Do you want to please your girlfriend and prepare a romantic dinner for her, but you don’t know how to cook “beautifully” at all? Don't despair, it's very simple! The main secret is that preparing two small portions is usually much easier than preparing the same dish for a family of six.

A win-win option for a romantic dinner would be a combination of wine, meat, chicken or fish with a minimal amount of side dish (even banal pasta or potatoes) and “taming” elements such as cherry tomatoes, arugula salad or a sprig of rosemary.

Choosing the right meat

Keep in mind that most stews don't lend themselves well to a fancy, romantic dinner—even meatballs will look more presentable than a hotpot. Choose something that only takes a few minutes to fry - it's much easier to cook.

In addition, if you have never fried, it is better not to try to learn before a responsible dinner - most likely, you will simply dry out the meat. Stick to chicken breast, salmon steaks, or supermarket-bought meat or chicken cutlets.

White or red wine?

The main rule for choosing a wine is to match it with the main dish. White fish and fried chicken breast are usually served with white wine; salmon and other parts of chicken are served with both white and red wine, but beef and other meats are always served with red wine. Champagne comes with dessert.

If you are not too knowledgeable about wine varieties, choose a dry red Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes from which this wine is made are extremely unpretentious to climatic conditions, so it is difficult to spoil such a wine. In addition, it is one of the strongest - about 12-14%.

The less side dish the better.

Eating a large meal during a romantic dinner is definitely not conducive to further physical activity. Don’t forget that your main goal is not to feed the girl for the week ahead, but to surprise her with your culinary skills, making her ready for a pleasant continuation of the evening.

Prepare just a little side dish. Fry literally 3-4 small potatoes or 100 g of high-quality Italian pasta - but choose not spaghetti (they are quite difficult to eat aesthetically and can get dirty), but those that can be easily and quickly handled with a fork.

Recipes and rules for beautiful serving

If even an ordinary iceberg lettuce gives the dish a “restaurant” impression, then serving it with arugula salad or a sprig of rosemary will turn banal fried potatoes with a cutlet into an exquisite delicacy. Among other things, arugula goes well with red wine, nuts and cheese.

Use expensive noble mold cheese as a dessert, serving it with raisins, nuts and grapes. Tell your girlfriend that after eating such cheese, the taste buds on the tongue awaken, revealing completely new facets of the taste and aroma of wine.

Romantic dinner at home: the main mistake

One of the most important tips for hosting a romantic dinner at home is that by the time you finish cooking, the kitchen should appear as clean as possible. At the end of dinner, you should only remove the plates from the table and smoothly move to the sofa, and not clean the stove and pans.

Don't expect the girl to clean up the consequences of your culinary activities. If you prepare her a beautiful and tasty dish (speaking frankly, “beautiful” is more important here), leaving the kitchen in its original form, then she will be ready to do anything for you.

Be confident in your abilities

In conclusion, we note that there is no need to bombard the girl with questions like “Well, how did I cook? Was it delicious? Even if it turned out average, she will still say that it was good. However, after asking about this five times, you will definitely feel the falseness in her answers - it will probably upset you.

If you yourself understand that the dish turned out to be mediocre, there is absolutely no need to emphasize this with your depressed appearance. The girl, in fact, doesn’t care what you cook - the main thing for her will be that you really tried to make the dinner pleasant and romantic.

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The main thing in a romantic dinner is the right choice of atmosphere and wine. The dish, in fact, should only be beautiful and simple. Don’t try to cook some complicated and unfamiliar recipe, just fry the meat that you know how to fry, add a little side dish and herbs for decoration.

The first meeting, the first date, the first romantic evening together... We sacredly keep these events in our memory all our lives. And even after many years, they still evoke awe and a happy smile. But, as they say, you have been married for a long time and firmly, and romantic dinners have long flown into quiet family dinners, there is no that enthusiasm and happy sparkle in your eyes. It's sad, isn't it? But feelings are alive, so why not refresh them by briefly plunging into the past and, as it were, simultaneously looking into such a promising future. And for this you don’t need to “reinvent the wheel” at all, but simply arrange a romantic dinner for two, which will become another tender declaration of love.

This is a responsible matter, so it is important to think through everything in advance and, most importantly, to plan the menu, purchase the necessary products and try to put into the prepared dishes for a romantic evening everything that your heart feels: love, tenderness, a bit of passion and, of course, a little mystery and unpredictability. There is no rush or incredible accumulation of dishes, everything is simple, tasteful and at the same time not without a touch of charm and sophistication. There should be nothing superfluous on the table set for a romantic dinner, nothing should distract attention from each other, because this is what everything was designed for: two cutlery, candles, champagne, flowers and the dishes you have prepared: one or two appetizers, salad, main course and dessert.

Food should not be heavy; it is not intended to fill the stomach, but to stun with its appetizing appearance, exquisite taste, tease with its smell and give pleasure. By the way, contrary to popular belief that champagne is a must on the table, it is worth noting that it can be replaced with your favorite wine or a light, intriguing cocktail - it all depends on the taste preferences of the person for whom this wonderful surprise is being prepared. Let there be quiet, unobtrusive music (your favorite song or melody), which does not interfere with the conversation, but rather encourages it. Don't skimp on creativity and imagination. The appearance of your dishes must certainly be beautiful, and therefore pay special attention to their decoration: more fresh herbs and bright, life-affirming flowers, this will create that very romantic mood that will be with you throughout the dinner.

A romantic dinner for two should surprise and make your partner, with whom you have spent many years, look at you in a new way. And for those who will have this romantic dinner for the first time, you will not only be able to amaze with your culinary skills, but also show how interesting, multi-faceted you are and have that very “zest” that every man strives to see in his chosen one. There is no template in preparing dishes for a romantic dinner, because this is a small story about the love of two hearts, and, as we know, no two identical stories exist. But... we can always suggest a few recipes that we hope will be very useful to you.

Tartines with cheese and tomatoes “Originalki”

Ingredients:
500 g puff pastry,
4 tomatoes
1 egg,
100 g cheese,
2 sprigs of basil,
2 sprigs of thyme,
olives, dill, parsley.

Preparation:
Defrost the dough, roll it out into a layer 4-5 mm thick and cut into small squares (about 6-7 cm). Place the dough squares on a greased baking sheet. Cut the tomatoes into slices and place one slice on the tartines. Place sliced ​​olives, slices of cheese, thyme and basil leaves on top of the tomatoes. Place the tray with the tartines in an oven preheated to 180°C and bake for 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh dill or parsley.

Curd balls with avocado “Little Secret”

Ingredients:
300 g cottage cheese,
1 avocado,
30 g almonds,
1 clove of garlic,
1 tbsp. sour cream,
3 sprigs of basil,
a bunch of dill, salt, spices.

Preparation:
Grind cottage cheese, avocado, garlic and sour cream in a blender until smooth. Chop the dill, add to the curd mass, salt, pepper, season with spices to taste and mix thoroughly. Form small balls from the resulting mass, place each on a basil leaf and garnish with almonds.

Cheese rolls with sprats “Wonderful treat”

Ingredients:
1 can of sprat,
200 g hard cheese,
1 tomato
1 sweet pepper,
lettuce leaves, parsley.

Preparation:
Cut the cheese into thin slices in the shape of triangles, cut the pepper into strips, and cut the tomatoes into slices. Remove the sprats from the jar and blot off the oil. Place 1 fish, 1 thin strip of bell pepper, 1 slice of tomato and a sprig of parsley on the wide part of the cheese triangle. Roll the cheese into a roll, secure with a skewer and serve, placing it on lettuce leaves.

Snack puffs with mushrooms “Naslazhdeniye”

Ingredients:
250 g puff pastry dough,
100 g canned mushrooms,
100 g cream cheese,
1 onion,
a little ground black pepper.

Preparation:
Blend mushrooms, cheese, onions and peppers in a blender until smooth. Roll out the dough and cut into rectangular layers. Spread the mushroom mixture evenly over the surface of the dough layers and roll them into rolls. Cut each roll into small pieces and place on a baking sheet. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 200°C.

Appetizer “Banana boats”

Ingredients:
300 g chicken fillet,
4 bananas,
1 tomato
1 cucumber
5 quail eggs,
50 g pitted olives,
1 stalk of celery,
2 tsp lemon juice,
1 tbsp. mayonnaise,
1 tbsp. vegetable oil,
herbs, salt, spices - to taste.

Preparation:
Cut the chicken fillet into small cubes and fry it in vegetable oil. Boil quail eggs and cut into quarters. Finely chop the cucumber, tomato and celery, cut the olives in half. Cut the top of the banana peel into a thin strip without cutting all the way through. Wrap the cut part up and pin it to the banana with a toothpick. Remove the banana pulp from the peel with a teaspoon, chop and sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix chicken, eggs, vegetables and banana pulp, season the mixture with spices and mayonnaise, stuff banana boats with the resulting filling and garnish with herbs and olive halves to your liking.

Salad with smoked meat and cinnamon “Delight”

Ingredients:
100 g smoked meat,
2 cucumbers,
1 carrot,
1 bunch of radishes,
100 g salad mixture,
½ tsp. powdered sugar,
½ tsp. cinnamon.
1 tbsp. vegetable oil,
salt, spices.

Preparation:
Cut the smoked meat into thin strips, radish, carrots, cucumber into slices. Place the salad mixture on the bottom of the salad bowl, add meat and vegetables and stir. Combine cinnamon with powdered sugar, butter, salt, spices and season the salad with this mixture.

Vegetable salad with chicken “Light flirting”

Ingredients:
200 g chicken fillet,
100 pitted olives,
100 g cheese.
2 tomatoes
1 onion,
1 carrot,
1 bunch of parsley,
4 tbsp. vegetable oil,
salt, spices.

Preparation:
Cut the chicken fillet into cubes and fry 2 tbsp until cooked. vegetable oil. Cut the olives in half, chop the parsley coarsely. Cut the onion and cheese into cubes, tomatoes into slices, grate the carrots. Mix, salt, add spices to taste. Season the salad with the remaining vegetable oil and garnish with fresh herbs.

Salad with bacon and dates “Temptation”

Ingredients:
100 g raw smoked bacon,
100 g pitted dates,
100 g goat cheese,
50 g of any chopped nuts,
50 g salad,
4 tsp honey,
1.5 tbsp. wine vinegar,
2 tbsp. olive oil,
spices.

Preparation:
Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until golden brown and place on a plate. Mix butter and honey, pour into the pan where the bacon was fried, and heat through. Cut the dates into thin rings and chop the onion. Fry onions and dates in oil with honey, add vinegar and spices to the resulting honey sauce. Coarsely chop the salad and goat cheese into small pieces. Combine all the ingredients together and season the salad with honey sauce.

Salad with smoked salmon “Bright mood”

Ingredients:
200 g smoked salmon bellies,
5 cherry tomatoes,
1 carrot,
3 stalks of celery,
100 g leeks,
2 tbsp. vegetable oil,
2 tbsp. lemon juice.
1 bunch of parsley,
salt, spices.

Preparation:
Peel the salmon bellies and cut into cubes, cut the tomatoes in half. Grate the carrots, chop the onion, parsley and celery. Mix vegetable oil with lemon juice, add salt and spices. Mix all the ingredients and pour the dressing over the finished salad.

Meat salad with mustard dressing “Acuity of the senses”

Ingredients:
300 g boiled beef,
5 cherry tomatoes,
2 boiled eggs,
2 cloves of garlic,
1 bunch of lettuce,
1 tsp mustard,
1 tsp balsamic vinegar,
2 tbsp. olive oil,
salt, spices.

Preparation:
Cut the meat into strips, eggs into cubes, cherry tomatoes into quarters, cut the lettuce leaves coarsely or simply tear them with your hands. For the dressing, mix oil, vinegar, chopped garlic and mustard. Add salt, season with spices and mix thoroughly. Top with dressing.

Pork ribs with raspberry sauce “Not life, but raspberries!”

Ingredients:
500 g pork ribs,
200 g frozen raspberries,
50 g butter,
2 tbsp. honey,
2 tbsp. soy sauce,
1 tbsp. flour,
1 tbsp. Sahara,
1 tbsp. starch,
1 tbsp. mustard seeds.

Preparation:
Mix honey with mustard and soy sauce. Marinate the ribs and refrigerate for 2 hours. Then place the ribs in a baking dish, pour over the marinade, cover tightly with foil and bake for 1 hour at 180°C. Then remove the foil and bake for another 30 minutes. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add raspberries and sugar, pour in 3 tbsp. water and put it out. Then add flour and starch, mix thoroughly, pour in another half a glass of water and cook until thickened. Serve the finished ribs with raspberry sauce.

Fish in tangerine marinade “Charming”

Ingredients:
4 fish fillets,
4 tangerines,
½ tsp. cinnamon,
butter, fresh herbs, lettuce, salt, pepper - to taste.

Preparation:
Squeeze the juice from two tangerines, add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the resulting marinade over the fish fillets and leave for 10-15 minutes. Melt butter in a frying pan, fry fish fillets in it and place on plates. Divide the remaining tangerines into slices, lightly fry them in the same frying pan, and place on plates with the fish fillet. Add lettuce leaves and fresh herbs to taste. Boil the juice remaining in the pan, add salt to taste and pour the resulting sauce over the fish.

“Pockets” of pork with ginger “Surprise”

Ingredients:
4 pieces of pork loin on the bone,
2 sweet peppers,
1 onion,
75 g fresh ginger root.
For the marinade:
1 onion,
100 ml vegetable oil,
150 ml dry white wine,
1 tsp adzhiki.

Preparation:
Chop the ginger and onion. Cut the pepper into small cubes. Wash the pork and pat dry with paper towels. Cut the side of the flesh to create a pocket. Place the vegetable filling inside and press the edges together. For the marinade, cut the onion into half rings, mix it with vegetable oil, wine and adjika. Pour the marinade over the meat and leave for several hours. Then fry the pork “pockets” for 4-5 minutes on each side, pouring over the marinade.

Chicken with apples and cinnamon “Happy Moments”

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts,
2 apples,
1 tsp paprika,
1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil,
½ tsp. cinnamon.

Preparation:
Cut the chicken fillet into small pieces and fry over medium heat. Salt and season with paprika. Then add the apples cut into slices and fry a little more until the chicken is golden brown. A couple of minutes before cooking, add cinnamon to the dish, stir and keep covered. Serve the finished dish with fresh herbs.

Coffee dessert with liqueur

Ingredients:
25 g ground coffee,
150 ml liqueur,
400 ml cream,
50 g instant gelatin,
3 tbsp. Sahara.

Preparation:
Brew coffee in two glasses of water. Remove from heat, add sugar and dissolve gelatin in it. Pour into the mold and let set in the cold. Cut the finished jelly into cubes and place in bowls. Whip the cream and pour in the liqueur. Pour the creamy liqueur mixture over the jelly cubes and decorate the dessert as you wish.

Tiramisu with peaches

Ingredients:
several canned peaches
12 pieces of biscuits,
2 eggs,
2 tbsp. powdered sugar,
150 g mascarpone cheese,
1 tsp vanilla sugar,
white and dark chocolate - for decoration.

Preparation:
Separate the yolks from the whites. Mix the yolks with granulated sugar and vanilla sugar and beat until white foam. Then add the mascarpone to this mixture and whisk (the mixture should be smooth). Separately, beat the whites into a strong foam. Gradually add the whites and mix. Dip the cookies in peach syrup and place in the pan. Top with sliced ​​peaches and cream. Grate white and dark chocolate on a coarse grater and sprinkle over the dessert. Cool in the refrigerator.

That's all. We can only wish that your collection of happy moments will be replenished with one more, and let it be your romantic dinner for two.

Larisa Shuftaykina

All couples need romance, regardless of whether the woman and the man have recently been together or have been married for many years. In order to bring the spirit of romanticism into a relationship, it is necessary to make some efforts, but you should not be afraid of this, because your efforts will soon pay off with a new surge of feelings. The best way to express your emotions, affection, and reverent attitude is to organize an unforgettable evening.

But to make the evening magical and live up to your expectations, you need to know exactly how to make a romantic dinner at home perfect. After all, it is precisely these moments, imbued with love and tenderness, given from the bottom of the heart to a loved one, that are the basis of happiness. And it doesn’t matter whether they fill the hearth of an existing family with sparks or become a guarantee of the emergence of a new one.

In order for the memories of the evening spent together to be pleasant and warm the soul for many years, you need to carefully prepare for the event and think about not only the time and place of the romantic dinner, but also its menu, the nuances of creating the appropriate mood, decor, music and much more.

For those who have known their partner for several years, it will be quite easy to organize everything, since each other’s tastes and preferences have already been studied. Those who are just starting their journey through life together will have to completely rely on their own feelings and intuition.

Place and time of a romantic dinner

The choice of a place for an intimate retreat depends on how exactly you want to spend the evening - secluded, solemn or, perhaps, unbridledly fun. For spouses with many years of experience, an excellent option would be a cozy cafe, where they may have once met for the first time, or a posh restaurant that they have long wanted to visit, but due to constant household chores and eternal busyness, they did not find the time.

I keep replenishing my piggy bank simple recipes for a romantic dinner. For a spontaneous holiday “just for two” you need to have a couple of win-win options, agree!

It will take 20 minutes for the main course and vegetable salad! For dessert - another 5 minutes.

An extremely simple set of products!

• 2 chicken breasts (buy immediately without skin and bones, we are in a hurry :-))
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• apple cider vinegar (5 tablespoons)
• liquid honey (3-4 tablespoons)
• ground black pepper
• walnuts (half a glass) - optional

For garnish, if desired:

• 2 bags instant brown rice

Let's begin!

Chicken breasts in honey sauce

Rub the chicken breasts with vegetable oil, salt and pepper, fry on both sides. They should brown, this is about 10 minutes on each side, because young chicken cooks very quickly.

Attention! It's time for a light salad, recipe below!

We take out the breasts, but we still need the meat juice that remains in the pan! Pour apple cider vinegar into it and heat it slightly. Now add liquid honey and half a glass of water.

You need to simmer the sauce for 5-6 minutes over low heat until it thickens slightly. If you like, add walnuts fried in a dry frying pan. I don't add any, and without them the sauce is worthy of attention!

Boil the rice according to the instructions on the box, place the breasts and side dish on two plates, pour over the honey sauce.

A delicious and quick romantic dinner for two, we’ll bookmark it just in case...

Salad “Romantic”…

Let me remind you that we are in a hurry, so we quickly pour the ready-to-eat mixture of lettuce leaves into a bowl (no need to wash - it’s a salvation for our situation).

Now we cut 8 cherry tomatoes in half, cut half a red onion (Yalta sweet onion) into half rings, mash it in your hand and throw it into the salad bowl. 10 pitted green olives and 10 black olives.

Now add 100-150 g of Fetax or Feta cheese. However, any cream cheese that can be cut into cubes.

Lightly season with ground black pepper and sprinkle with vinegar (preferably balsamic) - a teaspoon is enough. Add salt to taste and season with olive oil.

All this can be easily done while the breasts are roasting!

Dessert "Strawberry". What other one :-)?

You can buy cakes and pastries in the store, but, friends... Nothing can replace strawberries and cream on such an evening!

Strawberries are now available all year round, so for a romantic dinner for two we won’t be greedy!

How to whip cream correctly?

I pay special attention to this moment, since it was a failure... The evening, of course, was a success, but it would be better if the cream was cream, and not butter, from which yellow liquid flowed out...

So it is! The cream should be heavy (minimum 30%) and VERY cold. Not frozen, just very cold. It won't work with a blender! Only a good, simple mixer will help, since you need to start at low speed.

Once, when I was preparing to photograph recipes for my application (https://appsto.re/ru/DLYYC.i), at the request of the photographer, three days before I went to “beautify”. With the haircut everything worked out right away, but with the manicure I had to tinker with it! How many new things I learned about this procedure then! The biggest discovery for me was how long it took me. Neither more nor less - a whole 4 hours! And then I started thinking about how much time our beloved girls spend looking beautiful and how they manage to work, raise children, and us in between! Now I admire their ability to manage time, and I only spent time on a couple of procedures.

But we, men, can do something too! Well, for example, we can prepare dinner in just half an hour! And at the same time, everything will be tasty, appetizing and not even very high in calories!

Here, for example, is one of the options. We will make an Italian Bellini cocktail from dry sparkling wine and peach puree according to the recipe of my friend and chef Ezekiel Barbuto, prepare a hot appetizer of bell peppers, which will whet the appetite a little, and for the main course we will serve chicken liver with peaches and a green mixed salad , which usually drives women's taste buds crazy.

It is advisable to do all three recipes in parallel, but if you are not confident in your abilities, cook as convenient for you. And by the way, let this happen before her eyes. It will turn out: you will receive applause, somewhere something will not work out as planned - there will be something to laugh at!

So, men (and maybe ladies), let's get started! And let's start with a cocktail, so that your chosen one's appetite will work up a little, she will relax a little and stop rushing to the stove, because today the place there is already occupied!

Bellini cocktail

For a cocktail (about 4 glasses) you will need:

• a bottle of Prosecco or other dry sparkling wine,
• a jar of canned peaches with syrup,
• strawberries for decoration (optional).

So, open the peaches, drain the syrup, and put a few halves in a blender cup.

Blend the peaches with a blender, adding syrup with a spoon until you get a thick puree.

Place 3-4 teaspoons of puree in a wine glass and carefully spoon the prosecco into the glass.

If you want to garnish your cocktail, cut a strawberry in half and garnish the glass!

Hand the cocktail to your loved one, take a couple of sips yourself and slowly move on to the pepper appetizer. The recipe is very simple and incredibly tasty. It is magical both hot and cold. While you are cooking, you can tell us that for this recipe it is best to take peppers grown in our strip. Their taste is more pronounced, their skin is thinner and, it seems to me, more tender.

Pepper appetizer.

To prepare you will need:

• 4 bell peppers
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Wash the peppers and once the oven is hot, place them in and bake until the skins on the peppers begin to “bubble.” It will take you 10-15 minutes.

Take it out, let it cool slightly and remove the skin with a knife. Do this carefully so that the pepper remains intact as much as possible, otherwise all the juice that has formed inside it will leak out, and this is the most delicious thing.

Place the pepper on a plate and peel the garlic. Place it on a board, crush it with a knife and cut it smaller.

Sprinkle garlic pepper on top, add a little salt and pour olive oil.

Serve it with a second glass of Bellini.

And take a break from the stove yourself and finish off all the pepper. which was prepared after satisfying the first hunger. But don’t get carried away with cocktails, the last dish for today awaits you.

Chicken liver with peaches and arugula.

You need the following ingredients:

• 2 peaches or nectarines (but peach is better)
• 350-400 grams of chicken liver,
• a jar of apricot or peach jam or jam (we will need 2-3 tablespoons from it),
• a package of ready-made salad mix according to your taste (for example, I like arugula and corn)
• salt to taste,
• balsamic vinegar to taste,
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil.

Clean the liver from the films and cut into equal, but fairly large pieces. The liver should look like the photo below.

Heat two frying pans, pour oil into one of them, and leave the other dry. In the one with oil, throw the liver and fry it for 5-7 minutes. It should become slightly elastic when you press it with your finger. Try cutting one piece. Inside, she should be “on the edge.” That is, there should be no blood, but clear “juice” should be released.

While the liver is cooking, cut the peaches into slices. Each peach can be cut into 6-8 pieces. Place the peaches in a dry frying pan and fry a little.

Meanwhile, remove the lettuce from the bag, wash it and leave it in a sieve or colander to drain excess water. Then take the jam and add 2-3 tablespoons to the liver. Add a little salt.

Stir the liver and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. While it is stewing, take out the salad and place it in a deep plate, pour a little oil and stir.

Place the salad in the center of the plate.

Remove the liver from the stove. Arrange it with the peaches.

Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar over the top.

Voila! Pour the girl a new portion of champagne, take off your apron, light the candles and enjoy the conversation. Have a good evening!

P.S. Men, I have advice for you, or even a request! I understand that you are always focused on results, that’s how we are designed, but preparing dinner, especially for your girlfriend, is also a process. And sometimes it is much more interesting than the result itself! Enjoy him, and let her enjoy you this evening too!