Romantic Dinner For TwoRomance Recipe for a date night; start to finish

Planning a romantic dinner for two and need a little help planning the menu? Here is your date night step-by-step guide!

The anticipation is killing me – I hope it lasts.

I think Oscar Wilde said that, and oh, how true. Anticipation is the biggest part! I’ve invited him to my home to prepare him something to please his stomach and peak his affection.

DATE NIGHT MENU FOR TWO

Theme: Tex-Italian

• Grilled Rib-eye with chipotle-thyme butter

• Grilled artichoke with olive oil

• Angel hair pasta with portabellas and parmesan

• Spinach salad with dried cherry vinaigrette

• Strawberries Romanoff w/ balsamic vinegar

• A real Kiss

The romantic dinner for two is tomorrow night so there are many things I can do ahead of time for my romantic dinner recipes.

Today I made the Chipotle-Thyme butter and got the steaks marinating. You can also boil off the artichokes and get the strawberries marinating.

Chipotle-Thyme Butter

½ stick butter, room temperature

fresh thyme leaves, chopped or stripped from the stem

1 small chipotle pepper from the can

Sea salt or kosher salt

Chop the pepper fine, mix it all together in a bowl, spoon it onto plastic wrap, roll the wrap up and shape it into a log, place it in the freezer. About 2 hours Prior to serving move it the fridge or if you forget, just set it out. It will need to be very cold to slice.

Steaks

2 Rib-eye or t-bone, or whatever looks best at the meat counter

2 Tbsp (no need to measure) Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 Red wine

Mix ingredients in a shallow pan, add steaks, cover, refrigerate. Turn steaks a couple of times prior to dinner.

Grilled Artichokes

2 Artichokes

1 lemon or lemon juice

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Cut tips off of artichoke, trim stem, remove outside layer of leaves. Boil until stem is starting to get soft. Set aside to cool, cut in half for grilling and remove choke, (the prickly part at the base.) Stop here if you’re preparing ahead of time. To complete, put them in a bowl, dowse with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill a few minutes on each side.

While artichokes are grilling boil angel hair pasta. Never over-cook pasta and angel hair gets “al-dente” pretty quickly. Drain, set aside.

Dried Cherry Vinaigrette

In a bottle with a lid mix:

Red wine vinegar – ½ cup

Dried Cherries – ¼ cup

Olive Oil – ½ cup

Dijon Mustard – 1 tbsp

Herbs of choice

Salt and Pepper

You’re just making salad dressing but as a nice kick – let the cherries soak in the vinegar to flavor it, chop the re-hydrated cherries and add back in to salad. Toss salad greens, (spinach mix preferred) with dressing a few croutons.

Strawberries Romanoff with balsamic drizzle

Clean, stem, and half a pint of strawberries in a bowl

Add ¼ liquor of your choice

Add ¼ sugar

Stir gently and let this soak for at least an hour, overnight is great.

Top with a lightly sweetened, (1 tsp sugar to ½ cup cream or cheese) sour-cream or ricotta cheese or whipped cream. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar for serving.

Angel hair pasta with portabellas and parmesan

1 pkg. Mushrooms – 2 large portabella or any kind you like, fresh, sliced into strips

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup parmesan, grated

Olive oil and butter

Melt 2 tsp butter and 1 tsp olive oil in large pan. Add garlic, medium-low heat, stir for a minute. Add in mushrooms, sauté until soft. Add in 3-4 servings of pasta, warm through. Add cheese and stir.

Grill steak to desired temperature. Slice butter into coins and place on top of steaks.

Serve it all up and let the good times roll! The perfect romantic dinner for two is served.

Now about that "Real Kiss"....

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