I've always found that sauteed chicken with lemon butter sauce is a nice dish under candlelight. Toss some grilled vegetables onto the plate and you're golden.
More important than what to make on that special evening is what not to make:
Pasta - too much of a capacity for falling off your fork to splatter sauce on your nice outfit. Also, if it's long pasta, like linguine, you make those slurpping sounds, which is never romantic.
Beans - no need for explanation.
Pork - Just doesn't say "I love you".
Anything requiring horseradish or hot sauce - see explanation for Pork.
----------------------------
spidergoolash: "heh, a cup of diesel dan - mwahhha"
me: "heh, a cup of me is like a cup of heaven!"
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/4 cup drained, oil-packed, sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. oil from sun dried tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup whipping cream
3 Tbsp. fresh basil, thinly sliced
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet and saute until golden, about 4 minutes per side. Add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Add white wine, cream, and tomatoes and bring to boil. Cover skillet; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to plates. Add basil to sauce in skillet. Increase heat and boil until sauce thickens enough to coat spoon, about 2 minutes. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper; spoon over chicken and serve.
When I make this, I like to have a nice salad beforehand (maybe tomatoes and fresh mozzarella), and as a side dish either couscous or pasta w/ olive oil and cheese.
The recipe is really easy to make, but have all the ingredients ready and measured out ahead of time or you will be racing around the kitchen like a madwoman.
So far it all sounds GOOD!
When we have a *romantic* dinner around here it is usually :
a)simple to fix
b)appetizer type (full tummys are not romantic)
c)a treat (special)
Come on, let me hear some of your *fantasy* menu ideas for a romantic dinner also.
<font color="#000000">[Edited by Always An Alien on October 23, 2000 (edited 1 time)]</font>
For me a nice romantic dinner is something lite, like a chicken dish, a nice bottle of wine and of course a nice chocolate desert with lots of whip cream with an extra can handy and a jar full of marachino cherries.
----------------------------
" I'll take 'the-rapist' for $200, Alex "
Yes. At 14 she knows EVERYTHING about romantic dinners.
I'll have to look the recipe up at home tonight, but it's called chicken imperial and it's heavenly!
----------------------------
"No man can be condemed for owning a dog.
As long as he has a dog, he has a friend;
and the poorer he gets, the better friend he has."
- Will Rogers
Loyalty and love are the best things of all, and surely the most lasting. -- My Dog Skip
Hey, I knew everything about romantic dinners at age 12. Mind you, I didn't get the opportunity to put theory into practice for another 10 years or so...
...
----------------------------
My knob tastes funny.
A better rule is light foods with light-bodied wine, more robust foods with full-bodied wine.
A steak can go just as well with a full bodied Chardonnay (white) as it can with a Cabernet Sauvignon (red).
A light bodied wine like Sauvignon Blanc goes well with white sauce pasta or chicken that is not heavily seasoned.
I personally drink almost exclusively red wine. A nice Merlot goes wonderfully with salmon or chicken. If I eat something really light like whitefish, I usually don't bother with wine.
Dont Drink Wine myself (probably because i am only 19) but that recipe looks good hermanm. I think i will have to try it. Keep the recipe's comming. I have decided to make a cook book to get back into my html practice. I just need the recipe's and i will do the rest of the work. so keep posting them or feel free to e-mail me a recipe or two i want to try and have it done for a wed. chat preview.
----------------------------
accept what God and nature has given us each day with appreciation and gratitude, and never give up because somehow, somewhere were going to find fish and have a great time fishing!!!
Appitizer:
Pepperjack or Jalepino Jack cheese with butter or wheat crackers.
White wine (a pino gris or chardonnay goes best with the meal, but is also good with the appetizers)
Green Salad (not too heavy) with a vinegrette dressing.
Fresh Baked Bread (this is easy with a beer bread in a can and tastes better than something that takes no time to make should)
Baked Chicken that tastes fried:
* Put bread crumbs and the spices of your choice in a bowl (cumin and coriander make a nice distinctive hard-to-place taste along with a touch of onion and garlic salt).
* Flatten two boneless chicken breasts so that they are fairly thin (about an quarter inch at their thickest) and trim any fat.
* Break and beat two eggs in a bowl (one is sometimes enough), dip the chicken in the egg then roll it in the bread crumbs.
* Lay the chicken on tin foil on a rack pan (that's a pan that has a rack built into it) and cook at 350 for 20 minutes. Too long and it will be dry.
* Serve on linguini with a white sauce
Dessert:
something chocolate
Music
In your 5 disc CD changer put on shuffle:
"Brilliant Corners" by Thelonious Monk
"1 + 1" by Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter
"Fumbling Towards Ecstacy" by Sarah McLachlin
"Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis (use the definitive edition with bonus tracks)
"Monk and Train" by Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane
Now that you mention it, one of the best romantic dinners I ever had was just a bottle of wine, a loaf of good bread, and an assortment of sliced cheeses and fruits. Spread out on the coffee table and sit on the couch. (It'd be nice to sit on the floor, especially in front of a fireplace, but I don't have a fireplace and I do have cats who would nose into the romantic dinner if we sat on the floor.)
Simple food reminded me of one of my best times in Georgia. I went to the store, got some different cheeses, French bread, proscuito (can't spell it, but it's Italian ham), and assorted fruit. I prepared it all while he was at work, and spread it out on a blanket with candles and stuff when he got home. It ended with a mini-food fight. It was a lot of fun. :/
----------------------------
Alien - "Sh*t. I swallowed Yoda! ...Don't quote me on that."
