper and juniper berries.. Or serve the meat with the crostini of peppers,onions and goat cheese on the side of the steak..

Dessert sounds great..

Edited August 2, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[wattacetti]

Well, this sounds interesting.

First off, you're comfortable with everything you want to prepare, right? Everything listed appears to be geared towards straightforward prep though there are still shellfish failures and the like that I could see. I still remember my unfortunate crêpe incident from 20 years ago though it's learning experiences like that one which ensure that you don't do dumb-ass things in the future.

The menu seems okay, but what's her culinary background and what's your definition of new things? There isn't anything in there that I wouldn't call significant walks on the wild side, though scallops have been adventures for people who have never eaten shellfish. I'm also a little curious as to the "impress her" part. Impressed that you cook, impressed by what you cook… inquiring minds want to know.

[Abra]

Meatz, if you're a not-too-experienced cook, I'd say you have a really good start on a menu here.

i agree with Daniel about putting your toasted crostini (the caramelized stuff with goat cheese is something many people would enjoy) on a plate with a nice little salad.

Perhaps add a few other bits of seafood to the linguini - sear the scallops quickly, and toss in a couple of shrimp and perhaps some crab or lobster, if you want to up the "impressiveness" factor. Deglaze your searing pan with a little vermouth.

And I think if you poach the pears in wine, and perhaps dress it up a little with some crumbs of amaretti, you're golden.

Of course, if you're an experienced cook you can up the ante, but remember, you want to impress her with how easily you manage the dinner, so be careful not to choose something that will leave you frazzled before you even sit down to eat.

[wattacetti]

I see where Daniel's venison reference comes from and now understand why red peppers are on your "new things" list. One of the only two people I've ever met who have never seen vegetables which weren't grey came from Ontario (she thought my yellow pepper was plastic).

If you're going into alternate meats I'd suggest foregoing the venison this time around since it's considerably stronger in taste and smell than moo-cows. Bison might be a better starter since it's more strongly flavored than beef but not to the extent as venison. Duck breast rather than chicken. On the fish side, Chilean sea bass, monkfish, or perhaps doing a linguine with whole clams rather than scallops.

What are you poaching the pear in? Wine? Simple syrup? If the latter, adding a vanilla pod is really nice.

Serve your salad as a separate course. Rather than Caesar, you can do arugula or other greens, or something really nice with local tomatoes which should be hitting the markets now.

I'm with Daniel in rethinking your starter. Since Toronto's also getting the same weather Montreal is (probably worse on the humidity side) and Weather Network's forecasting 28ºC and sticky for you on Saturday, why not a cold soup to start? Vadouvan's presented a really nice cucumber and melon soup in his Anatomy of a Dinner Party thread which is great for the weather, great for prep (day before stuff) and also exotic.

If you switch out the scallops from your main but still manage to get some really fresh ones, you could also copt Ling's scallop ceviche or rework it as tiradito.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I, on the other hand, love the starter -- I do a similar one sans onions but with a spread of goat cheese on the bottom of the crostini, a slice of roasted bell pepper, and then top (and broil) with parmesan. Always gets rave reviews.

If you are comfortable with it, no need to change it. Also, having a finger-food starter for walking and talking around, is a good thing. I would discourage anything as formal as a soup. A slight nibble to start with a cocktail lessens the inhibitions.

[Kouign Aman]

I like the menu. Sounds tasty and manageable (both to cook and to eat). One goal, I assume, is to avoid embarrassing her by presenting things too 'far out' from her comfort zone, while providing the thrill of the new, and this seems a good menu to do that.

I'd consider switching to a more summer-associated fruit than pears, perhaps. (Maybe its just me, but poached pears feel like autumn & winter).

[Pontormo]

Your menu tweaked:

Antipasto:

Peperoni con la Mollica

Roasted red peppers cut into strips. Sauteed in olive oil with carmelized onions, golden raisins (plumped by soaking), breadcrumbs, pine nuts, a little bit of grated caciocavallo or pecorino. Side dish, usually, but why not serve as an appetizer with some good olives? Bread on side.

If you're careful with your peppers and keep them intact, you could stuff them with a light, high quality ricotta, a little Parmigiano Reggiano and a T of snipped chives. However, before fish course(s), I would skip something with a lot of cheese. The only thing I fear about the chevre and roasted peppers and onions is that the three together would be extremely rich. Red stains on dainty silk top after crunching down on toast the wrong way. A simple plate of roasted red peppers, perhaps scattered with capers, a few excellent salt-packed anchovy fillets dressed only with really fine olive oil may be cliche' to some of us, but a revelation to someone who does not eat this way normally. Not every course has to be elaborate. Impress with ingredients instead. Keep things light since it is so, so hot outside and if you think anyone will have butterflies under such circumstances.

Primo:

Linguine with Daniel's clams if you'd like, but learn what Buford has to say in Heat about how to prepare a simple, quick version of the dish that will make you both very, very happy. Keep the shells in the bowl. Finish cooking the pasta in the liquid the clams spill forth when they open in the pan. Invest in really good dried Italian linguine. If you forgo the onions in antipasto, instead of the clams, toss the strands with onions that have carmelized after stewing for nearly an hour until they're the color of chestnuts, rich and sweet tangled with minced parsley and flakes of excellent cheese.

Secondo:

Just three beautiful fresh atlantic scallops, done in olive oil, garlic and some parsley placed prettily on a salad bed. Or see what Henry made Ling for breakfast in that thread, recently, with pureed peach drizzle to complement their sweetness. Skip the garlic. Brown in butter; goes better with sweet puree and it makes this course distinct from the pasta if continuing the seafood theme. A bundle of greens, very lightly dressed in a simple vinaigrette (no garlic. shallots left in red wine vinegar for 15 minutes till nutty always make guests go owww! what's in the salad?!!) could be placed to the side, instead, with edible flowers here or there. Girls love flowers. Nothing too filling, but this would be the proper way to do a meal in Italy if you serve only 2-3 ounces each of the pasta first; it's not a main dish unless you're doing a simple home meal or scarfing down food late at night with friends.

Forget the salad course. You've had that on your plate.

Dolce:

I agree about seasonal fruit. Impress her with knowledge of what's fresh at the market this time of year. Peaches when poached blush. Perhaps you could buy some excellent cookies (amaretti or macaroons) to serve with the poached fruit and ice cream, or crush and mix them into the ice cream with a few raspberries, blueberries or blackberries. (Let ice cream soften slightly to do this and then pop it back in freezer.) Contrast or complement with color of the peaches is nice and the texture, the crunch of cookies, welcome.

Chill a liter or two of Italian water, one still, one sparkling. If you don't know a good place to buy wine and a merchant to trust, ask here, too. One decent white that complements the seafood would make the evening special. These are all just suggestions. Have a wonderful night!

Edited August 3, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Shalmanese]

I agree with the others that the starter is too heavy for this time of year but if you have your heart set on it, roasted peppers & Onions & goats cheese go GREAT with a nice rustic country pate of pork or chicken livers, even foie gras if your feeling decadant. That might be a tad too adventerous though but it's a wonderful pairing.

Linguine looks fine, just make sure you get the best olive oil, parsely and garlic you can. Maybe some toasted breadcrumbs over the top.

One very fancy way I've seen of serving poached fruit is to take some caramel to the hard crack stage and then oil the back of a ladle and drizzle the caramel over it in thin lines to form a delicate, lacework bowl. The bowls can be made the day ahead and is a really wow presentation. I could never do dinner with a female without some sort of chocolate being involved. Perhaps if you made a rich chocolate sauce of just good 70% or higher chocolate and butter and kept it in a squeeze tube. Microwave or submerge it in warm water just before serving and artistically drab the plate with it.

[petite tête de chou]

Your menu tweaked:

Antipasto:

Peperoni con la Mollica

Roasted red peppers cut into strips.  Sauteed in olive oil with carmelized onions, golden raisins (plumped by soaking), breadcrumbs, pine nuts, a little bit of grated caciocavallo or pecorino.  Side dish, usually, but why not serve as an appetizer with some good olives?  Bread on side.

If you're careful with your peppers and keep them intact, you could stuff them with a light, high quality ricotta, a little Parmigiano Reggiano and a T of snipped chives.  However, before fish course(s), I would skip something with a lot of cheese.  The only thing I fear about the chevre and roasted peppers and onions is that the three together would be extremely rich.  Red stains on dainty silk top after crunching down on toast the wrong way.  A simple plate of roasted red peppers, perhaps scattered with capers, a few excellent salt-packed anchovy fillets dressed only with really fine olive oil may be cliche' to some of us, but a revelation to someone who does not eat this way normally. Not every course has to be elaborate. Impress with ingredients instead.  Keep things light since it is so, so hot outside and if you think anyone will have butterflies under such circumstances.

Primo:

Linguine with Daniel's clams if you'd like, but learn what Buford has to say in Heat about how to prepare a simple, quick version of the dish that will make you both very, very happy.  Keep the shells in the bowl.  Finish cooking the pasta in the liquid the clams spill forth when they open in the pan.  Invest in really good dried Italian linguine.  If you forgo the onions in antipasto, instead of the clams, toss the strands with onions that have carmelized after stewing for nearly an hour until they're the color of chestnuts, rich and sweet tangled with minced parsley and flakes of excellent cheese. 

Secondo:

Just three beautiful fresh atlantic scallops, done in olive oil, garlic and some parsley placed prettily on a salad bed.  Or see what Henry made Ling for breakfast in that thread, recently, with pureed peach drizzle to complement their sweetness.  Skip the garlic.  Brown in butter; goes better with sweet puree and it makes this course distinct from the pasta if continuing the seafood theme.  A bundle of greens, very lightly dressed in a simple vinaigrette (no garlic.  shallots left in red wine vinegar for 15 minutes till nutty always make guests go owww!  what's in the salad?!!) could be placed to the side, instead, with edible flowers here or there.  Girls love flowers.  Nothing too filling, but this would be the proper way to do a meal in Italy if you serve only 2-3 ounces each of the pasta first; it's not a main dish unless you're doing a simple home meal or scarfing down food late at night with friends.

Forget the salad course.  You've had that on your plate.

Dolce:

I agree about seasonal fruit.  Impress her with knowledge of what's fresh at the market this time of year.  Peaches when poached blush.  Perhaps you could buy some excellent cookies (amaretti or macaroons) to serve with the poached fruit and ice cream, or crush and mix them into the ice cream with a few raspberries, blueberries or blackberries.  (Let ice cream soften slightly to do this and then pop it back in freezer.)  Contrast or complement with color of the peaches is nice and the texture, the crunch of cookies, welcome.

Chill a liter or two of Italian water, one still, one sparkling.  If you don't know a good place to buy wine and a merchant to trust, ask here, too.  One decent white that complements the seafood would make the evening special.  These are all just suggestions.  Have a wonderful night!

←

Oh yes! Meatz, use every single idea offered in this post. Simple, classy and delicious.

[meatz]

thanks for everyone's advice, i'm contemplating some changes, will let everyone know how it turns out, thnx

[godito]

I like your choices, and the menu, with everybody's help should be great. I just have one observation: make food so that you both can share it. Meaning, there's nothing more romantic than eating with your fingers. Unless you're trying to have a more "formal" meal, try making bite-sized food that you can grab with your hands and feed each other (not the same with a fork or a spoon)

Now, that's only an idea. I like your menu. The appetizer sounds great. I would, like some other people said, add more variety of seafood to the pasta. The dessert I'm not crazy about, but then again, I'm not a fan of poached pear.

[dockhl]

meatz~

can you tell us anything about you/your girlfriend? This isn't a first date, right?.....what do YOU normally eat when you are together? Do you cook a lot? Does she?

Kathy

[wattacetti]

So, inquiring minds want to know: how did it go? What did you wind up cooking, did you take any photos, and most importantly, what did she think?

[blixt]

So for the last few weeks I've been trying to impress a certain lady friend of mine, and for some reason I appear to be doing this through the medium of increasingly ambitious dinner parties. (The last was a three-course barbeque for 10 -- she brought cookies she had baked!). My question is, have any of you guys ever tried any particularly impressive recipes for this purpose? I'm practicing my dessert soufflés at the moment.

Or, even better, are there some recipes which can be made together, that perhaps permit being distracted by long lingering glances, without ruining the food? I was thinking risotto... all that mindless stirring.

If the way to the heart is through the stomach, well, the kitchen's where I need to be!

[Jakea222]

My first date with my current wife was that I had cooked dinner

Jamaican Glazed Chicken - twiced Baked Pots, Green beans in rendered bacon and onion and Corn Bread!

- BEFORE I became a pro chef - My wife never complained about anything I did. Do simple things - if you do the fancy stuff all of the time she may expect it all of the time

A few things you can do together - make pizza - we had a blast on that.

[pamjsa]

Pizza, definitely. I can still remember the longing in the eyes of my now-husband's friend one evening when he stopped by while we were making pizza together--he so clearly wanted to be doing that with someone he loved. Salad is also a good choice. Lots of chopping and tossing, all of which is pretty mechanical and thus invites conversation to break the monotony.

My husband claims I won his heart the first time I made him brownies. Brownies! "Until I met you, I didn't even know you could make them without a box," he says.

For what it's worth, whenever I'm trying to get one of my kids to talk to me about something, I give them a simple kitchen project--snapping the beans, crushing the graham crackers, etc. The distraction of that activity seems to take their guard down. I imagine the same principle would apply to anyone you're trying to get to know.

[RAHiggins1]

So for the last few weeks I've been trying to impress a certain lady friend of mine, and for some reason I appear to be doing this through the medium of increasingly ambitious dinner parties. (The last was a three-course barbeque for 10 -- she brought cookies she had baked!). My question is, have any of you guys ever tried any particularly impressive recipes for this purpose? I'm practicing my dessert soufflés at the moment.

Or, even better, are there some recipes which can be made together, that perhaps permit being distracted by long lingering glances, without ruining the food? I was thinking risotto... all that mindless stirring.

If the way to the heart is through the stomach, well, the kitchen's where I need to be!

←

On our first date I cooked everything my wife had told that she liked. Now she just tells me what to cook.

[Tri2Cook]

I've only done one of those in my entire life. Didn't go well. The food part was fine, the date part not so much. I was told later by the friend who introduced us that she said she felt like she was intruding on my date with the food. My friend thought it was funny, her friend did not. I guess I overlooked the long lingering glances part... I don't like to be distracted when I'm working. Oh well, ya gotta have priorities.

[heidih]

The best ones I have had involved food eaten with your hands and shared. Lobster being the leader.

[JAZ]

If -- and it's a big if -- your date likes to cook, pasta can be a great cooking project for two. It's much easier with two sets of hands, and it's probably a good gauge of how compatible you are in the kitchen.

Way later in the relationship you can make sausage -- not something I'd recommend on a first date, or even a second or third, unless you know your date pretty well.

[Jakea222]

Just realize that the canned whipped cream CURDLES - that is all I can say - figure it out -- g

[Jonathan Kaplan]

I once made chocolate truffles with a young woman who I was, let us say, very interested in changing from a friend to a "relationship". The process -- especially the hand-rolling of the truffles, first to make them round, then in the ground chocolate in preparation for being dipped -- lent itself to licking chocolate off each other's fingers, etc. Oddly, despite claims from one of my housemates, who wandered through the kitchen a few times during the day, that what with all the licking of chocolate, long lingering glances, etc., that he expected that we were already an item, she decided that the man she'd left behind back east deserved another chance, and invited him out to try to make the relationship work again. Sigh. So that was a rather mixed success.

jk

[tino27]

The only problem I've come across is when your date decides to reciprocate and cook for you and you suddenly begin to worry about getting food poisoning when he pulls out a large jar of mayo from the fridge from the mid 1990's that has all sorts of interesting colors in it ... blues, greens, yellows.

God, I hoped those were Skittles.

[jefferyc]

Mine was penne w/ vodka sauce. The trick is to get all your Mise done well before the date..just leave some of the sexy things (I.E. flaming w/congac) for when shes there. Cold soup..done the day before mark off the app. Rissoto half done in the morning..Bingo a starch ready in 15. Par boiled peas or green beans while the rissoto's on in the morning..finish in a saute w/butter an garlic for 5 mins...ect. ect ect.