Recipes for a special meal for 2

Beef wellington - mmmmmm.

Nice carpet picnic? Champagne blow job? ?

I think it's hard to go wrong with scallops as a starter. Score them with a criss cross pattern on both sides, fry off some bacon lardons then move them to a warm plate, fry scallops in bacon fat then deglaze pan with splash of white wine and dash of lemon juice. Serve with some crusty bread. Mmmm.

Rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes? Nigella has a nice recipe for the lamb with cinnamon and chilli. Or a big fat steak and bearnaise sauce? Skate with brown butter?

I had duck wellington the other day, in a pub that specialises in wellingtoning everything. T'was delish. Have that followed by gentle, tender sex

L
xx

Had beef wellington recently and Mrs GB is off scallops, having vomited copiously the last time she ate them (shame as I love scallops). I promise this won't get like the Christmas present thread ?

Rack of lamb sounds good...

How inconsiderate of her ?

I may cook myself scallops as a pre starter ?

Oo - where is that? I'd wellington everything and anything, given half a chance. Mmm pastry.

That's the spirit ?

Blue cheese and pear salad

Prawn ceviche

Cooked some lobster risotto for Valentines last weekend and it was pretty good. We didn't do any starters as the risotto was really rich.

Sounds like you've found yourself a very open minded pub there. Members only, I take it?

I cooked this from Gordon Ramsay's Sunday lunch menu and it was really nice, was a little dubious about the chocolate but you could barely taste it.

http://www.foodtvblog.com/2007/05/23/gordon-ramsay-venison-with-red-wine-and-chocolate-sauce/

Shop bought hummus and pitta bread followed by Chicago Town Pizza and a salad.

Don't say I don't help, 'membah I told you!

How about a wild mushroom risotto to start, with the rack of lamb lamb to follow. You could leave off the dauphinoise if it would be too heavy with the risotto, roast some new potatoes instead.

Possibly not special enough but my favourite starter at the moment is red onion and thyme tart. Dead easy, cook sh!tloads of red onions with a little oil until some start to char. Add in a sprinkle of sugar and some thyme. Place in a loose bottomed cake tin and lay puff pastry over the top (think Tarte Tatin) bake in the oven for around 20 mins. I sometimes sprinkle with goats cheese if I have some, once it's served.

Main course I'm all about Rib of Beef at the moment, served with Peppercorn sauce.

Liking the sound of all this. Risotto is out as we had that yesterday and venison is also out as we tend to have it most weeks. Thanks for all the suggestions.

If MrA were to offer to cook for me tonight (which he won't as he can't) I'm mostly feeling like a big ribeye steak with either a bearnaise or Diane sauce. With big fat chips.

If he were to go mad and do a starter, I'd fancy chicken liver pate.

If he'd put in that much effort, then for dessert, he'd dip his nob in Nutella and look hopeful ?

It's not far from Windsor

L
xx

?

Blinis with caviar and sour cream, followed by steak and saute potatoes and PSB, followed by a couple of seriously good chocolates.

If loml was cooking me a special dinner, I'd want him to be there to chat to me, not farting around making celeriac cappuccino ?

ETA that the Baroness may of course not feel the same ?

? Exactly! I would rather have a big glass of wine on the go and coo over his efforts than be flapped out of the kitchen with a tea-towel, bellowing like a bull "I'm peeling the god damn celeriac!" ?

Beyond that I have no idea - SB has never cooked for me (well he has to have one fault I guess - in fact I don't even know if he *can* cook?!) Meat always goes down well with me, nice and bloody with a wine to match.

I keep recommending this fabulous soup http://www.slashfood.com/2007/08/29/roasted-tomato-soup-because-im-a-sadist/ which you could make in advance and serve with basil creme fraiche and really good bread. Honestly, it's so delish - it's a marcus wareing recipe, and if you did it with Frylight instead of shedloads of olive oil it would even be healthy (it makes very little difference to the taste).

No idea about mains though.

I would do moules mariniere at the minute I think.

I did a quail each for a similar dinner recently which was lovely, but a bit unseasonal now, probably.

Decent pate and bread for a starter with moules I think.

I had some lovely smoked mussels at the weekend - not sure how easy they are to come by. Would be a lovely starter though

Failing that, maybe smoked mackerel paté (am rather obsessed by this ATM) with home made bread, followed by either a gert lump of steak & home made wedges & salad, or perhaps if you fancy something lighter, how about doing a whole sea bass to share off the bone (fnar)? That way, if you have a lightish main, you could still have room for cheese. It's always worth getting a decent cheese board in, especially with a tasty chili jam

Enjoy your food, whatever you decide upon

Definitely liking the simpler ideas. I could always just go to Selfridges ?

Steak is also out I'm afraid. Fussy cow ?