Few things are more romantic than cooking a nice meal for your partner. But when doing so it’s best to strike a balance of simplicity and taste: you want it to taste good and to impress your partner, but you don’t want to go so overboard that you’re stressed out or make something that could easily go wrong. So where to start? Here are some deceptively simple, delicious dishes to get your ideas flowing.
Cacio E Pepe
Cacio e pepe or a similarly simple pasta dish is a great way to impress your date without worrying too much about method. If you’ve got the funds, splurging for really good parmesan, fresh ingredients, and fresh pasta if you can get it will make this meal absolutely delicious without much stress or even much cleanup. Buy a take-and-bake bread to go alongside it and you have a completely fresh meal ready to go.
Hot Pot
Hot pot is a nice option for a date night because it’s a communal experience. You’ll make up the soup and “cook” the ingredients together, so you can each make exactly the soup you like and there won’t be any conflict on flavor. Also, because the prep involves a lot of individual ingredients that don’t rely on each other, you don’t need to worry about the whole thing coming together. If one of your ingredients doesn’t prep right, no worries, there’s still a bunch more that won’t be affected.
A Family Recipe
If you’d like to go a more emotional angle, why not cook your date a dish you grew up with? If you’re able to ask your family for the recipe and method, then you’ll have someone there to walk you through it so you won’t be trying to figure the whole thing out alone. This is a great way to bring you and your partner closer together and help them learn a little about you.
