Recommend Recipies for the Amatuer cook

[pattyt]

I want to surprise my girlfriend with a nice romantic dinner cooked at home. I have ultimate experience in sandwich creation and ninja microwaving skills. I can also grill up basically anything on the BBQ.

With this in mind, anyone got any "romantic" dishes I can prepare. Having chicken included is a plus as we are both chicken fiends lol. Lets hear it !

[Tik-Tok]

http://forums.beyond.ca/st/187965/rage2s-spam-luncheon-meat-super-review/


Edit: Oops, didn't see the romantic part. Through some parlsey on the side for garnish.

[Grogador]

Chicken pasta casserole with whatever veggies, mushrooms, etc you want... basically just cook the noodles and toss the mess into the oven. Try here? (http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1850,147185-231192,00.html)

[nonlinear]

search on epicurious.com

or, do a hutterite chicken on a bbq rotisserie

do you like hungarian food? i can give you a sweet authentic recipe for chicken paprikash that is really easy (although the galuska/spaetzle is somewhat difficult till you get the hang of it).

chicken parmigana

chicken cattiatore

any mexican food with chicken (i can give you authentic way to prepare the shredded chicken, you can use it for any mexican chicken dish).

to keep it moist, brine your chicken first google it) and make sure you cook the chicken with the bone in and skin on (you can remove it later).

EDIT: or, get a couple cornish game hens, they are 'cute' on a plate and you can cook them a million ways, bbq included. we chop them in half, rub some moroccan spices all over and under the skin, and grill them.

[Kona9]

Take a chicken breast, season it to your liking. Place it on a sheet of tinfoil. Place vegetables of choice around the chicken breast. I generally ALWAYS make sure I use cherry tomatoes in the vegetable medley. Add two ice cubes and close up the tinfoil like a little bag with all inside. POke a couple of holes at the top and throw on the BBQ medium heat for 10-15 mins or until cooked to your liking. The ice cubes soften up the veggies and not only steams them but throw flavor into the chicken. This makes a nice tender and moist breast of chicken.

Rice or Potatoes? If you still want to use the grill I slice up some potatoes. In a bowl I put a little extra virgin olive oil, the sliced potatoes, and seasoning. Usually Rosemary, basil leaves, sea salt, pepper, a little bit of onion powder and maybe some dill. (random I know, but good) Again put the equivalent amount of one potatoe per sheet of tinfoil and do the same as the chicken sans ice cube. 15-20 mins continually shaken every other few minutes.

So now you have Chicken Veggies and POtatoes.

If I throw together a salad, I would mix Spinach, Almonds, Dried Cranberries, cherry tomatoes, whatever color of peppers, maybe a little bit of shredded Mozza or even Asiago cheese. For dressing I use a little bit of flax seed oil and some balsamic vinegar.

It is pretty easy and not so messy of a meal Pretty healthy and tasty. Maybe not so romantic, but that is up to you and some creativity of display. Thought I would share one of my fav chicken dinners.

Good luck Microwave ninja!:thumbsup:

[dj_rice]

Theres no real romantic dishes, focus more on making the food together if you can or setting the right environment but can't go wrong with the classic spagetti and meatballs shared on one plate :rofl:

[Amysicle]

Chicken Saltimbocca from Williams-Sonoma Simple Suppers

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (halved)
freshly ground pepper (I omit salt because it gets salty enough)
1 tablespoon of fresh sage, chopped
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
2 large thin slices of prosciutto (halved)
4 thin slices of Fontina cheese (I use mozzarella)
1 shallot, minced (you can use half an onion in a pinch)
1/2 cup chicken broth or Marsala
half a lemon

1 Prepare the chicken:
Using a sharp knife, cut each chicken breast in half lengthwise. Place 1 piece at a time between two sheets of waxed/parchment paper and pound till about 1/4" thick (6mm) all around. Use a heavy frying pan/rolling pin/meat pounder for this. Repeat with all pieces of chicken. Season chicken generously with pepper and sage, patting it to make sure it sticks.

2 Cook the chicken:
Preheat the oven to Broil (opposite of bake so the top elements heat up and make sure the temp is set to 500ºF or whatever the Broil setting is). In a large frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 1.5 tablespoons of butter and then add the chicken. Cook until golden on the underside (about 2-3 minutes). Turn the chicken and cook (about 3 minutes more) until just opaque throughout. Top each piece of chicken with 1 cheese slice and 1 prosciutto slice on top. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet and place under the broiler (about second rack from the top) to crisp the prosciutto and melt the cheese (about 1 minute).

3 Make the sauce:
While the chicken is in the oven, add the remaining butter to the pan the chicken was in. Add the shallot/onion and sauté until softened (about another minute). Add the Marsala/chicken broth and cook, stirring to scrape up the browned bits on the pan bottom, until the sauce is slightly reduced (about 1-2 minutes). Squeeze in about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and stir. Divide the chicken among dinner plates, spoon the sauce and shallots over the chicken and serve immediately.

Edit: (I halved the recipe and paraphrased it because I was lazy. It won't really sound like a proper recipe. You may want to preheat your oven a bit earlier [like the book says first thing into the recipe] but I'm a slow pounder so I feel like it's a waste.) Also, because everything happens at the end, it's really important to have all your ingredients prepped and in bowls/cups so it's easy to put everything together at the last minute.

[gam0s]

a dick in a box..... with chicken :D

[nonlinear]

Originally posted by dj_rice
focus more on making the food together if you can

this.

[97'Scort]

Alright, this is about as simple as you can get and still kinda fancy:

What you need:

-Chicken breasts or thighs
-Gnocci (potato pasta)
-Sun dried tomato and basil salad dressing (oil and vinegar, not creamy)
-Couple of tomatoes, a cucumber, and some large black italian olives, NOT from a can. Look in the deli section, they're not expensive
-olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- feta cheese
- alfredo sauce (in any way you like. You can cop out and get a jar of sauce here, it doesn;t matter. Just make sure it's not a heavy garlic sauce!)

Marinate the chicken in the salad dressing overnight in the fridge. No skin! You can BBQ this if you like, but it stays way more tender if you put it in a small roasting pan/pyrex bread loaf pan, and bake in the oven (35 min @400F then 10-15 min @ 325.) Edit: make sure you pour in all the extra salad dressing from your marinating bowl too. You want this stuff to bake in a little lake of dressing.

Greek salad: dice the tomato (removing the seeds, you want to cut the moisture down a bit) and the cucumber. You can cut the olives in half too, if you used big ones (Catamina, I think?). Take a good 3/8" slice off your feta "log" and chop it up too. Put it all in a big bowl, and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic. Mix up and you're ready to go. This stuff keeps in the fridge for a couple days, so don't be afraid to make it early and set it aside.

The gnocci is the last thing. They taste great, and the alfredo sauce won't overpower the subtle chicken. Looks fancy, but you can do most of the work ahead of time so there's less to quickly stash in the fridge when she wants to jump your bones immediately after for making such a great dinner :)

[szw]

chicken parm, easy as pie

[swak]

rice krispy squares are easy.
Do it.

Nothing more romantic than marshmellows and cereal mixed together.