I want to cook something special for dh and I - need ideas plwase.

[3andahalfmonkeys]

may have a child free weekend this weekend. we were going to go out for tea but money a little tight so am thinking of cooking something specoal instead. need ideas though.

Whenever I'm cooking a special meal for DP and I, we have breaded camembert with cranberry dip to start (in frozen section of Lidl so quite cheap, I usually posh it up with a bit of salad & some vegetable crisps) or occasionally bake a whole camembert in oven instead to share with baguette & veg sticks/grapes to dip in.

Then for main I normally either do spinach & ricotta canneloni (his favourite) or something with fish for a treat - last time I think I did a tomato based fish stew.

Then usually just buy GU chocolate souffle or other chocolate pud for dessert as I'm not very cook at cooking sweet stuff!

Obviously depends what food you like though, for me the main treat is the cheese! We usually make up some cocktails to go with it as well - have an extensive selection of spirits that hardly ever get used so this works out cheaper than buying wine!!

"Specials" here are:

• nice big fat steak
• tiger prawns
• mussels (cheap but not sure in season now)
• duck

All nice and easy. But not all at the same time, obviously. Plus a nice bottle of something.

For a treat meal, and if DH wasn't veggie, I would go for lamb chops, potato dauphinoise (delia) plus veg. And a bought pudding, GO lemon cheesecake is lovely.

Or steak, mushrooms, onions, chips.

On a budget, I would do a hotpot, loads of sliced potatoes on top.

Go onto the recipes section here, and find Anchovies' recipe for kleftiko. It's is marvellous and not at all difficult to make. Get some nice crusty bread and a green salad and you're fixed. And there'll be enough for left-overs (hopefully - DH makes a complete pig of himself when I make this).

Things I cook for my DH that he loves:

Lamb roasted in the oven with an anchovy, garlic, rosemary and caper rub (also shoved inside slide made in the meat) with various salads and roasted veg.
Nigella Lawson's Keralan Fish Curry with Lemon Rice
Steak and kidney pudding (childhood favourite)
Salmon en Croute
Crab Linguine
Duck with a Cherry Sauce
Lamb Tagine

For starter I tend to get oysters but you could also get tiger prawns or langoustine, make a garlic mayo and grill them. I also make a yummy timbale of crab and avocado. A really easy starter is pear and buffalo maaozarella with a good olive, chilli and basil sprinkled on top.

For dessert you cannot beat the white chocolate mousse from Nigella Express.

Hi 3andahalf, if he loves a hearty meal, you can't go wrong with a roast with all the trimmings. If you want to do him something a bit lighter then maybe a bruscetta to start (bruscetta says summer meal to me for some reason!) and then a nice salmon fillet with new potatoes for a main might be nice.

Alternatively, on these hot evenings, I hate cooking so I've been trying to eat out for the cheapest amount I can. What sort of food do you and your DH like?

Amy