One + one = food

May 25, 2011 2:22 AM

Cooking-for-a-date filter: cooking for one has made me lazy, and there's a good chance a date this weekend will involve some making of food at my place. Creative, easy-to-cook, impressive-tasting dishes please!

I think the question above says it all - in case you were curious, there are no allergies, no vegetarians, and no special accommodations needed. Cooking for one means a lot of spaghetti and simple stuff, but this time around I'm hoping to impress and have some fun in the process.

You may assume a reasonably normal kitchen (stove top, toaster oven, microwave), and a store selling fresh fruits / veggies is within walking distance. I figure I'll need to hit the grocery store in the next couple days anyway, so no worries there. No concerns about price, though I doubt I'll be spending the coin on caviar or unnecessarily uber-expensive eats.

Major bonus points for the 'second-person needed' steps :) Thanks MeFis!

posted by chrisinseoul to Food & Drink (21 answers total)

Thai Red Curry

3/4 lb chicken breast, cut into two-inch slices
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp red Thai curry paste
1 cup coconut milk
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 squash or zucchini, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
4 ounces bamboo shoot slices, drained
3 Kaffir lime leaves, fresh or dried
3 large red Serrano or Thai peppers, sliced lengthwise
a good handful of Thai basil leaves (save a little for garnish)

(If the lime leaves are fresh, cut them into thin slices lengthwise. If dried, just throw them in like bay leaves and take them out before serving.)

Heat the oil over medium heat with the minced garlic until golden brown. Add the curry paste and mix it into the oil until you get a nice, deep, red base. Add half of the coconut milk, all of the fish sauce and sugar — mix it up until it simmers. Add the chicken, squash, pepper slices and bamboo shoots, mix it up to get a good coating, and add the stock. Stir again. Add the other half of the coconut milk, the lime leaves and chiles. Stir again.

Turn down the heat and simmer for about 8-10 minutes until the chicken and veggies are just a bit before the desired tenderness. Turn off the heat and remove the lime leaves if they were the dried variety.

Stir in the Thai basil leaves and let them seep for a minute. The basil will darken a bit, letting its flavor go into the dish. Serve on a bed of basmati rice, and garnish with a bit more basil.

As a bonus, both of you can do ingredient prep (cutting, mostly). With help, you can make this dinner in about 30-40 minutes. Have fun!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:40 AM on May 25, 2011

This has been mentioned before on the green, and I'll mention it again because I LOVE to do this with dates: Gyoza (Japanese dumplings, also called Jiaozi in China).

There are billions of recipes online, but basically you can get pre-made wonton wrappers or make your own dough depending on your level of proficiency / willingness. Then it's great fun to mix up the filling and share the jobs of plopping the filling into the wrapper and then pinching the edges together. Lots of shared stuff to do, and it's always cute and flirty to stand side-by-side at the counter together, pinching dough and giggling and sipping sake. :)
posted by ladybird at 3:16 AM on May 25, 2011

I was going to suggest say Lamb Shanks or Osso Bucco - ie some slow cooked meat cooked in wine served with say some Wild Rice and softened green vegetables. but you need a proper oven and it sounds like you might not have one.

and its more a prepare beforehand thing as it takes 2-3 hours to cook the meat - but its hard to stuff it up and would impress me anyway.
posted by mary8nne at 3:20 AM on May 25, 2011

How about a nice french stew?
No oven required for this simple recipe, which I've made a couple of times. It has a light flavor, so good for spring or summer. As suggested in the comments, I let the meat cook longer in the broth and tomatoes before adding the veggies. Impressive flavor with no fuss. Just serve it with some wine or beer and a crusty bread.

Another idea is a caprese salad. Slice up fresh mozzarella and tomatoes, serve with basil leaves and some mixed olive oil and balsamic. Impressive and little work involved.
posted by Muttoneer at 5:23 AM on May 25, 2011

I'd recommend reading this article from Art of Manliness, it's got some great tips for the At-Home dinner Date.
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith at 5:26 AM on May 25, 2011 [2 favorites]

Chicken Saltimbocca is simple and delicious. Lots of recipes out there for this, you can't go wrong. Easy to pair with vegetable sides, wine, etc. I usually just butterfly chicken beast, stuff some sage leaves inside, and wrap with prosciutto, then pan fry. You could do some of the chicken prep work in advance that afternoon so you don't have slimy hands.

As for the two people cooking, work on a desert recipe together!
posted by belau at 5:32 AM on May 25, 2011

For the desert, my vote is ice cream sundaes - that art of manliness article is right on the money with that idea.
posted by belau at 5:39 AM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Paella is actually not that hard. It just takes some extra time prep-wise. You don't need a paella pan, a skillet will do. Be sure to get the chorizo sausage. You can go seafood or no, but the presentation with seafood tends to look nicer. So, chicken, chorizo, shrimp, littleneck clams, mussles, and a lobster tail and claw, the rice, and just use one of those frozen packs of mixed veggies with peas and carrots.
posted by rich at 5:46 AM on May 25, 2011

No matter how easy a recipe sounds, a date is never the best time to try a dish for the very first time.
posted by zadcat at 5:51 AM on May 25, 2011 [4 favorites]

I was also going to suggest chicken saltimbocca, so there we go. As for a vegetable side, you really can't go wrong with sauteed zucchini -- but chop up a couple of black olives as well and toss them in the pan too. The flavor will play very nicely with the proscuitto.

Go with something simple and fruit-based for dessert; sliced strawberries drizzled with balsamic vinegar, pears sauteed in a little butter and whipped cream, etc. It'll be fast, fresh, and....not too filling, which -- if your'e on a date -- could be a very good thing. (Let's just say that people whose stomachs aren't stuffed will be more prone to feeling a little...frisky after dinner.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:19 AM on May 25, 2011

I suggest trying to track down a used or library copy of Eating In: The Single Man's Cookbook. Lots of great recipes for two that are elegant and easy to make. It helped me both with learning to cook and with impressing dates back in the day!
posted by maxim0512 at 8:56 AM on May 25, 2011

After cooking a whole meal you might not want to make dessert, too. This pie could be made the night before, it is devastatingly simple (I made it last night). Bonus, I found it through this metafilter post.
posted by troika at 9:12 AM on May 25, 2011

Tomato and sausage risotto.
posted by rhapsodie at 9:46 AM on May 25, 2011

If you do have an oven, eggplant parmesan is a fun recipe to make with someone. It involves dredging eggplant slices in eggs and bread crumbs, frying them, and then assembling into a pan much like lasagna without the noodles. One person can be the dredger, and the other person can be the fryer. Not healthy, but very delicious and much more fun to make with another person. You can make your own tomato sauce or use jarred, depending on how much work you want to do. I don't have a particular recipe that I use, but google suggests many highly-rated options. Serve with crusty bread and a salad.

If you go the route of curry (as suggested so deliciously above), make it really, really mild. I know I'm not alone in getting a runny nose when I eat spicy food, and the sniffles do not encourage romance.
posted by vytae at 10:53 AM on May 25, 2011

OK, I cooked for my current girlfriend on our first date. We've been together for almost 5 years now so I think I can safely say it was a successful evening. Here are some tips. Keep in mind, I did this while in college so take was is useful for you and disregard what is not.

1. Yes, you need to practice the recipe at least once before the date. And memorize it.
2. Plan everything but make everything seem spontaneous. When I picked up my GF to take her "out for dinner", I told her that I was sick of all the restaurants around here, so why don't we just stop by the grocery store and pick up some things and we can just cook dinner at my place. There is something about grocery shopping together that is really cute and couple-y and romantic but still low key and casual.
2a. I also told her that the recipe I was making was something my mom makes at home, but in reality I found it on the Internet.
2b. I disclosed all of this trickery to her a few months down the line and we both had a laugh about it.
3. Learn how to chop onions really fast without tearing up too much if you are going to be chopping onions.
4. You ideally want something that can be cooked in 30 mins or less. Fish maybe or even steak. Risotto could work. I did a fish dish with rice.
5. Get her to help you chop stuff, and show her how fine you want the dice, etc. Take her and teach her proper chopping technique.
6. Make sure the wine pairs well.
7. Back to the actual dish/recipe. The date is not the time to experiment, in my opinion, but at the same time the worst that can happen is you mess it up and end up ordering pizza or something. No biggie.
8. Do not do spaghetti, or anything with red sauce that she could spill on her clothes and put a damper on your evening.
9. Easy on the garlic.
10. Make sure your bathroom is spotless.
11. Have some post-dinner activity planned to keep the momentum going and spark more conversation. Even watching a DVD (go for a scary movie) works.

Hope that helps.
posted by AceRock at 10:55 AM on May 25, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh, forgot:
12. Music: Seu Jorge's Bowie covers and Dinah Washington's Back to the Blues. Again, this was college, but trust me.
posted by AceRock at 11:00 AM on May 25, 2011

I see you live in Seoul. If your date is Korean, I would avoid trying to make a native dish
I was going to suggest a lamb rack, but I doubt they exist where you live. You could roast it in your toaster oven.

However, you're blessed with a wonderful array of fresh fish. You can pan fry either whole, or filets. If you go whole (Sea Bass, Pompano...) make sure you can get it gutted and scaled.

I know they have barley in Korea (tea), so this recipe for a side covers both your grain and veg:

Barley with Mushrooms and Green Beans
Aida Mollenkamp
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 50 mins
Active:
Makes: 6 to 8 servings (about 6 cups)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup pearl barley
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup finely chopped red onion
"Salt"
"Freshly ground black pepper"
12 ounces white or cremini mushrooms, stemmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/2 cup dry white wine
12 ounces green beans, trimmed and sliced 1/2 inch thick on the bias
2 cups mushroom broth
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Bring a medium saucepan of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Stir in the barley,
reduce the heat to medium, and cook until al dente, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. When the foaming subsides,
add the onion, season with salt and pepper, and cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the
mushrooms, increase the heat to medium high, and cook, stirring rarely, until golden brown, about
10 minutes. Add the wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

3. Add the green beans and broth, season with salt and pepper, and cook until the beans are fork
tender and the broth is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved barley and cook
until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in the parsley and remaining 1 tablespoon butter and
season with salt and pepper.

And this salad recipe from the NYT looks great; provided you can get quinoa. Make the quinoa the day before.

Anyone plagued by NYT subscription pop-ups, NYClean works great.

With both of you working on the meal, you can be eating in less than an hour. During that time, some wine and oysters...and Diana Washington would be great. Cheers!
posted by JABof72 at 3:12 PM on May 25, 2011

A giant bowl of shrimp in their shells, crusty bread and a bowl of aioli. Add a green salad and a bottle of wine - dinner.

Joint a couple of small chickens. Throw them in a tray with waxy potatoes peeled and cut into wedges. Add a couple of cut up lemons, scatter over a bunch of thyme, a couple of bay leaves, a head's worth of garlic cloves, plenty of salt and lots of olive oil. Throw it in a 230oC / 445oF oven for about an hour, maybe longer. Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley. Line the tray with baking paper for an easy cleanup.

Put your oven on its highest temp, and slide a baking tray in there coated with some olive oil. Salt the skins of two decently-sized salmon fillets. Blanch some green beans for a minute. Toss the beans with some pitted black olives and some olive oil. Grab a few bunches of cherry tomatoes on the vine. When the tray is really, really hot, take it out of the oven and drop on the salmon (skin side down), the beans in a bunch at one end and the tomatoes at the other. Roast for about 15-20 mins or until the salmon is just done. Top the salmon with a dollop of lemony mayonnaise.

In a mortar and pestle (or a food processor) pulverise a head of garlic, a few bay leaves, a couple of good spoons of mustard and plenty of lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Rub this all over a pork belly and let it sit for an hour or so. Roast in a really hot oven. Serve with crusty bread and a green salad or a mix of green veges with salt and butter (eg asparagus and broccolini, or sugar snap peas and green beans).
posted by obiwanwasabi at 6:18 PM on May 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

I love this recipe, and it would be almost impossible to mess up. Only one thing - be sure you do use just a pinch of cloves. I've made it twice and overdid it the first time. You can add pretty much any vegetable to it as well.
posted by nosila at 8:01 PM on May 25, 2011

for this, i like sandwiches/sandwich station party-style stuff--not much dishwashing or mess involved, modular so you can try different stuff and compare for an intimate low key feel. you can make it feel decent/"real" by doing ingredient upgrades, esp. with bread (toast it/panini, more unusual types like black bread/molasses, etc.) and condiments (homemade ahead of time, flash-pickled, etc.), or marinating the protein involved (cold beef thai-style, tofu with soy and sesame oil, etc.). my favorite recent one involves making cranberry dijon spread, toasting dark bread, and marinating or brushingnand then grilling or broiling big portobello caps for less than 5 minutes. super easy and fast but yummy and unusual.
posted by ifjuly at 9:45 AM on May 26, 2011

Ok, I have a very specific and proven ingredient: Filo dough. (Phyllo dough).

Don't try to make it yourself, thats a pain. But you can get sheets in the frozen section of most supermarkets, recipes with filo dough are really cool and fun to to do, especially with another person involved. The great thing about it is the final results look all gourmet and fancy but the prep is pretty easy. For example here's a great dessert recipe:

Apple Strudel with Filo dough.

You could also try a main course with it like salmon wrapped in filo dough.

I don't know why, but the delicate, crisp layers of filo dough always seem kind of sexy to me without being all "Yo-I'm-gonna-serve-an-aphrodisiac-like-oysters" which is kinda creepy probably.
posted by jeremias at 1:42 PM on May 26, 2011