With Valentine’s Day just days away, we’re sure you probably already have your plans in mind. But if you’re a last-minute guy or girl, why not take the evening off to cook a meal with a loved one?
We like to spend time together in the kitchen. But it took us a while to perfect the art of cooking together. Really. In our early days, it wasn’t uncommon to end a kitchen date in tears. To help you avoid falling into this trap, here are some suggestions on how to get through a backdate successfully.
Here’s the menu we’ve come up with especially for this Valentine’s Day – although you can use it for a cooking date any time of the year. We’ve also included some tips on how to prepare this special menu below.
Good luck – and happy cooking!
Bake Date Survival Tips:
1. Don’t be too ambitious. If you are new to cooking or short on time, don’t try to make all of the above recipes. Opt for a plain green salad instead of the fancy salad, or a candy bar instead of ice cream. The food will be just as good, but with fewer dishes and less prep time.
2. Avoid starting hungry. Cooking when you are starving is no fun and will definitely end in tears or a fight. Instead, start cooking an hour or more before you expect to be hungry — and prepare snacks (and wine?) while you cook. Having raw veggies or nuts on hand has saved us from quite a few kitchen disasters.
3. Delegate. We have found that it is easier to work in the kitchen by delegating a ‘lead’ for the recipe and a ‘sous chef’. The chef is responsible for reading the recipe and delegating the duties to himself and the sous chef. The sous chef is available to the manager and can relax and take care of the chopping or blending without worrying about what comes next. We’ve found this to be the easiest way to get things done – and we often switch roles depending on the recipe!
4. Slow it down. When I started cooking, I thought I was in a giant race against time to see how quickly I could complete each task (which led to a lot of unnecessary mistakes). Now I’ve learned to slow down and enjoy the process – put on my apron first (that’s the rule!), put on some music, take a deep breath and enjoy the time together.
5. Clean up when you leave. No one likes ending up with a mountain of dishes, but it’s a general kitchen law: you get dirty, and so does your kitchen. If you can, hire someone to clean up before you move on to the next part of a recipe – it will save you a lot of heartache in the end. (Trust me. I’m a chronic mess maker and I’ve FINALLY learned this after years.)
6. have fun! Cooking can be a lot of fun, but it takes humor and a relaxed attitude! Despite the best of intentions, things may not go as you planned. (We have constant breakdowns in the kitchen — which we’ve learned to stop taking seriously.) Even if it doesn’t look like the picture or the flavor you intended — enjoy the time you had there!
Beet, Kale, and Kohlrabi Salad with Grapefruit Vinaigrette (Where a simple green salad)
Roasted Red Pepper Pesto Linguine with Kale and Feta
Ricotta dumplings with kale pesto
Dark Chocolate and Coconut Ice Cream (Where a bar of chocolate)
menu notes
Grapefruit Vinaigrette Salad: The salad is pretty easy, but it takes a while to wash and cut all the veggies and make a dressing, so give yourself plenty of time. A time saver is to omit the grapefruit wedges as they will take a little longer to peel. Remember, you can use whatever veggies you have on hand for the salad — or just use lettuce leaves and the grapefruit dressing.
Linguine with pesto: This recipe uses fairly simple techniques but has several different elements that need to be put together. Start with the pesto, then clean up, pause and continue. You can also prepare the pesto ahead of time for a smoother assembly. (Note that the pesto requires a food processor.)
Pesto Meatballs: These dumplings are great fun to make, so take your time to enjoy the process here! It would help to make the pesto ahead of time, but it’s not necessary – it’s pretty easy to make. (Note that the pesto requires a food processor.)
ice cream: We like to keep cans of coconut milk in our fridge so it’s already chilled and ready to make this ice cream. Ice can be whipped very fast – you can do this before you start the rest of your meal. You can then stir it in the ice maker while it cooks and freeze the ice cream while you eat, or run the ice maker after you eat and eat it “soft napkin” style.
