Date Night
21 recipes found
Scallops With Bread-Crumb Salsa Verde
Rich, buttery scallops contrast beautifully with the crunchy, vibrant bread crumb and herb salsa in this recipe for two, inspired by a version that is frequently served at San Francisco’s Zuni Café. Though this dish feels special enough for a date night in, it’s also simple enough for a weeknight. Serve with sautéed green beans, steamed broccoli or perhaps a kale salad. The herby, briny salsa is worth keeping in mind for future meals: It pairs well with a variety of proteins.
Cauliflower Alfredo Pasta
Good cheese, good vegetables, good pasta. What more could you need? These quick creamy noodles rely on one thing: a stellar homemade Alfredo sauce. Butter, cream and cheese get you there, anchored by the musky aroma of nutmeg. Adding cauliflower to the boiling pasta in the last few minutes of cooking results in a lighter, glossier final sauce. Serve with an arugula salad, dressed simply with lemon juice, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, extra-virgin olive oil and more grated cheese.
Salmon With Radicchio and Anchovy Sauce
An edible bouquet of pinks and purples, this one-pan dinner for two serves up bitter and silky radicchio leaves against crispy-skinned salmon. Pan-roasting starts on the stove to give each a head start on caramelization, then finishes in the oven at a low temperature to cook through gently. The flavors are brought together by a sweet and punchy dressing of honey, mustard and anchovy, which is whisked up quickly as the oven does its thing and even allows for time to clean up. Substitute or mix in other bitter greens or chicories for the radicchio, like Treviso, Castelfranco or escarole. If you like, serve this with buttery mashed potatoes.
Marry Me Salmon
A take on Marry Me Chicken, this dish is the weeknight fish you cook for your future life partner. Perfectly seared salmon bathed in a creamy sun-dried tomato gravy is anchored by the familiar one-two punch of dried oregano and crushed red pepper. By cooking the fish mostly on the skin side, then gently poaching the flesh side in sauce, you get shattering skin yielding to plush salmon. Bottled clam juice, readily available at the grocery store, gives the creamy red sauce a seafood taste. Serve with crusty, fluffy Italian bread or your favorite pasta tossed with a dribble of oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes.
Steak au Poivre for Two
A celebratory French dish that likely originated in Paris in the 1920s, steak au poivre might be associated with white-tablecloth dining, but it is a recipe that you can easily make at home for a fraction of the price. It begins with a piece of beef that is crusted in crushed peppercorns, then topped with a silky, peppery Cognac pan sauce. In this version, using one large, well-marbled rib-eye steak instead of two individual filets means it’s more affordable, more flavorful and simpler to cook. (Preparing one perfect steak is easier than two.) Season generously, sear on the stovetop, then finish in the oven for even cooking. Let it rest while you prepare your pan sauce. Slice your steak into generous slabs and fan it out over your sauce, a move that makes the meat look more plentiful and the finished dish more lavish than if you drizzled the sauce on top.
Maitake au Poivre
Hold the steak. This vegetarian take on steak au poivre, from Manhattan’s Café Chelsea, boasts the same generous application of crushed black pepper, mellowed with cream, stock and a vibrant splash of Cognac, but calls for slabs of maitake mushroom instead of beef. To strut its meaty swagger, the dish is listed on Café Chelsea’s menu among the grilled choices (a grill pan or skillet works just as well) rather than being relegated to the vegetable section. The restaurant opts for large slices of maitake, but the recipe works with several smaller pieces as well. Though quick to assemble, it’s not easy to scale up, so think intimate dinner or Valentine’s Day.
Scallion-Oil Fish
For the most flavorful fish, gently poach the fillets in scallion oil, which is called pa gireum in Korean and is the star of this easy, foolproof preparation. Simmering scallions in olive oil over gentle heat removes moisture from the alliums, crisping them and concentrating their savoriness. In turn, the oil will be tinted green and perfumed with an umami-saturated scallion aroma like nothing else. Be sure to dip crusty bread into that glorious scallion oil to enjoy with the tender fish. This dish is great with rice, too.
Strip Steak With Dijon Sauce
This pantry-friendly recipe exists for people who love Dijon mustard. The sauce uses Dijon as its foundation — creamy and heady — whisked with little more than garlic, shallots, vinegar and olive oil, and is shockingly versatile: It complements the richness of a New York strip steak but can also be used to dress a leafy green salad you may want to serve with your steak. You’ll end up with extra Dijon sauce; save it to dress a soft-boiled egg, fold it into a potato salad, or serve it alongside a roasted chicken. A few notes to keep in mind when cooking the steak: Seasoning it with salt and pepper and letting it sit at room temperature helps pull out a little moisture from the meat and encourages caramelization. Heating the pan until it is nice and hot is also key to getting a good sear. Finishing the steak in the oven after searing it allows for a gentler and more even cook throughout the steak.
Turmeric-Ginger Salmon
This simply marinated and roasted salmon is lemony, garlicky, gingery and all with a hint of heat. Inspired by the Northern Vietnamese dish, cha ca la Vong, salmon fillets are first rubbed in a simple garlic, ginger and turmeric-based marinade then baked hot and fast. A sauce made with scallions, fish sauce, red pepper and olive oil is poured over the fish, so each bite has a huge pop of flavor. Great with rice noodles and sliced cucumbers, you can also serve with grilled bread or rice and a side green salad. If you feel like grilling this fish, the direct heat will only deepen the marinade’s impact. Chopped nuts are optional and add a textural crunch.
Butter-Basted Steak With Asparagus
When this simple steak gets a quick butter baste, its center cooks gently and evenly and its outside develops a beautiful bronze crust infused with sticky ginger, garlic and herbs. Its overall effect is one that a quick and hard sear alone cannot duplicate. While the steak rests, asparagus is quickly cooked using the residual heat from the steak skillet, gaining flavor from the pan juices. Serve with white rice to soak up those buttery remnants cut with electric lime.
Marry Me Chicken
This cozy dish, which went viral on TikTok with claims that if you prepare it for someone, you will end up getting married, features boneless chicken breasts nestled in a creamy, tomato-y sauce. With wedding bells in mind or not, this dish comes together fairly quickly and is just as great for entertaining as it is for a family meal. In this version, the addition of tomato paste adds a bright acidity to the rich cream sauce and complements the sun-dried tomatoes. Serve with crusty bread to sop up all the juices as well as tangy green salad to balance out the sauce’s richness. Or, try it over pasta, rice or polenta.
Chocolate Lava Cake for Two
Chocolate lava cakes gained popularity in the late 1990s thanks to the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and they have stuck around on dessert menus for good reason: They are rich chocolate cake and velvety sauce all in one, and they are surprisingly easy to make in under an hour. If you like to plan ahead, you can prepare the batter a day in advance, refrigerate it, then pop the cake into the oven when you are ready for dessert. This recipe, made in a 10-ounce baking dish, is meant for sharing, but you can also make it in two 6-ounce ramekins. Just cut the baking time to 7 to 9 minutes. Also, be sure to use chopped chocolate bars or chocolate fèves rather than chocolate chips here. Chips are made with stabilizers that inhibit melting and will negatively affect the texture of your dessert.
Cider-Cured Pork Chops
This is a home cook's take on a restaurant special, with shortcuts baked into the recipe. I learned the original at the elbow of Marc Murphy, the chef and an owner of Landmarc in Manhattan, and then adapted it for use in the home kitchen. (He grills. I pan-roast.) Brining gives the pork an incredible flavor, one amplified by the accompanying caramelized onions and apples. A drizzle of mock Bordelaise over the top elevates the whole enterprise: it's a meal for date nights and celebrations.
Skillet Pork Chops and Apples With Miso Caramel
This recipe is like a delicious game of free association: miso caramel, caramel apples, apples and pork chops. You’ll often see miso caramel added to desserts for an umami oomph, but it can also form a glossy and complex sauce suited for proteins, much like Vietnamese caramel. Start by searing pepper-crusted pork chops, then brown the apples in the rendered fat. (Be sure to choose an apple that’s more tart than sweet to balance the caramel’s sweetness.) Instead of making a finicky caramel, just pour all the elements over the apples and simmer until thickened. This nontraditional caramel uses brown sugar for toastiness, and water instead of heavy cream, so the savoriness of miso and pork and the sweetness of the caramel and apples shine through.
Steak Diane
A classic recipe, steak Diane dates to the 1930s, when it was prepared tableside at restaurants with much fanfare. The piquant sauce, a mix of cream, Cognac, shallots and Worcestershire, is speedy and simple to make from the steak’s pan drippings. Flambéing the Cognac adds drama, but you can skip that step, and just let the Cognac simmer for 2 minutes to cook off some of the alcohol. Use any cut of steak you like. Even chicken breasts or pork tenderloins will work in the heady, creamy sauce. Serve with a simple salad alongside, if you like.
Lazy Lobster
A lobster for those who prefer eating lobster without the work and without a bib, this recipe is meant for an intimate supper à deux, whether for Valentine’s Day or not. Freshly cooked lobster is preferred, but some may splurge and buy a pound of preshucked lobster meat. Serve with crusty French bread or toasted thick slices of baguette cut on a long diagonal.
Sweet and Spicy Pan-Seared Pork Chops
Simple pork chops taste luxurious when they’re draped in ginger butter and a sticky-sweet whiskey sauce. The ingredient list here is minimal thanks to unsulphured molasses, a natural byproduct of sugar processing. It delivers an intriguing sweetness that is smoky, bitter and savory — like honey, chicory, coffee and soy sauce in one ingredient. And, in this recipe, it melds with whiskey and ginger to add warmth and spice, as well as brown sugar and butter to soften the assertive edges. Serve these chops with roasted carrots, mashed sweet potatoes or grits.
Individual Beef Wellingtons
Beef Wellington, the English dish of a large beef fillet wrapped in pastry, is a project, but the joy of this scaled-down version is that it’s significantly easier to prepare. Pâté de foie gras and prosciutto are common ingredients in a traditional Wellington, but they’re skipped here for a more balanced flavor profile. Just as common is a deeply caramelized mushroom and shallot mixture known as a duxelles, which lends a strong foundation of earthy umami; a little red wine and heavy cream add richness to it. These are excellent for making ahead: Just stop after Step 5, and store them covered in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours until you’re ready to bake. Serve with roasted potatoes, green salad or wonderfully bitter radicchio.
Mushroom Ragù Pasta
Rich and earthy, this creamy pasta feels appropriate for date night, but comes together quickly enough for a weeknight. The process is simple, but the details do matter here: Use a thin pasta, like spaghettini or angel hair, so that it cooks in the same amount of time it takes the stock and cream to reduce to a sauce. Also pay close attention during the last few minutes of cooking the pasta to ensure you’re stirring enough and adding enough water to create a silky sauce. Porcini mushroom powder, which is optional, adds depth, and can be made at home by pulverizing store-bought dried mushrooms in a spice grinder (see Tip). Offset the richness of the dish with a classic green salad, shaved fennel, or some mustardy bitter greens.
Chocolate Earl Grey Crème Brûlée
Floral, citrusy Earl Grey tea and chocolate make a delicious pair in this twist on classic crème brûlée. A kitchen torch might be a specialty tool, but there truly is no substitute when you are trying to achieve that perfectly crisp, caramelized sugar top. Use a chocolate bar with around 70 percent cacao for the richest chocolate flavor, and make sure to bake the custard until it is just set for a luxuriously creamy custard. The custards can be made up to 2 days ahead and chilled before the sugar is torched on top just before serving.
Steak Mock Frites
There is no better, more reliable restaurant dish than steak frites. It is perhaps America's favorite French food, a cheeseburger deluxe recast for date nights, celebrations, feasts. Few make the dish at home, though: The frites are too labor-intensive for all but the most project-oriented cooks. Here, then, is a recipe to fake out the fries, one that will take even a relatively neophyte home cook little more than an hour to make. The aim is great steak, a delicious sauce of maître d'hôtel butter, and potatoes with a terrific quality of French fry-ness, supreme crispness, with soft and creamy flesh within. (Here's a video to get you started on how to cook the perfect steak at home.)