New BF and I need to cook

[SuziQ10]

Have stupidly offered to cook dinner for him on Saturday. He cooked for me two weeks ago (the third date).

I really like this guy. Have a great feeling and it's all been fun and romantic so far. Never felt happier.

My cooking skills are nill. I'm shit at cooking.

What is reasonably fool proof? Can be prepared In front of him, maybe something that's a bit sexy to prepare, if there's such a thing...

I don't want to let myself down but I really am untalented.

If you aren’t a cook and he is… he really will spot it! That said, you need a meal that will taste good, not stress you out and isn’t hard to make. And also isn’t a student style dinner!

This roast chicken and orzo is one of my go-to summer weekend meals. I’ve cooked it on dates, with family and at dinner parties and it always goes down well, and it really is so easy I can do it whilst drinking and entertaining and barely concentrating! A chicken takes a while to roast so you can do 90% of the work before he arrives, clean up a bit in the kitchen and just be casually chopping the salad to accompany it when he arrives 🙂

www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/g/greekchickenwithorzo.html

Good luck! He sounds great.

If you want to impress, I have a really easy recipe for Kung Po Chicken and egg fried rice.... it's a lot simpler than you might think.

It'd end up as Kung Fu Panda and boiled egg, you big noodle!

It's quite possibly one of the easiest things I've ever cooked. You can prep all the meat and veg ahead of time and it takes about 4 mins in the pan.

Egg fried rice is also extremely easy provided you cook the rice the day before and let it go cold, then don't try and rush it on the day.

When all else fails -- BE HONEST!

Just start by saying you're trying and don't think you're up to his standard -- how could he then be anything other than generous?

@DoncasterHombre brilliant. Thank you very much. I will do most of whats suggested!

She has said herself, she can't cook! It might be easy to you or anyone with basic skills - and I'm not digging her out about it because there are lots of adults that can't - so you, if you're being serious and not on the wind up, talking about pre-cooked chicken and cooled down/reheated rice is a bit 😑

Trust me, it's easy, for the simple reason that nothing needs to be done in a rush or is fiddly. It's a lot easier than a lasagne, that's for sure.

Some type of pasta. Then get fresh basil and mozzarella and tear it on top. Makes any dish look fancier. This was our spaghetti and meatballs.

Well, it's certainly a recipe for a filthy night in/morning after (and not in the the way the OP may be hoping for) to somebody with zero cooking skills.

@SuziQ10 You make your own mind up but be careful reheating rice and cooking chicken. You'll get there if you want to learn and I reckon you're better off following my suggestion 😉

I love all the suggestions for whipping up a lasagna. If OP can't cook at all her Bolognese probably isn't much to shout home about and so the lasagna isn't going to be good. Problem with doing a classic is it's very obvious when it's bad.
Given the heat I'd go for less cooking...
Make a caprese salad - ripe tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil leaves and a drizzle of good olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar if you fancy. Then put in a pizza! Or cook some tortellini and heat up a sauce. If you want to be fancy assemble some Bruschetta (chopped tomatoes, red onion, garlic- BBC has some great topping recipes). No cooking involved except grilling some bread. I love their artichoke and parmesan Bruschetta!
No point pretending to be something you're not. Have a laugh about the fact you're a rubbish cook. Much better to do something simple, well, than to try and fail or be super stressed on the day. It's not come dine with me!

I did steak, baby new potatoes, asparagus & a sauce for a date once, not too intensive cooking, I did all the prep during the afternoon & all I had to do in the evening was cook the steaks, put the potatoes in the oven & make the sauce (I had parboiled them in the afternoon, marinated the steaks, prepped & blanched the asparagus so it only needed 2 minutes in the griddle pan, chopped the shallots, mushrooms & peppers for the sauce) Whatever you do, do the prep beforehand & that way you can have done most of the washing up. Do you have the kind of kitchen where he could sit, you both chat, have a glass of wine while you cook?

@DoncasterHombre has this one. You can't cook, anyone who can will instantly spot it. Be honest, there is nothing wrong with not having acquired those particular skills!

And whatever you do, if you can't cook do not cook steak! It's one of the easiest things to ruin!

Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert, melt some chocolate, hull the strawberries, dip them in the chocolate & put in the fridge to set, serve with some posh ice cream, you could even melt a couple of bars of mint Aero instead of just chocolate

Have someone who can really cook, make a lasagna & when he arrives just throw it in the oven & serve with broccoli or salad. Job done 😂

Had guests over at the weekend &
Our local butcher makes lasagnas that you can just throw in the oven. It's sooooooo delish! Got many compliments 😜 DH had to keep his mouth shut and not let my secret out 😂

Look on Jamie Oliver's website, he has loads of easy meals to cook, some hardly need cooking. His Parma ham & fig salad is gorgeous or monkfish wrapped in Parma ham. Can you cook lamb? Get a joint of lamb, either on the bone or off, make slots in the on the bone one, put rosemary, slices of garlic & anchovies in the slots & roast, stuff the off the bone one with apricots, roll up, tie & roast, serve with couscous, buy a flavoured one & add chicken stock instead of water then add raisins, roasted red peppers from a jar & feta cheese.

Go to a local deli or farm shop and buy something home made (by them!).

Ours do lovely pies (you could just do some mash or new potatoes with a green veg), lasagne, fish pie etc.

I would get a meal for 2 from your favourite supermarket, sautée some extra veg/make a big salad,

Just Eat :)

If you're going to do a carbonara-like thing as PP's mentioned, I break up ready cooked (by the supermarket) bacon rather than using ham. It has a lovely flavour.

GOUSTO is your friend here!

I have a referral code if
You go down that route!

Oh these are some things that are tasty and easy- Co-op slow cooked lamb shank (it's ready made by them in a sauce, you just cook it for 40 mins) with Aunt Bessie's mash mixed with lots of butter. Add a veg to make it look like a proper meal, and offer a pot of mint sauce.

They also do a rack of ribs if he likes stuff like that.

The easiest thing I can think of is roast chicken with roast potatoes.

All you need to do is put the chicken in a pan and stick it into the oven (count about one hour of cooking for a standard size chicken). Then in the rack under the chicken you can put another pan with potatoes (I'd pick the very small baby potatoes, not sure what they're called in english, as you won't even need to cut them up or peel them - just wash them and stick them in the oven).

The potatoes take about 40min so put them 20min after the chicken.

And then if you feel adventurous you can make a sauce with cream, chives, salt, pepper and a bit of lemon juice. But that bit is optional, you'll be fine with just the chicken and potatoes.

The great thing about that dish is that there's basically no prep or actual cooking involved. All you need to do is buy the chicken and potatoes and stick them in the oven. And it looks good because a roast chicken is always a bit festive.

If you're not keen here is another recipe that's fairly easy :

Get store-bought pastry dough (the savoury kind)
Get some thick sour cream
Get some bacon bits
Get some onion
Get some eggs

Recipe : put bacon bits in pan with onion on a medium fire till cooked

Mix the cream with eggs, salt and pepper, toss in the bacon bits and onion.

Now all you need to do is put the pastry dough in a pie mold, then you can pour in the pie mix, then put in the oven at 175°C till the pie is firm.

Serve with greens and tomato salad. If you feel adventurous you can make a vinaigrette (mix vinegar, olive oil and mustard).

It looks elaborate and you can make it in advance so you just need to reheat it quickly on d-day.

Damn this thread is making me salivate !!

And also I think there's nothing wrong with not being good at cooking, if you have an interest in it you two might just cook together next time and he can teach you a few things. But either way he should be happy that you made the effort - if someone I was seeing made a genuine effort I'd be touched regardless of what the end result looked like.

I love cooking and I love cooking for others so I could be happy with someone who doesn't cook but happily eats what I make and is willing to sit with me/share some wine over food prep. Right now I live alone with two toddlers and generally nothing I make is up to their exacting standards 😂