If you're planning on cooking a romantic dinner for your girlfriend, and she's really knowledgeable about food, then it can be quite intimidating. However, it doesn't have to be. Just because your girlfriend might be really into gourmet food, it doesn't mean you have to be prepared to make a Michelin star quality dish. But you do have to put some effort and thought into the process. So, with that said, here are some ides to help get you started.
Simple Recipes Are Better
Don't try and cook some super involved dish that requires a dozen ingredients and complicated cooking technique. You should look for simple dishes that can be made with a few ingredients and don't require fancy sauce work. Something like a roast chicken, a steak, or a classic Italian dish made with fresh pasta you can pick up at a specialty grocer. You can even pick up some ingredients already pre-made (such as microgreen salads) so that you don't have to go crazy cooking and prepping everything at once. Once you pick out your recipe, make sure to watch videos that depict the cooking process. This is a great way to supplement the plain recipe instructions that you would have found online.
Buy Artisan Bread
You're going to serve bread with the meal, and it should definitely be a nice artisan bread. You don't want the bland supermarket bread that has a poor texture and no flavor. Instead, you are going to want to choose a well baked artisan bread. These breads have a rich flavor, as well as a beautiful look. You could get a really rustic Italian style round bread, or an artisan sour dough. The important thing is that you choose a freshly baked bread that has been made by a master baker, not just some bread that rolled out of a production line oven. An artisan bread will convey that you put some thought into the meal and didn't simply go out and buy the first loaf of bred that you saw for sale.
Get The Right Wine
Lastly, it's important to get the right wine. First off, make sure you pair the wine with the food. The easiest way to do this is to check which type of wine (red or white) goes with your meal. Then, you can move forward and make some other choices such as pairing the country to the cuisine of the meal (such as an Italian wine with a pasta dish). You can also look at the wine's rating when you are at the store. Use your phone to pull up the different wine magazines that list wine reviews to make sure it has a good rating. Wine and fine dining go hand in hand, so your girlfriend will appreciate the effort you put in searching for the right pairing.
