suggestions for a birthday dinner

[mangoamango]

DH's birthday is tomorrow and because eventhough it is a significant one, he has said he doesn't want to do anything special.

Our son enjoys celebrating birthdays though so I thought I'd cook a nice meal at home in the evening (we don't usually eat much in the evening, just quick stuff like pasta).

I'm a good cook but just can't seem to find the inspiration this time so I'm asking for help. If you were going to cook a special dinner for your other half's 50th, what would you cook?

DH would probably want steak and chips with pavlova for pudding.

Our special meal is often steak with dauphinoise potatoes and green veg or steak with chimichurri, wedges and a fancy salad or roasted veg.

I also really like shellfish, so mussels in a cider sauce or a thai coconut curry or clams in garlic butter with skinny chips.

Whatever his favourite meal is!

Totally depends on what they like.

For example, my OH loves American food, BBQ and that sort of thing. So for special occasions I'll cook two racks of ribs, pulled pork and all the trimmings and usually have his friends around, serve it all up buffet style and let them at it. A nice dessert always goes down well too, my go-to is Pavlova with strawberries, cream and flaky chocolate on top.

If you're really stuck, you could order some dishes from his favourite takeaway and present it like a proper meal with nice tableware. I surprised my man with an indian meal last week, transferred everything to nice bowls and plates, garnished with some fresh coriander, presentation is key!

This.

DP would probably want a takeaway or massive steak and a family sized trifle to himself, but that wouldn't appeal to your DH if he was a vegan health nut.

I didn't go into what DH likes to eat because I was looking for inspiration. Part of the problem is that both DH and I are good cooks and DH goes to the market and buys the things he likes to eat so that's why I'm hoping for new ideas.

If it helps, he will eat pretty much anything except cheese and his favourite meal is Sauerkraut but that would be too heavy for a dinner.

We live abroad and take away isn't really an option but I'll be going to the market tomorrow morning so I can pick up whatever I need

Dh had lamb madras and Bombay potatoes for his birthday (favourite meal). Lamb is slow cooked so prepped in the morning and bung in the slow cooker. Spuds done as roasties.

My dhs birthday meal of choice is steak and chips for main and a lemon meringue pie for desert. I've started doing a starter of either prawn cocktail or scallops and my dd and I have salmon instead of steak and we also have salad.

How about something Middle Eastern? Try Yottam Ottolenghi recipes.

These dauphinoise look next level for a special birthday.

https://pin.it/5UwREP7gz

Yep - although my DH likes all kinds of food, for his birthday he would always choose steak and chips. But usually special steak so cote de boeuf or tomahawk or chateubriand - something like that. And the added advantage is that it doesn’t take much cooking/prep so we can enjoy pre dinner drink/chat together rather than being hidden away in the kitchen.

I really like Ixta Belfrage for delicious meals that feel special - I love this chicken with pineapple and nduja served with bread. Also her signature prawn and habanero lasagne (which I haven't made or eaten personally) looks amazing and have heard rave reviews from multiple people.

Foie Gras starter, Lobster, can't think of an expensive pud

Came to recommend the prawn lasagne mentioned up thread - incredible!

Oysters for starters!

My OH would again always pick steak, so we make it special. Chateaubriand, tomahawk, Wagyu, Venison fillet Cooked whole, exotic mixed grill (loads of options here, you can get several years out of this one!). Awesome sauces and sides and you're set! Try alternative meats.co.uk for awesome options. If he's a keen cook, just get the very best produce you can and go from there. Good luck!

His favourite meal is sauerkraut and it's too heavy for a dinner? Am I being really dumb here but is it not just pickled cabbage? So something you have with a meal rather than a meal in itself? Anyway if he likes sauerkraut what about a Polish bigos stew? Or a nice reuben sandwich, minus the cheese if he doesn't like it. My other half would always choose either a big burger and chips or pie/sausage and mash, he is a simple man 😅.

You've probably done your shopping already but FYI, around here, a special dinner would probably be something like spaghetti bolognaise because that is basically DH's favourite. But if I was trying to move away from that... . I'd probably do something that I could present in a really nice way on the basis that we all like food and have a nicely varied diet, so that's what would make it special.

eg maybe a rack of lamb with dauphinoise potatoes. or perhaps a bunch of little lamb cutlets served on a bed of something from a huge platter. I'm not sure - whipped feta or hummus or something with some meditteranean vegetables around the side. Or something like a small sirloin joint that can be served and carved with a chimichirri sauce.

Or I might do something that normally would be a bit of a faff to do all together. eg we regularly have risotto and we regularly have roast chicken. But perhaps doing them together, serving on a lovely large platter with greens with an actual dressing on the side.

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear. Here in France, sauerkraut is eaten accompanied by potatoes and mountains of assorted sausages and other pork-based products. That's the bit he likes, not just the cabbage.

In the end I've opted for slow cooked lamb shank with olive oil mash and spring cabbage. I know it doesn't sound much lighter but there's considerably less salt so he'll sleep better

@mangoamango thank you for explaining, it sounds great. Hope you all have a lovely evening, what you've chosen sounds delicious.

I also made these as a starter. First time making Scotch eggs and I was amazed at how easy it was...