Romantic Dinner Recipes

romantic dinner recipes
By
Executive Chef

Any time of year is a good time to have a romantic dinner but Valentine's Day is a good time to look into some romantic dinner recipes.

A Little Bit of Planning Goes a Long Way

I cannot express strongly enough that the night of your romantic dinner is the absolutely wrong night to try a new recipe for the first time. I know, I know...the temptation is there. You are looking through a cookbook or a magazine and you see a glossy picture of some beautiful dinner on a perfectly set table with candles, matching napkins with incredibly hip napkin rings, glasses of wine, and a headline that says something like "Quick and easy lobster soufflé for two." I promise you that if you have never made this dinner before, it is a recipe for disaster not a recipe for romance. Romantic dinners should be about romance, not trying to work out the nuances of a new recipe. If you do want to offer your lover something new and exciting for your romantic dinner, try cooking it at least once before the big night. This will give you a chance to work out the way for you to approach the recipe. If you are going to try something new for that romantic night, please make sure that you:

  • Read the recipe - don't just skim over it. Read it slowly and carefully. Make a list of everything mentioned in the recipe and go through your kitchen to make certain that you have it.
  • Check your gear - the night of the special dinner is the wrong night to find out that the recipe says you need a two-quart casserole dish and you don't have any casserole dishes.

The Good Part

Not to state the obvious, but romantic dinners are a bit different from ordinary dinner parties. At a regular dinner party, you would have enough guests present for you to slip away from the table and cook up the next course, make a quick sauce, or pop a dessert into the oven. With a romantic dinner, you want to spend as much time at the table with your partner as you can. With this in mind, I am going to suggest some romantic dinner recipes that you might not have thought of but work well for special dinners. The reason that I suggest these recipes is because the best part of a romantic dinner is the time you spend at the table. This is a menu that I used recently.

Romantic Dinner Recipes

For a romantic dinner, I like to get as much done ahead of time as possible. So, for the appetizer, I think a good idea would be stuffed mushrooms.

Fig and Blue Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

When shopping for the ingredients of this stuffed mushroom recipe, it's best to buy rather large mushrooms. You will be taking the stem off of the mushroom and stuffing the stuff into the cap, so look for a mushroom that has a cap at least 1 ½ inches across.

Ingredients

  • 12 mushrooms
  • 8-10 black mission figs
  • 6-8 ounces of blue cheese
  • ½ a cup of bread crumbs (might not be needed)
  • 1 ½ cup of Marsala wine
  • Ground pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil

Instructions

  1. Trim the stems off the figs and cut the figs into quarters.
  2. Place the figs into a food processor and pulse until the figs are well chopped.
  3. Add the blue cheese and pulse until well blended.
  4. Taste the mixture.
  5. If you need to add pepper, do so. The cheese is rather salty so you probably won't need salt.
  6. The mixture should be the consistency of play-dough. If it seems a bit heavy or too thick, add breadcrumbs a little at a time while pulsing your processor.
  7. Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with the oil.
  8. Place the mushrooms into the pan.
  9. Pour the wine over the mushrooms and place into a 325-degree oven for 30-40 minutes.
  10. Serve warm.
  11. You can make these the night before, just store them in your refrigerator covered with plastic wrap. When ready to cook, place them into the oiled roasting pan and splash with wine.

Chicken Cacciatore

I like this one pot meal for romantic dinners because it is flavorful, colorful, and is fast from the pot to the table. Serve with some quickly sautéed asparagus and you have your romantic dinner on the table before the last mushroom is eaten.

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
  • 2 medium onions, rough chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, rough chopped
  • 1 large carrot, rough chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, Julianne cut
  • 1 yellow bell pepper, Julianne cut
  • ½ cup of white wine
  • 2 cups of canned diced tomatoes
  • 6 basil leaves, sliced thinly
  • 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary, chopped fine
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. You will need a large skillet with a lid. I like to use my 12-inch cast iron, but any large skillet will work. If you don't have a lid, a nice chunk of foil will work just as well.
  2. Heat the oil in the skillet.
  3. Rinse and dry your chicken.
  4. Brown the chicken on all sides.
  5. Drain most, but not all, of the fat from the pan. You want to keep about three tablespoons of the fat.
  6. Sautee the vegetables in the fat until they start to brown.
  7. Put the chicken back into the pan with the veggies.
  8. Add the wine and bring to a simmer.
  9. Add the tomatoes and herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
  10. Bring to a simmer.
  11. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until the chicken is done.
  12. Serve with pasta of your choice.

You can serve any dessert that you like, but I like to go with Pot de Crème, Truffles, or a lemon mousse..

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