Cooking Girlfriend Dinner

[Swedger]

Two year anniversary tomorrow/today(2am) and im so low on cash(poor uni student) i cant afford a present. Making an impressive meal sounds like the best(cheapest) option right now.
Not a great cook...can make mac n'cheese, spagbol, burgers, meatballs etc from scratch...hoping for something more eyecatching.

Have £10 to spend and was hoping to fit in a cheap bottle of wine aswell?


I should add it was her birthday last week and i spent near a few hundred quid on her present...im not normally this tight!

Any help would be great

[bbally]

Fettucini Alfredo with a good crusty bread and decent bottle of Chianti should work.

Simple and elegant.. Has to be done correctly..

Pasta, butter, a little piece of parmesan reggiano, and you should be all set.

Jeeze don't ruin it with freakin cream!

[Swedger]

Originally Posted by bbally

Fettucini Alfredo with a good crusty bread and decent bottle of Chianti should work.

Simple and elegant.. Has to be done correctly..

Pasta, butter, a little piece of parmesan reggiano, and you should be all set.

Jeeze don't ruin it with freakin cream!

Stuff i cant pronounce has to be good!

Any chance you could break down what it invloves...reading recipes never goes well.....
Could all the ingredients be bought from a supermarket?

[Jeff G.]

Cornish game hens and baked sweet potatoes.

Take the hens, split them at the breast so they open up and lay out.

Place them on a broiling pan, brush with butter and sprinkle with seasoned salt(or just salt and pepper if thats all you have). Place under a broiler, broil on each side until nice and brown.

For the sweet potatoes, pierce them and pop in the microwave. When they are done split, place butter and brown sugar on top.. delicious, interesting, not something you find in most restaurants.

[Swedger]

Originally Posted by Jeff G.

Cornish game hens and baked sweet potatoes.

Take the hens, split them at the breast so they open up and lay out.

Place them on a broiling pan, brush with butter and sprinkle with seasoned salt(or just salt and pepper if thats all you have). Place under a broiler, broil on each side until nice and brown.

For the sweet potatoes, pierce them and pop in the microwave. When they are done split, place butter and brown sugar on top.. delicious, interesting, not something you find in most restaurants.

That sounds amazing.

My budget probably rules out the hens, would just regular chicken breast suffice or would that be missing the point entirely?

How long is it likely to take in total?
Get back in from uni at about 3 with ingredients and it has to be on the table for 5, achievable?

Any more detail would be great, cooking times etc...
Bit of a novice... Should be interesting anyway!

Thanks

[bbally]

Fettucini al' Alfredo of Rome, as passed to Gene Leone by Alfredo himself. And received by me through the book Leone's Italian Cookbook, an old book based on Mama Leone's original resto in NY, NY.

You will need a decent quality Fettucini... I would suggest the stuff in the plastic packaging sold as fresh in the grocery store. You could also use Barillo dry pasta.
Pour Chianti for her, for you..... start dinner prep while talking with chick about her day.

You will need a bowl you can warm up. The bowl needs to be warm to do this..... so place the oven on warm and put a steel or ceramic bowl in it. A serving bowl, also put two regular bowls in the oven to warm.

Get one pound of plain white pasta. You can experiment with spinach later.

Grate your parmesan reggiano to shreds with that funny grater box everyone has, place it in a bowl. You will need about 1/2 cup.

Boil that pasta til cooked and drain it... hit it with a little olive oil, salt and toss.

In a saute pan, or fry pan... heat up 3/4 cup butter. **** good butter, toss in the pasta and begin to flip the pasta. Toss in all but two tablespoons of cheese. Toss and place in serving bowl, use tongs, serve her, serve you, hit it with fresh cracked black pepper.

[bbally]

I assume you are in the UK?

Try and find Chianti Classico, like San Felice or similar, you might track down a Cline Zinefendal if you can, another choice would be a Barbero.

[Constance]

She will love anything you fix. When I was in college, a guy fixed me spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and a beautiful salad, and I was quite impressed.
DH didn't have a stove or a kitchen table, so he cooked me a steak on the grill, fixed a lovely salad, and we sat on the living room floor and ate off the coffee table.

If she really likes you, any kind of decent wine will be OK.

[GhettoRacingKid]

there is a cook book that jsut came out that i would love to reference and say that she would love but it would be a sick in appropriate joke so im going to let those who know and get it get a chuckle and those who dont wonder for the rest of the day

[Phil]

Originally Posted by Constance

She will love anything you fix. When I was in college, a guy fixed me spaghetti with homemade meat sauce and a beautiful salad, and I was quite impressed.
DH didn't have a stove or a kitchen table, so he cooked me a steak on the grill, fixed a lovely salad, and we sat on the living room floor and ate off the coffee table.

If she really likes you, any kind of decent wine will be OK.

.....she'll love it.