Your favorit food to cook when impressing a chick?

[Tordenguden]

Whats your favorit food to cook when ur having a vhick over for dinner? Or when ur gonna impress your girlfriend? hehe, I cant really think ov anything i can cook other then hotdogs and hamburgers And that not very impressive at all....

 

[Naren]

One time my best friend and I made this awesome gourmet dinner for his girlfriend (I was in the US and my girlfriend was in Japan at the time). It was chicken with cheese and ham on the inside and a special sauce on the outside (this was 3-4 years ago, so I don't remember exactly what it was).

I don't really ever cook anything for my girlfriend, especially now that my apartment is so small that I would never invite someone over for dinner unless it was pizza, fast food, food from the convenience store, or food from some restaurant.

However, my girlfriend is very impressed by my popcorn making abilities. She hates microwave popcorn and the first time she came to my house, she noticed I had a bunch of corn kernels in my pantry. So, when she asked about it, I made her some of my special popcorn and now she asks for it all the time when she comes over (she had never had homemade popcorn before, only microwave stuff and movie theater stuff).

Eh. I generally just take my girlfriend out to eat. And, if I'm dating someone for the first time, there's no way I'm making them food at my house (I would consider doing that after knowing them for a while).

 

[nitelightboy]

Your friend made Chicken Cordon Bleu. Good stuff.


I usually like to mix it up a bit. I love anything that requires a little work or allows for some show boating. Last time, I made Baked chicken and I had put some veggies under the skin before going in the oven. On the side, I made baked potato bowls for my homemade black bean chili. Awsome meal.

 

[Tordenguden]

Hey, wanna share the recepi (or how you spell it in english, im sure you understand what i mean )??

 

[nitelightboy]

Which recipe would you like? I'd have to go home and go through my notebook, but I'll gladly post it for you.

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich My cooking abilities are slim to none. I guess I just never had the patience to learn, I refuse to spend more time cooking than I do eating, which generally takes 30 seconds to 1 minute. How's that for romance?

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

applebees!

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

the last time i tryed to seriously cook was last march, and i ended up cutting the pinky on my picking hand 3/4 the way off, cutting tendons, artery, and nerve, so i kinda let my wife cook

 

[Zepp88]

the last time i tryed to seriously cook was last march, and i ended up cutting the pinky on my picking hand 3/4 the way off, cutting tendons, artery, and nerve, so i kinda let my wife cook

Yikes!

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

Did you at least finish cooking her some chow?

 

[noodles]

Garlic Chicken Alfredo, over Bow Tie Pasta. It's really good, and it is always impressive when you can whip up sauce from scratch, instead of a bottle or can.

 

[jem_legacy]

If you want to impress a girl make a salad. A citrus salad, maybe with chicken on the side or something. And make it look fancy by adding herbs and spices to the chicken

 

[Drew]

[action=Drew]cracks his knuckles and begins. [/action]


Well, the key to an impressive dinner is presentation. Ideally, you want to do something that involves maybe a half hour of kitchen time right before you eat, preferably something dramatic. Remember, chicks want to fuck you for two reasons if you cook them a great meal - one, because you're feeding them an excellent meal, and two, because you're demonstrating a high degree of skill.

With this in mind, our typical dinner party agenda (because impressing a guest is only slightly different from impressing a girl) starts with cheese and crackers and a bottle of champagne or prosecco followed by a soup course that can be prepared in advance - a dry sparkling wine pairs nicely with cheese, and can kill about 15 minutes with conversation while you saute or stir or whatnot. Then, serve up a soup that's been simmering in the background since she showed up (here it's a question of knowing your auudience, but lately I've gotten a lot of mileage out of a Thai-style pureed spinach soup flavored with lemongrass and ginger, served with a fresh spinach garnish and drizzled with toasted sesame oil).

From there on, it depends - I'm italian, so I like to go the traditional italian route and follow up with a pasta or rice dish and then a meat dish. Fresh pasta is easy enough to make once you get the hang of it, cooks in maybe 3 minutes once you throw it in boiling water, and if you're cooking for someone who doesn't have much experience with it, will blow her mind. for sauces, I generally do a fresh pesto or diced tomato (which also rules with diced black olives and shrimp) over homemade linguini or some sort of a cream sauce if I'm doing homemade ravioli (which are incredible but way more time intensive, so this is only for when I'm seriously looking to impress someone, or for when the girl in question strikes me as the sort who'd enjoy helping me roll out the dough and then stuff and cut the ravioli - participation is kind of a turn-on, too). Risottos are fun too - not as dramatic to watch unless she catches all the dicing and whatnot early on, but they certainly taste good and require constant awareness but manageable maintenance.

Alternately, something like a lasagna works well in that you make it (hint - the longer you simmer your sauce, the better it is, and if you're starting with sauce from a jar, you're wasting your time, especially since once you get the sauce together all you need to do is stir it occasionally) in advance and then just pop it in the oven and serve up the first course while it finishes. My lasagna is good enough that I've actually been offered financing to open and manage a restaraunt based upon it, so while it lacks a bit in the way of dramatic presentation, it's probably something I should lean on a bit more.

Finally, let's go back to presentation. Again, it's not what you cook, but how you cook it and how you serve it. Soup courses should come out on a kicker plate which is then reused as your main dinner plate simply for the added drama and "mass" the second plate ringing the bowl adds. It sounds stupid, but it works. Likewise, consider not only what you're serving, but what you can garnish it with. It's the difference between a great homemade soup and a five-star resteraunt opening course.

Also, an added note - in the last couple months, my roommate and I have adopted a new dinner party rule - at least one course needs to be served flaming. Like, not served gay, but ignited on fire. A personal favorite of mine is to work this into the desert course with a variation on bananas foster I like, substituting the bananas for fresh mangos, and then igniting with a good dark rum with a hearty kick of 151 tossed in for measure. I've also experimented with serving hearty soups with a small dash of 151 in the center, ignited on the table so it burns for about 30 seconds before you eat. Again, sounds dumb until you serve a soup course by candlelight and then wave a match over it and watch it begin to glow. Also, shrimp or scallops flambeed work quite well too as a pasta alternative between the soup course and the main course (especially true if you're doing pasta as your main course).


So, in summary - presentation, presentation, presentation. Make sure you do about a half hour of knifework and sauteeing in front of her while she has a glass of champagne and something to snack on, and then look for bonus points with garnishes and dramatic cooking techniques. Also, know your audience - find out some likes and dislikes in advance, and look for ways to work them into the menu or challange them (that spinach ginger soup absolutely rules - my sister, who's had spinach soups before and hasn't liked them, absolutely loved it when my family was down for dinner the other night).

 

[JJ Rodriguez]

Or you know, you could make her some Mac & Cheese and get her drunk

 

[Rick]

I knew Drew was gonna chime in.

 

[Popsyche]

I knew Drew was gonna chime in.

AND, I knew it was going to be looooooong!

Drew is right if you are Drew's age. If your one of the SS.kinder, almost anything you try really hard at will impress your nubile dinnermate.

I cooked over at my girlfriend's house when I was 17 or so for her whole family. I made porkchops and rice with gravy. I actually had to teach her mom how gravy was made.

For you older folks, if you have:

A gas stove(cooker for you olde worlde guys)

A big pan(I use a 14" saute)

Good ingredients

Good ventilation

Go for Chicken Marsala. There really isn't much to it, and you get to start the big, impressive fire on the stove. And it tastes great!

 

[nitelightboy]

Also, learn how to toss in a pan. It's really easy to do and chicks go absolutely nuts when they see you do it instead of using a spoon to stir everything. It rocks!

 

[Popsyche]

Also, learn how to toss in a pan. It's really easy to do and chicks go absolutely nuts when they see you do it instead of using a spoon to stir everything. It rocks!

That didn't sound right...

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

hey jj, i was close to finished but the blood and broken glass kinda made the food unpleasing to the eye

 

[Drew]

Drew is right if you are Drew's age. If your one of the SS.kinder, almost anything you try really hard at will impress your nubile dinnermate.

I suppose my response presupposed

1.) An apartment of your own
2.) a well-stocked kitchen
3.) loads of useful kitchen impliments like a nahd cranked pasta roller and a food processor, and
4.) a disposable enough income to pick up a ton of fresh ingredients to start from.


Still, on a budget, you can make a pretty damned good pasta sauce starting from a can of diced tomatos. I generally use Hunt's, and if you REALLY want to cheat you can start with the "garlic, basil, and oregano" flavored diced tomatos.

Drew's Quick Gourmet-style Tomato Sauce.

1.) crush with a garlic press or finely dice two cloves of garlic into a splash of olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Saute for 2-3 minutes, until they just start to turn golden brown. If you're not using fresh garlic, compensate in step #3. For an extra spicy sauce, add a bit of crushed red pepper with the garlic.
2.) Empty normal 14-oz can of diced tomatos into frying pan.
3.) season to taste with salt and garlic (if you didn't add any in step one), and liberally with ground black pepper and basil (especially if you're starting wiith plain diced tomatos).
4.) Heat thoroughly, about 5-10 minutes.

Optional - pasta sauce gets better with time. If you've got the time, lower the heat and simmer another 20 minutes, adding a half cup of water as you cook so it doesn't dry out. Other fun optional ingredients here - either sliced black olives or whole black olives you've sliced yourself are a nice addition, though they add to the saltiness so you're better off not adding salt until you've tasted it if you put olives in. Likewise, I love rosemary so I usually add some along with the basil. And a splash of white wine is nice and seems to help the sauce thicken slightly, somehow - I use dry vermouth a lot as a cooking wine since 1.) it's a good one, and 2.) I don't drink martinis enough to go through bottles as fast as you really shoud (it does change over time). Finally, if you're looking to impress here, you can always toss in some shrimp - if you're using pre-cooked, do it within the last couple minutes of simmering so they have time to heat thoroughly without overcooking. Fresh, start them a few minutes before, and saute until they turn red evenly.

Toss over a nice, substantial noodle - I prefer linguini - and top with parmesean and serve, preferably with a good crusty bread on the side.



Done vegetarian with no extra simmering time, you can do this in as much time as it takes to boil water and cook most pastas. With shrimp added in, it's only a few minutes longer. The results are totally gourmet, and the shrimp-less variety will set you back all of maybe $4 in ingredients (pasta included), once you buy basil, black pepper, salt, and garlic, and if you count what you actually use from each, respectively, towards the cost.

And, once you get the spicing right, I guarantee you this will get you laid.