What can I cook on Friday?

[Senseofsomething]

I am looking for ideas for what to cook on Friday evening. It’s for someone I am dating who always makes an effort for me when he is cooking. No limitations in terms of dietary requirements but something fairly healthy, interesting flavours and that requires some effort or preparation… to show I’m appreciative of his cooking for me. All ideas welcome.

Are you a confident cook? Do you want to make something brand new, or an old faithful that never lets you down? When you close your eyes and imagine Friday, are you sitting down to something with a wow-factor like a chateaubriand steak to share, or is it "this is the dish my grandma always made me and it feels like home"?

And of course, what does he like?

The most successful meal for me and DH when we were dating - and this was a long time ago - was the roast chicken with the zuni cafe bread salad (smittenkitchen.com/2008/12/zuni-cafe-roast-chicken-bread-salad/).

But the night he proposed I made nachos with all the fixings using doritos as a base and a bag of shredded mixed mexican cheese blend from tesco so that could work too

Does he eat seafood? Scallops on black pudding as a starter, salmon veg, potatoes with cheesy sauce that I can't spell 🤣. Depends how confident a cook you are? If not burritos? Fajitas? Pasta dish? Tapas?

Spaghetti carbonara
Looks a lot fancier than the effort required.
And not too garlicky! 😉

I’m fairly confident following a recipe but not so much without. He definitely likes seafood. And I’m looking for something with a bit of that wow-factor.

Thank you for all the ideas. That’s definitely got me thinking. The roast chicken bread salad looks tasty! And scallops on black pudding sounds delicious but fairly easy to do.

I’m not sure he’ll be super impressed with nachos! 😆 It obviously worked for you though @Xiaoxiong

I've made this this evening, the house smells amazing

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/28/persian-chicken-apricot-stew-recipe-sabrina-ghayour-cook-residency

Prawn pil pil with sharing bread to start?

My go to if I'm going for looks posh is salmon en croute. Strips of pastry spread with pesto then wrapped loosely round a salmon fillet so that you can still see some of the fish. Bake in oven for about half an hour. Serve with mini roast new potatoes and salad or asparagus.
Definitely do the scallops on black pudding, nice also with a whisky cream sauce.
I'm crap at puddings, I just buy fancy ice cream!

If you want something challenging, try individual mushroom and Camembert wellingtons or pithiviers.
Considering he likes seafood, other ideas are Crayfish and champagne risotto and salmon fishcakes.

Potato salad

This recipe is healthy, dead easy, can be made with tinned crab and seems much fancier than it looks (and orzo pasta is a lot easier than a risotto).

skinnykitchensecrets.com/2019/01/03/crab-chorizo-and-chilli-orzo-with-samphire-11sp/