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Impress the Girl - menu

May 2nd 2010 21:47
My son is in college, and likes to cook for his dates. Problem is, he doesn't REALLY cook. He opens canned vegetables, and heats them in the microwave. He knows how to cook a few meat dishes, but still - doesn't really follow a recipe. So, he asked me to come up with a couple of really SIMPLE recipes that would be impressive to his dates. Mom and I brainstormed a bit, and this is the first one we came up with.

Impress The Girl

Fancy Salad

Because the entree has two green veggies with it, we don't really need to have a green salad. We're just going to cut some tomato wedges, and place them around the edge of a salad plate. In the center, we'll put marinated artichoke hearts. Really simple; looks elegant; tastes good.


Tilapia Packets with Baby Spinach and Asparagus

This recipe comes from my mom - don't know where she got it (or I'd give proper credit.)

For each serving, you need 1 nice size tilapia filet, a bunch of baby spinach and some fresh asparagus (cut in bite size pieces).

Lay a piece of foil on a baking sheet. Pile a bunch of baby spinach in the center of the foil. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay the tilapia filet on top. Again, drizzle with EVOO and S&P. Pile the asparagus on top of that - drizzle again. Fold the foil over and seal up to make a packet. Bake at 375 F for about 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a nice plate, and serve with long grain wild rice.

Cherry Chiffon Dessert

OK - I know I was complaining about using canned veggies, but we are using CANS for this dish. It's really simple, and tastes wonderful. We normally just make this in a large bowl, and then serve from the bowl. But - we're trying to impress a girl, here, so we'll use pretty glasses to serve. Brandy snifters or sundae glasses. Even wine glasses will work.




1 can cherry pie filling - chilled
1 can pineapple chunks or tidbits - chilled and drained
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 - 8 oz tub frozen whipped topping - thawed
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Mix all together, fill serving dishes, chill.

Super simple meal to impress the girl! All of it can be made ahead, except for cooking the fish packets. Those can be made up ahead, and put in the oven 20 minutes before you'll be ready to serve.

Happy Cooking!

Be sure to visit http://real-home-cooking.com for more ideas!
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Same Salad - Three Ways

October 18th 2009 17:02
I've noticed that I frequently try to change the plating of something as simple as a salad, just to make it look different. Here is an example of one simple dinner salad plated three different ways. Each looks different, but it is really the same exact salad - lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and orange slice.

Classy Lettuce Wedge
Classy Letuce Wedge


This first plating has the lettuce kept as a wedge - seems to be all the rage in restaurants these days. The other items are simply circled around the wedge on the plate.

Traditional Dinner Salad
Traditional Dinner Salad


The second plating is just a traditional dinner salad, tear up the lettuce, and place the cucumber and tomato slices on top. Place the orange wedge to the side.

Homestyle Dinner Salad
Homestyle Dinner Salad


Our final plating is similar to the second one. The lettuce is torn, but we've added more cucumber slices and circled the entire plate with them. The tomatoes are diced, and cover the inner portion of the salad. The orange wedge was eliminated for this plating, but could still be served on the side.


Just one example of how to change the plating of certain dishes to change the appearance. You can make something look classier, more traditional, or more homey just by plating it differently.

Happy Cooking!
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Lara M. posted on Food Slate yesterday a Refreshing Cucumber and Coriander Salad with Lime Juice. I'm not a huge fan of cilantro (coriander, for those of you not in the U.S.), but decided I'd try a variation of it. In Lara M's post - About Coriander - she mentions that flat parsley is a milder substitute. So for my salad, I decided to combine cilantro and flat parsley. Her recipe calls for two bunches of coriander, but I only used about 1/2 bunch of cilantro and 1/2 bunch of flat parsley. I cut the cucumber into matchsticks, and added about 1/2 cup of matchstick carrots, and 1 cup of diced tomatoes. For the dressing, I used 1/8 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar, 1 teaspoon sugar, and about 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. I also used my garlic pepper grinder to liberally season the salad after tossing with the dressing.

Cilantro cucumber carrot tomato salad
Cilantro, cucumber, carrot, tomato salad


I served this on a bed of Romaine lettuce leaves with my roasted pork tenderloin. We topped off the meal with some zuchini and yellow squash sauteed in butter and garlic pepper.
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Taco Salad

September 17th 2008 07:14
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Snicker Bar Salad

September 15th 2008 16:25
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