Date Night Done Right
Okay, so, truth be told, this was not a date night for me and my fiancé, Dil. This was actually a date night for me and one of my besties, Leigh. Dil was on vacation, so it was girls night in with all the typical things included. It had been a while since Leigh and I had a night in to talk shit and get a little schwasty on white wine, which of course we regretted the next day, but at the time was a perfect idea.
One of my rules when it comes to entertaining one person or many people is to keep the recipes simple. For dinner with Leigh I made a super easy salad and quick pasta - perfect for two fat foodies! It wasn’t just some boring salad and pasta, though - oh, no, no, no. Before Leigh arrived I roasted some Brussels sprouts in the oven for a crispy bite and soaked some sliced shallots in vinegar for a pickly bite. I’m telling you now if you’ve never soaked shallots in vinegar for a quick-pick you are missing out! They only need about 20 minutes or so to pickle and they make a huge difference. Then I made a quick Caesar dressing with a bit of blue cheese crumbled in. Instead of tossing the salad before she arrived, I put the greens on the plate and stuck them in the fridge. Right before I served them I added a dollop of the dressing, some Brussels and the pickled shallots - delish!!
For the pasta, you will not believe how easy it was. I added a garlic clove, handful of walnuts, grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, red pepper flake and a touch of cream to a blender and pureed it. When it came time to eat, I boiled the water as we ate our salads, then cooked the pasta and tossed it with the sauce. I added a bit of the pasta water to stretch the sauce and topped with more parmesan. It was unreal and no recipe needed!
The truth of the matter is that we could have ordered a pizza for our little date and it would have been just as good. Of course my food was better (I’d like to think), but all that really mattered was we were together. We laughed all night and let me tell you, that is how you do date night correctly. Keep it easy, keep it fun, and most of all, enjoy the time spent together!
For more great date night recipes check out:
Arugula Salad with Spiced Nuts