Meal idea for a new cook?

[Tribalbob]

Hey everyone, I searched around the internet and came upon this forum, so I thought I'd sign up and see if you guys can help out.

I'm a pretty experienced cook, been doing it for the last 12 years or so - I've made a wide range of things and I know my way around a kitchen alright. However, I'm dating a girl who cannot cook, but has expressed interest in learning (apparently she claims she's so bad, she can burn grilled cheese).

I decided that a fun idea might be to have her over one night and we can make something together. However, I'm trying to find a recipe that would work well, so I'm hoping someone here might have something in mind that meets this criteria:

- Should be relatively simple (Can be a -little- complex since I'll be there, but I'd like to start her off with something basic)
- Should be something that might be fun for two people to make together
- Needs to be meat-less (she's a pescatarian - so seafood like fish is ok, but just no chicken, beef or pork)
- Also can't have rice - she's not a big rice person.

EDIT: Regarding no meat, things like beef bouillon is ok - she eats gravy, for example - just not the actual meat itself.

If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it!

 

[CrazyCatLady]

How about just simple grilled catfish or flounder, served with steamed veggies and a garden salad?

Would that work? If you steam mixed veggies and melt some cheese and put the melted cheese over the veggies, that might work ok.

Or instead of the veggies, boil some corn on the cob. We love that too. You can always dress up the basic lettuce salad with radishes, grape tomatoes, shredded sharp cheddar cheese, diced ham, cut up bell pepper, a bit of red onion, and some real bacon pieces with the dressing of your choice.

Just my ideas, but wait....the folks here will have much better ideas for you. Let's see what they say.

 

[Katie H]

Even though she's not into rice, how about doing a stir-fry sort of dish and serve it over something else. This type of meal could teach her some knife skills during the prep for the veggies and protein/meat and also illustrate how to work with heat when the cooking part is done. It would be relatively quick and tasty.

 

[Aunt Bea]

This is a great recipe, add a salad, crusty loaf of bread and a glass of wine.

I serve it with linguine. I have made it with shrimp. I think it would be good with a dozen littleneck clams or a variety of seafood. If you don't have snow peas use broccoli florets or asparagus tips. It is more of a process than an actual recipe so use whatever is available fresh and sounds good to you at the time.

Recipes from 4EveryKitchen: Pasta with Scallops & Snow Peas Poached in White Wine

 

[GLC]

Since she wants to learn, I'll also suggest pasta. It can offer some useful lessons for new cooks. Like what al dente means and when to stop there and when to finish cooking the pasta. And with seafood like shrimp, it offers experience in not overcooking. And the prep for other ingredients lets you smash the covering from garlic. You can even, if you want more of a project, make the pasta from scratch, since it's easy and pretty fault tolerant.

And a salad gives you a chance to make vinaigrette, introducing finely diced shallots and the concept of umami via anchovy paste, as well as the lesson of thoroughly dry greens to accept the dressing.

Of course, you can also make a dressing based upon mayonnaise, making your own mayo, since it's pretty gee-whiz for a non-cooker to see it magically emulsify to just like or better than store-bought.

 

[Addie]

You are going to get a lot more ideas. But I just want to welcome you to DC. This is a great place to have fun in the kitchen. It is an international forum, so you will find foods from every land. The folks here have a great sense of humor. Just take a look at "Today's Funny." So sit back and start reading all the great responses you get with great ideas.

For me, I am not going to give you ideas of what dishes to make, but advice on how to teach her. Make sure you teach her the proper names of the activities you are doing. What is the difference between dicing and cutting into small pieces. The difference between a measuring cup for dry ingredients and wet ones. The difference between a paring knife and a chef's knife.

But the main thing to teach her is the "why." Why you use a paring knife to peel an apple as to a ten inch chef's knife.

But the most important thing of all, is to have fun together in the kitchen. If you or she makes a mistake, so what. It is just the two of you and who knows. You both might just make the dish taste better. And you will have something to laugh about over dinner. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Andy M.]

Fettuccine Alfredo. Pasta and three ingredients and you have a meal to die for. Add some garlic bread, a Caesar salad and a bottle of wine and you are a hero.

 

[Mad Cook]

Hey everyone, I searched around the internet and came upon this forum, so I thought I'd sign up and see if you guys can help out.

I'm a pretty experienced cook, been doing it for the last 12 years or so - I've made a wide range of things and I know my way around a kitchen alright. However, I'm dating a girl who cannot cook, but has expressed interest in learning (apparently she claims she's so bad, she can burn grilled cheese).

I decided that a fun idea might be to have her over one night and we can make something together. However, I'm trying to find a recipe that would work well, so I'm hoping someone here might have something in mind that meets this criteria:

- Should be relatively simple (Can be a -little- complex since I'll be there, but I'd like to start her off with something basic)
- Should be something that might be fun for two people to make together
- Needs to be meat-less (she's a pescatarian - so seafood like fish is ok, but just no chicken, beef or pork)
- Also can't have rice - she's not a big rice person.

EDIT: Regarding no meat, things like beef bouillon is ok - she eats gravy, for example - just not the actual meat itself.

If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it!

Welcome to DC.

Umm....have you suggested this "treat" to her? Regardless of what she said, you could be making a very serious mistake.

She claims to be able to burn grilled cheese - this isn't inability to cook as much as lack of concentration and lack of interest. Perhaps she's just not interesting in cooking and was just being polite.

This idea has a massive built-in hidden agenda here. An offer to teach me to drive, play tennis, shoot clay pigeons - fine - but if I was a non-cook and a boyfriend offered to teach me to cook I would find such an offer patronising in the extreme. I would consider it a major criticism of my suitability as his girlfriend and would be likely to give said (by then ex-) boyfriend a sharp left hook and the bum's rush!!!

Wait until she actually asks you to teach her without any prompting from you and then STILL be careful how you approach the task

Perhaps, when you know her better, you could negotiate a compromise where when it's your turn to supply the food you cook - when it's her turn she buys dinner in a restaurant.

 

[Kayelle]

Fettuccine Alfredo. Pasta and three ingredients and you have a meal to die for. Add some garlic bread, a Caesar salad and a bottle of wine and you are a hero.

I'm in Andy's camp with a simple something pasta for the first time.

If you want to teach something a little more involved, you could do something like baked cheese stuffed pasta shells with a made from scratch home made marinara sauce.

Having said that, Mad Cook may have a point that she's really not interested in cooking. If that's the case, she could sit and watch. With a good bottle of wine and conversation it could still be a memorable date.

Good luck, and welcome to Discuss Cooking.

 

[CWS4322]

Having her help chop, do salad, etc. might be a way to ease her into cooking...helping make the meal but not necessarily being taught how to cook. I suspect she may lack an interest...

 

[TATTRAT]

Make it a lunch date and do a quiche. It's simple, but well executed, a very nice meal. Crab, baby spinach, roasted peppers, fontina, and a simple cream redux as a sauce. Also, gives you time to hang out while it cooks.

 

[Tribalbob]

First off, thanks for the suggestions, all.

Welcome to DC.

Umm....have you suggested this "treat" to her? Regardless of what she said, you could be making a very serious mistake.

She claims to be able to burn grilled cheese - this isn't inability to cook as much as lack of concentration and lack of interest. Perhaps she's just not interesting in cooking and was just being polite.

This idea has a massive built-in hidden agenda here. An offer to teach me to drive, play tennis, shoot clay pigeons - fine - but if I was a non-cook and a boyfriend offered to teach me to cook I would find such an offer patronising in the extreme. I would consider it a major criticism of my suitability as his girlfriend and would be likely to give said (by then ex-) boyfriend a sharp left hook and the bum's rush!!!

Wait until she actually asks you to teach her without any prompting from you and then STILL be careful how you approach the task

Perhaps, when you know her better, you could negotiate a compromise where when it's your turn to supply the food you cook - when it's her turn she buys dinner in a restaurant.

I should probably clarify - we've actually been friends for about 3 years prior to this. She has actually asked me if I would show her a thing or two, which is why I wanted to find something easy for her to try out.

To be honest, if it's not her thing, that's fine - I don't really hold any expectations. Some people enjoy cooking and some do not; I was worried at first that she was trying to push for it because of some misguided notion that she had to be able to cook, but we've talked about it at length and she seems genuinely interested.

 

[CraigC]

Welcome to DC.

Umm....have you suggested this "treat" to her? Regardless of what she said, you could be making a very serious mistake.

She claims to be able to burn grilled cheese - this isn't inability to cook as much as lack of concentration and lack of interest. Perhaps she's just not interesting in cooking and was just being polite.

This idea has a massive built-in hidden agenda here. An offer to teach me to drive, play tennis, shoot clay pigeons - fine - but if I was a non-cook and a boyfriend offered to teach me to cook I would find such an offer patronising in the extreme. I would consider it a major criticism of my suitability as his girlfriend and would be likely to give said (by then ex-) boyfriend a sharp left hook and the bum's rush!!!

Wait until she actually asks you to teach her without any prompting from you and then STILL be careful how you approach the task

Perhaps, when you know her better, you could negotiate a compromise where when it's your turn to supply the food you cook - when it's her turn she buys dinner in a restaurant.

You seriously need help with reading comprehension and your insecurity issue. The OP stated that she showed an interest in learning. That by no means can be considered patronizing on his part. On the contrary, it is a clear "green light" for his offer.

 

[Mad Cook]

First off, thanks for the suggestions, all.



I should probably clarify - we've actually been friends for about 3 years prior to this. She has actually asked me if I would show her a thing or two, which is why I wanted to find something easy for her to try out.

To be honest, if it's not her thing, that's fine - I don't really hold any expectations. Some people enjoy cooking and some do not; I was worried at first that she was trying to push for it because of some misguided notion that she had to be able to cook, but we've talked about it at length and she seems genuinely interested.

Aha, That's different then. I thought she was a new girlfriend and I didn't realise she'd actually asked for help. Sorry.

 

[GLC]

I look on these things where someone is clueless about cooking, wants to be able to something, but isn't interested in becoming a virtuoso cook as a need for them to just know how do do some basic things, for themselves, if for no one else. I mean so that they can make themselves a decent meal that's not all processed, engineered, frozen, packaged stuff. Real food, in other words.

I guess everyone could have their own ideas of what was essential, but I would include selecting and pan cooking a steak without overcooking it, making a pot of fluffy rice, properly cooking pasta, making smooth and non-gluey mashed potatoes, making a basic vinaigrette, and making one, simple to prepare, but reasonably impressive side dish to be their regular contribution to a family holiday meal or an office potluck. Nothing strenuous there. Just a few, easy to remember things to know.

 

[Mad Cook]

You seriously need help with reading comprehension and your insecurity issue. The OP stated that she showed an interest in learning. That by no means can be considered patronizing on his part. On the contrary, it is a clear "green light" for his offer.

My point was that she may have "showed an interest" as a matter of good manners rather than a serious desire to be taken on one side and instructed. In any case if you'd read the resulting post from the OP you'd have seen that we'd sorted that one out.

Haven't you noticed by now that insecurity is not one of my problems

 

[salt and pepper]

Simple & easy baked lobster tails, Season with paprika, parsley, butter, and maby a touch of white wine. Bake @ 350 for 10-12 minutes. Serve with a baked potato,asparagrus, Sexy too! you will both love it. Make it fun, tasty and simple.

 

[salt and pepper]

Oh yeah, by the way. All he asked for is simple recipes. So get your s@*t together! I thought we were here to help?

 

[Addie]

I hate to throw cold salted water on every one, but unless you know for certain that a person does not have a seafood allergy, I would be very hesitant to suggest seafood.

If you don't believe me, ask PF. She discovered her seafood allergy quite by accident. So did I, but it almost cost me my life. It has been decades since I had my really serious reaction to seafood. But over the years, by just touching my lips to a small piece, I have been able to build up a tolerance. In the process I discovered it was the iodine in the seafood that I am allergic to.

I never recommend fish or anything from the sea to anyone. I am the first to say food from the sea is the very best. But I wouldn't want to be the one sitting there at the table watching another person's face swell up to where there eyes became invisible.

Having recently had a lobster feast, I had my fill and since there were four tail, I made sure that the first mouthful tasted right to me. One hint of iodine, and I would have tossed the whole of the lobster salad in the garbage.

I was born with a problem thyroid. It was never discovered until the seafood allergy showed up. Now with medication, it is under control. But I am still leary of seafood.

BTW, those lobster tails look so delicious. Great idea for a romantic evening!

 

[TATTRAT]

I hate to throw cold salted water on every one, but unless you know for certain that a person does not have a seafood allergy, I would be very hesitant to suggest seafood.

If you don't believe me, ask PF. She discovered her seafood allergy quite by accident. So did I, but it almost cost me my life. It has been decades since I had my really serious reaction to seafood. But over the years, by just touching my lips to a small piece, I have been able to build up a tolerance. In the process I discovered it was the iodine in the seafood that I am allergic to.

I never recommend fish or anything from the sea to anyone. I am the first to say food from the sea is the very best. But I wouldn't want to be the one sitting there at the table watching another person's face swell up to where there eyes became invisible.

Having recently had a lobster feast, I had my fill and since there were four tail, I made sure that the first mouthful tasted right to me. One hint of iodine, and I would have tossed the whole of the lobster salad in the garbage.

I was born with a problem thyroid. It was never discovered until the seafood allergy showed up. Now with medication, it is under control. But I am still leary of seafood.

BTW, those lobster tails look so delicious. Great idea for a romantic evening!

If they've been friends for 3 years, you think that a seafood allergen would have been covered. . .also covered when OP stated the restrictions for the girlfriend.