My paramor and I will be flying up the Central coast of CA on Saturday for a lovely brunch and tour of Hearst Castle. We'll be back by 4PM or so - having cocktails at a birthday party, and coming back for a home cooked meal about 7:30PM. I plan to prep food on Friday for ease.

What should I make??

I'm considering Engagement Chicken (lots of lemon), a spinach salad with red onion and feta, and spagehtti squash tossed with butter, parmesan, s/p.

Or???

Help me out here - Love is on the line!!

If you feel like this meal is more simple than you were thinking and not impressive enough, then go for a big finish with the dessert. Prepare a truffle. I have never seen anyone who is not impressed with one. It is pretty simple too if you don't make your own cake. All you have to do is cook a package of pudding and whip cream. Then you layer chocolate cake, the pudding, the whip cream with crushed up heath bar. It is a pretty intense dessert so you might want to keep the serving sizes on the beef and potato small and a small serving of truffle goes a long way.

Have a great time!
:-)
pm2

BTW - this guy knows his food. He's a fireman and their main cook at the station. Oh the pressure!
Thanks again everyone!

2, 3, 4 or whatever 6 to 8 ounce beef filets mignon, at room temperature
(let sit out for at least 30 minutes before beginning prep work)
kosher salt
black pepper
clarified butter
cognac or brandy
Maytag blue cheese crumbled (about 1/2T per serving)
coarsely chopped walnuts (about 1T per serving)

pre-heat a cast-iron skillet that's large enough to
hold all the steaks at once (or two smaller) over the burner set on High-High-High for at least 15 minutes, You MUST use cast iron for this - anything less will
burn or warp. Do not use stainless or aluminum, and only use porcelinized
cast iron (like Le Crueset) if you don't mind permanent black stains.

While that is preheating, season the filets with a pinch of kosher or sea salt and
a generous dose of freshly ground pepper - all pressed into the meat, both
sides.

Next, toast the chopped walnuts in a dry sauté pan over medium heat for 3-5
minutes - until they begin to brown.

When the pan on the grill is BLAZING hot (showing a little gray ash) , dip the filets in
the butter on both sides (pour a puddle onto a plate - this is why they
must be room temp. If colder, the butter will congeal and stick to the
plate you set them back on and stay there, and the steaks will stick and
burn to the pan) and CAREFULLY drop into the hot pan. They will smoke like
a three-alarm fire as they cook. be sure your vent fan is on.

Let them cook on the first side about 2 minutes, then turn over and cut the
heat to Medium (a 1"
thick filet will take about 4-5 minutes on the second side) Then dump about 2 T of brandy or cognac per serving into the pan and
ignite with a long match or lighter - wait for the flame to subside and
then remove the steaks to a warmed plate tented with foil to keep the
steaks warm.

Then, add enough brandy to the pan to be sure you have enough to "sauce"
each steak, flame again if needed to burn off the alcohol, and cook until
it just begins to thicken and get syrupy - scrape the pan with a wooden
spoon or spatula as you do. Then, add in the blue cheese and walnuts and
stir until the cheese is melted. Remove the pan from the heat, plate up each steak and pour a little sauce over each and add a
portion of the nuts. Serve and enjoy.

MQ's Steak Diane for Two
Mark Bittman, New York Times
2 6-ounce beef fillets, cut from the tenderloin (filet mignon), preferably not too lean
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon minced shallot or onion
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, or to taste (I added 1/2 t. extra because dh likes it)
½ cup heavy cream or half-and-half
Lemon juice to taste, optional
Chopped fresh chives or parsley leaves for garnish.
1. Flatten fillets a bit with the palm of your hand, the back of a skillet or a small mallet; they should be about 1 inch thick. Sprinkle with salt and a lot of pepper. In small skillet, preferably one just large enough to hold fillets, combine oil and tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat. When butter foam melts, sear steaks on both sides, just until browned, no more than 2 minutes a side. Remove to platter.
2. Wipe pan clean with towel; add remaining butter over medium heat, with shallot or onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 2 minutes. Stir in mustard, Worcestershire and cream. Add some salt and a fair amount of pepper. Stir once or twice, then taste and adjust seasoning.
3. Keeping mixture at a steady simmer, return meat and accumulated juices to pan. Cook, turning two or three times, until meat is done to your liking, just 1 or 2 minutes a side for medium-rare. Remove to a plate, and add lemon juice, if using, salt and pepper to the sauce as needed. Spoon sauce over meat, garnish with chives or parsley, and serve.

Closely related to steak au poivre, and best made with truffles (isn't everything?), it is about as straightforward, simple and impressive a high-class dish as you can make. If you and your date are meat eaters, you cannot go wrong with this.
The process is easy, nearly foolproof, and gives you a few options. Though you can follow this procedure with almost any tender cut of beef (and with chicken breasts, if that direction appeals to you), it's a perfect treatment for tenderloin medallions (filet mignon) for two reasons. Tenderloin doesn't have much flavor of its own, so there's nothing to overwhelm with this rich, flavorful sauce. And it is supertender, which makes it a nice cut for a juicy, saucy dish in which you're going to use a knife.
A couple of options: You can cook some mushrooms — preferably wild, but shiitakes will do nicely — along with the shallots, and add a touch of garlic as well, if you like. And you can add a tablespoon or two of Cognac to the cream sauce and ignite it for a bit of a show. But I doubt you'll taste much difference or note a change of behavior; for that, you're better off drinking it.

My husband's friends always told him if HE didn't marry me - THEY would. LOL

But to attract DH, I stuck with a strict meat/potatoes/vegetable menu, then added to it as I got to know him...and somehow his bachelor friends also ended up at our place for suppers lol.

If this is a first meal, I say slow cooker roast, potatoes & fresh baby carrots (keep a stand by of canned peaches & cream corn just in case), then all you have to do is make gravy with the juices and VOILA! Top off with a nice white wine and a peanut free dessert that you can make ahead (unless you know he doesn't have peanut allergies).

Good luck!

I'm hosting a holiday party for 30 on the 8th and now needing suggestions for heavy appetizers. We're officially "BF/GF" and now need to impress guests with food - the BF is a done deal!
Thanks again All!!

Heavy appetizers...hmmm..we are not really much for appetizers here, so I think my suggestions will be pretty run of the mill. Just what we like to eat when someone else is doing the party...shrimp cocktail, scallops wrapped in bacon. Mini chicken quesedillas w toppings to dip in. Marinated chicken on sticks, celery with cream cheese. Veggies dipped in ranch dressing.

Hope that gets the ball rolling for you and Congratulations!!

pm2

My favourite choices are

Stacked pizza (great dish crappy name basically layers of phyllo with Parmesan between and then lightly topped with sliced tomatoes cheese and herbs)

Spanikopita

Antipasti platter (roasted peppers, salamis, cheeses, olives, hot pickled peppers etc.)

Meatballs in mini buns (one meatball to a bun)

smoked salmon, cream cheese onions and capers of rye rounds

Stuffed Mushrooms

Salt baked mini potatoes stuffed with goat cheese

Palmiers with Honey Mustard and prosciutto

Mini Crab Cakes with a remoulade

Selection of good (make that great !) cheeses and olives served with rustic breads.

I have recipes for all if anything crabs you.

Emily

"Learn to make this sauce, and find a man worth cooking it for, in that order.

Make a meal that will leave him hungry, not for sex, but for you!

This sauce will smell better than anything you’ve ever smelled before. Make it only once a year, and keep him hungry! Great for special occasions and wonderful in the fall when it’s cool.

This sauce takes a lot of time – it should simmer for four to five hours – but it does not require much skill or effort. Once the vegetables are chopped, all that’s left to do is add ingredients and stir. This gives you plenty of time to shower, tidy up your home, and do whatever else you need to do to prepare for your dinner guest.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion
1 large or 2 small carrots
2 – 3 stalks celery
1 ounce pancetta, very finely chopped
1 lb ground beef (not lean)
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
Pinch allspice
1 cup whole milk
1 cup dry white wine
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes w/ juice
1 lb pasta, such as rigatoni
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for grating

Finely chop onion, carrot, and celery. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over low heat, cook pancetta until all fat is rendered and pancetta is just beginning to brown. Add chopped vegetables; raise heat to medium, and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and soft.

Add ground beef, breaking it up with a spoon, ¼ tsp (to start) salt, plus pepper and allspice. Cook until meat is brown.

Add milk. When it begins to simmer, reduce heat to low and cook at a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally until milk has mostly boiled away, about 30 minutes. Add white wine and cook as with milk, until it has mostly boiled away. Add tomatoes and juice; bring to a simmer. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and allow sauce to cook very gently at barest simmer, 2.5 to 3 hours. Season to taste with remaining salt.

Just before sauce is done, bring a pot of water to boil, salt it generously and boil pasta according to package directions. Drain, mix with a third of sauce, the serve with remaining sauce on top with lots of grated Parmigiano cheese. Makes 4 cups sauce."