Last night, I made a gourmet meal for my date. I prepared apricot glazed salmon, a side dish of green beans, and a dessert of baked pears. We both thought the meal was absolutely wonderful. Here's the jist of it:
Apricot Glazed Salmon
1 salmon fillet -- the guy at the meat market recommended a half pound per person, but I found that to be a touch too much. I'd go with 6-7 ounces per person next time
olive oil
apricot jam/preserves/whathave
soy sauce
minced garlic
1. Warm olive oil in a pan that will fit the fillet, and cook the salmon skin-side down until it is approximately half done.
2. Flip the fillet on to a plate with the skin side up, and remove the skin (I used a butter knife to help me).
3. Put minced garlic and soy sauce into pan to be heating up and browning.
4. Butter the salmon (on the removed skin side) with a thick coating of the apricot jam.
5. Place the salmon, uncooked side down, into the soy sauce, olive oil, garlic mixture.
6. Continue cooking until done, and spoon the soy sauce onto the top to encourage the glaze to melt.
7. Split in half, plate, and enjoy.
Green Beans
fresh green beans
olive oil
more minced garlic
sesame seeds
lemon juice
1. Snap off ends of green beans and rinse. Place in top part of a steamer (I used a double boiler type steamer).
2. Start the water and steam the green beans until a fork can go thru them fairly easily (but not too soggy).
3. In the meantime, brown the minced garlic in the olive oil. Once almost browned, add sesame seeds and brown for one more minute. Turn off heat when done.
4. After green beans done, toss into a bowl and pour over a little lemon juice (to taste, really). Add the sesame seeds and garlic.
note: I think pepper would also taste good on these, but I didn't try it.
Baked Pears
pears
cinnamon
sugar
water
1. Skin the pears, then split in half and core. Place face down in a baking dish (I usually use pyrex, but the shallow metal dish I used last night worked just fine).
2. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
3. Add water.
4. Bake at 350 F until a fork can be inserted easily into the pears. I'm sure you can cook a little hotter for less time, but I've always found 350 works well for me.
note: I think this would be good with some sweet white wine, whiskey, or other sauce. But it's simple and easy with water, and it still tastes good. You just want something in there to prevent burning.
Result is a delicious meal for two with not too much expertise needed. If you want to be the gallant chef, make sure your half of the salmon has all the bones (that's what happened to me).