Whats your show dish?

chika

Hi everyone, I'm in need of help!

I have invited my potential new love interest round on Saturday and promised that I would cook. However I need something great to impress him with. I'm very good at cooking stuff like spag bol but its not going to cut it I'm afraid. Also my usual food just tends to look like mush on a plate! its fine when its just me but not so good when I need to impress!

So whats your show dish? What do you cook when you want to impress? It must look good and taste divine! Thanks for all the ideas in advance!

mumoftwo

Steak and ale pie for me - lovely soft cooked steak in ale, melt in the mouth with lush gravy and golden puff pastry, roast potatoes and vege. Roast chicken looks great I think. Or do you mean something difficult that needs a lot doing to it? A nice homemade pudding is always good.

Pink.

Hi chicka,

If it's important to you then it may be better to do something that you've made before and feel confident cooking, otherwise you could get into a fuss and not enjoy the evening. If you're good at spaghetti bolognese, then what about using your sauce to make a lasagne? Whatever you do, keep it simple and I'm sure that whatever you make, he'll enjoy it.


Two favourites of mine are:

Lamb cutlets with oven roasted vegetables and minted couscous

Arrange vegetables (I use courgettes, peppers, red onion, mushrooms, baby tomatoes and chunks of garlic….but you could use anything you want really) on a roasting dish. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a very hot oven. You do need to keep an eye on this as some of the veg will cook more quickly than others, but you can do this in advance and reheat in the microwave or oven just before serving.

Grill six lamb cutlets.

Put some couscous into a dish, add stock (I use a lamb stock cube dissolved in boiling water), and add a good teaspoon of mint sauce. Stir well and leave the couscous to absorb the liquid, and then fluff it up with a fork.

Put the couscous into a small bowl or a teacup (to use as a mould) then turn it out onto the centre of a plate.
Next arrange the three cutlets around the couscous mound with the long bone bit (?) leaning on the couscous.
In between each lamb chop put small piles of the roasted veg.

It's very easy to cook, looks really impressive and tastes great.


Duck breasts in morello cherry and wine jus with steamed veg and baby potatoes in parsley butter…..very quick and simple to make, looks great and tastes delicious:


Make the sauce: two parts of red wine to one part morello cherry jam. Combine in a saucepan, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer for about 20 mins.

Put the potatoes on to boil.

Mix freshly chopped parsley with softened butter and put to one side.

Prepare the veg and have them ready to steam. Begin steaming the veg when the duck goes into the oven.

Dry fry the duck breasts skin side down in a pan for 5- 10 minutes depending on how you like them cooked. Then turn them over so that they’re skin side up and pop into a hot oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for at least five minutes. Add any juices from the duck to the sauce as it makes it richer.

While the duck is ‘resting’ drain the potatoes, top with the parsley butter and keep warm in the oven and put the vegetables into a serving dish. Put the duck breast onto plates, drizzle with a little of the sauce and serve.

Duck can be dry so best to have it a little bit pink rather than overdone. Any fat that comes out when frying the skin can be stored in the fridge and makes fabulous roast potatoes.

Pink

misskool

Marinated fish fillets Thai style.
1/3 cup of thai fish sauce
grated knob of ginger (1-2cm)
chopped up chilli (deseeded)
2 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of sugar
big bunch of coriander
Marinate for half an hour, grill for 10 mins on each side

Saute thinly sliced new potatoes with spring onion and olive oil.
Serve both on a plate of salad.

Or roast duck with 5 spices (if you don't want garlic, just in case)
Free range duck, stuff cavity with 1 medium onion and orange (quatered)
Then rub skin with 5 spice powder (from shops or mix your own)
Roast for weight (sorry, can't remember off hand, normally says on the packet)

rest for 15-20 minutes then carve. Serve with salad or steamed leeks and fresh peas. If you have time, make roast potatoes with the duck fat.

You could make an easy starter/pudding if that doesn't sound enough.

A no-bake cheesecake can be made the night before and served with some coulis of some sort?

Penelope_Penguin

I made this for friends last night - Black bean chilli with avocado salsa. It's chilli but with stewing beef, not mince, so looks really impressive. I used pinto beans, as that's what I had in, you could use any. It sat happily all day in the SC, but you could put it on a low setting in the oven.

That pic's of Delia's website, btw, not my own dish :rotfl: .

We also had plum crumble (made by DS) which was also prepared ahead.

Enjoy your meal, Penny. x

frogga

being a veggie I've got to say spicey bean chilli!

It's a real "chuck it all together" kind of dish

Fry an onion , celery ,peppers et.c and add chili powder

1 tin of mixed beans and 1 tin of kidney beans

add some mushrooms

that's it really. You can make it in advance and just heat it up later

Serve with some nice green leaves and a jacket potato

Delicious! Should spice things up a bit too! Hope all goes well

MrsTinks

Roast leg of lamb... I use Hugh Fern-whittingstall's timing guide and it's never done me unjustice Do home made potato wedges coated in oil and then a mix of ground ginger, mustard powder, mixed herbs and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Serve with home made tomato salsa for the potato's and a lush salad yuuuuum

Money~Bunny_3

A risotto with lots of parmesan and butter, plus a good sprinking of parmesan on the top, and some shredded basil leaves if you want. It's supposed to look a little mushy, so you can do it without worrying much. If it burns a bit, just add a little more stock and extra parmesan. Adding parmesan will fix a lot of things!

Risotto tastes great, looks posh and you can make it with so many different things - prawns, peppers, chicken, onions, courgette, aubergine, mushrooms, peas, tomatoes... It's also simple, filling and tasty.

Plus most recipes call for wine and after using the 125ml from the bottle, you can drink the rest! (Of course, good stock/non-alcoholic drinks are also available )

There are recipes all over for risotto - try Jamie Oliver's website or the BBC's food pages.

lamplady

I don't think this is the time to be trying out new dishes tbh

I'd go for simple steamed salmon with lemon squeezed over it, with some roasted veg...you really don't want a havy meal for such an occasion. Then I'd do homemade profiteroles. Choux pastry is actually very easy and looks really impressive, you could make the profiteroles earlier in the day and have them with a tub of hot chocolate sauce and feed them to each other naked.

Mezze could also be good, lots of lovely bread and dips with bits and pieces from the deli. The aim is sensuality, not falling asleep straight afterwards!

Pollycat

Hi chika
I would tend to agree about not experimenting with new dishes (a sure way to get stressed and spoil a potentially lovely evening), but my 'show' dish is Moussaka.
As Pink says, you could use your Bol sauce as the base for this.
I always add an egg to my Bechamel sauce as this gives it a lighter, souffle-style taste.

This can be prepared in advance, then popped in the oven at the appropriate time.

As a starter, I do home made Tzatziki, some (bought) Tapenade (olive paste, depending on how many people I'm having, I offer green and black), with fresh crusty bread.

I serve the Moussaka with a Greek Salad.

Hope you have a good evening.
Polly

flea72

chicken thighs stuffed with sage and onion

people think its really fancy, but thighs are so easy to bone, and the sage and onion is packet mix

really its just a fancy way of doing a roast, but means i dont have to try and look clever carving at the table, and theres no fights over who gets a leg or the breast.

Flea