Great Date Night Recipe Part 1 of 3
So it’s been a bit since my last update. I guess I could treat you to a series of recipes I was saving for later. This is the start of my date night series. I will post three recipes to make a complete date night for you and your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, or whomever else you would like to make a good meal for.
Really this meal should start with a small salad. I’m not going to post a recipe for the salad; I’ll leave it to you to be a little bit creative with this one. For the most part all you really need are some leafy organic greens with a subtle homemade vinaigrette of some sort. Later I’ll have a post for a simple, yet delicious homemade salad.
So this meal concentrates on simple flavor, nothing over the top. Since the salad is over with, I’m going to jump into the first part of the entrée, Peppered Parmesan Spaghetti. This recipe was originally found in a magazine, and then adjusted slightly to my tastes. The sauce for this is olive oil based, and very light, but full of flavor. Parmesan and pepper are both usually accents to a dish, but here they are the main feature.
A couple of the nice things about this dish are that not only is the dish fairly cheap to make organically, but also fast and easy. The dish can be reheated and served with multiple different foods. And it’s even good cold. Because this is for a date night you might want to go the extra little bit and get a good quality small chunk of Parmesan. It isn’t too expensive, and the flavor is just that much better.
To start out you need:
1 lb. Organic Pasta (about $2.89)
Olive Oil (about 12.00 for a bottle of organic that will last you a long time)
Pepper (negligible)
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (varies, but you still want organic)
Read the package on the pasta and check to see how much water you’ll need to bring this to a boil. Mine says 1 quart of water, but yours will probably differ. Add a pinch of salt to the water while waiting for it to boil. Take a fairly large frying pan out and turn the heat on to low. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan, and then a little bit more (it isn’t an exact science). When the water boils add the pasta, and cook until al dente (cooked through, but still firm). This is personal preference; I personally like my pasta slightly al dente for this dish. While the past is cooking, add the ¼ cup of Parmesan to the olive oil and the pepper is also personal preference. Try using about a tablespoon. Stir the olive oil mixture, while letting everything combine. Once the pasta is done, drain it and put the pasta into the olive oil mixture. Lightly toss the pasta to make sure of an even coverage.
Again the focus of this meal is on two foods that are normally accents to everything else, so you aren’t going to be able to cop out with Kroger Parmesan Cheese, well unless your cooking it for yourself. If this is for date night spend the extra dollar or two and get some good pepper and some good Parmesan.
Remember this is only half of the entrée. You will get the other half soon.