Cooking Something Special

Brighid

What do you cook when you want to make something special at minimal cost?

Planning a romantic night in with my husband, and want to do something a bit different from our usual stews, soups and currys!

SailorSam

Probably surf through the myriad of web pages or make a note of something i'd seen on Tv

xx_Jo_xx

What have you already got in that you could use, therefore avoiding additional spend?

Brighid

I have standard well stocked store cupboard ingredients but no main components like meat or veg.

xx_Jo_xx

Well if you are buying the main content of the meal anyway, I would say decide between OHs favourite ingredients and then google or search the forums for recipes with those items.

Good luck

HeadAboveWater

One thing we don't eat often is steak. Last time I cooked a 'special' meal for OH (Vals Day), I splashed out on 2 reeeeeeeally good sirloins, then added champ, veg, pepper sauce etc etc. Nothing fancy as such, just different.

OH got duck at a good price about a month ago. Was really nice to treat ourselves to something out of the norm!

Pick the meat first then work the rest of the recipe/meal around that.

Brighid

Yes, steak is something we always used to have as a special treat, its just always so expensive. Same with lamb - a romantic dinner used to be something like roast rack of lamb or fillet steaks with homemade mushroom sauce. These days its a treat if we manage a beef stew!!

valerie57

My OH is a real carnivore so it would have to be meat. How about something unusual like a venison casserole (Lidl have venison meat in the freezers) or oxtail. Or something you might not have normally for health reasons eg home made steak pudding.

Brighid

WOW - never seen venison in Lidl. Will def check that out. OH adores unusual meats. Thanks

WantToBeSE

I would normally make a surf & turf, or steak, chips, garlic mushrooms, onion rings and mushy peas.

HeadAboveWater

It was Lidl we got the duck in too come to think of it...