Cooking/Dinner Advice

boo81

The easiest ive found and looks mega impressive is a puff pastry tart.

Buy chilled puff pastry and just roll out (with a bottle if you you dont have a rolling pin) on a board into a square, alternatively if you want it to look posh make a round one but trimming with a knife around a plate. Roll it to about the thickness of a pound coin.

Preheat the oven to the recommended temperature on the packet and score with a knife about 1 inch from the edge all the way round so to make a pie "rim". Put on a non-stick baking tray and put in the oven.

Cook until slightly browned and puffed up. Take out the oven and push down the pastry in the middle of the rim.

Now spread red pesto on the bottom with the back of a spoon, put mascarpone cheese on top by taking desert spoons full and gently pushing down on the pesto in blobs all over the base. Next put halved cherry tomatoes on the blobs to make a pretty pattern.

Return to the oven until hot and bubbly inside and brown on the outside (5 minutes approximately)

It looks amazing and tastes really lovely. Serve with a crispy salad and your done!

Whats_my_age_again

Thanks for all the suggestions guys n gals. Think I may attempt to make a shepherds pie tonight and see how it goes. At least if it looks to be going wrong I can bin it at the end of the night!

Does it taste just as good if you make it one night and leave it over night in the fridge to be heated up. Do I have to do anything different to make sure it tastes ok the next night?

Or can anyone offer any better alternatives if all goes wrong and I have to cook something quickly in about an hour before going to pick her up from airport?

boo81

Oh and theres no reason why you couldnt cook the first half and cover in the fridge with the ingredients inside, then cook the last bit when you get home. It would take a little longer from chilled though.

Wardi

Couttsy wrote: »

Or can anyone offer any better alternatives if all goes wrong and I have to cook something quickly in about an hour before going to pick her up from airport?

Take away

She'll never know if you take it all out of the packaging before serving :rotfl:

boo81

:eek: you cheater!

mrs_metal

tastes just fine the next day, if you make two you can even freeze one for another day.

For a quick alternative how about a simple fried rice, not very healthy but very tasty.
Cook some long grain rice and while it's cooking
In a frying pan fry a chopped medium onion, put onion in a bowl to one side,
fry chopped bacon (2 rashers per person), put into bowl with onion,
fry chopped chicken breast (1 breast per person) til cooked through,
by now rice should have cooked, make sure not much oil in the frying pan, if there's too much oil the rice gets very greasy and spits at you:eek:
put rice in to trying pan and fry for a minute or two, add the onion, bacon and chicken stir throughly till all hot again
beat up 1 egg per person and add to the rice mixture, stir thoughly
sprinkle on soy sauce (if you don't know how much to use, sprinkle a bit on stir well and taste and add more if you need to, remember you can always add more but you can't take it away).
Stir well after adding soy sauce, then serve

You can mix and match the ingredients but it defintley needs the onion, egg and soy sauce, some people cook the egg separatly then chop it and add to the mixture but I prefer putting it in raw and it coats the rice as it cooks. A nice alternative is onion, mushrooms and steak

Whats_my_age_again

Wardi wrote: »

Take away

She'll never know if you take it all out of the packaging before serving :rotfl:

This is no an option!!! I want to put in the effort

boo81

A great simple one if bacon wrapped around a chicken breast, just wrap in foil and put in the oven. You can put lots of veggies and potatoes in, drizzle with oil and tastes lovely.

My boyfriends first meal from scratch was pork chops in bbq sauce, if that takes your fancy ill try and find a recipe later.

Whats_my_age_again

Does anyone think that the Shepherd Pie would come across as a lazy option? Although it wouldn't be if I was making it.

If I am going down this route I think I will make the meaty base tonight and stick it in the fridge. Then do the mash tomorrow before I set off to pick her up, and then when I get back stick it in the oven. Well that is the plan anyway!

boo81

From personal experience I do find this a time consuming meal though its pretty foolproof to cook as long as you dont burn on the hob!

I think some others are easier and tastier if you want to impress.

If your thinking of cooking dessert, a fondue works great and very romantic too!