DATE NIGHT: ROMANCE & THREE COURSE MEALS

Hey guys, 

Hope you're all well in the Lord :-)

Before I start, I'll have you know that our wedding video is up on Youtube. If you weren't able to attend our wedding, we thought we'd share a clip about how the day went.
Thank you to everyone who made the day extra special. We truly bless God for each one of you.
You can find the video on the link below:
Jasmine + Daniel

Back to food, thought I'd write a post about dining in on those special date nights. Husbands, this is the part you start taking notes ;-) If you're looking to spice up your love life over a romantic dinner without it costing you an arm and a leg then this is for you.

Last night was our weekly date night. Me and the hubz vowed to make an effort every single Wednesday or basically once every week to go on a special date. It could be dinner at a new restaurant or dinner at one of our favorite spots or a movie, etc but yesterday we decided it was going to be indoors since we couldn't decide where to go. I told the hubz to take me home and we'd still make it extra special by me making a nice three course meal. 

We started of with a simple snack of roasted chicken potato crisps and macadamia nuts. <Just a small portion, the idea isn't to fill up before the appetizer>

Ingredients:-
Fresh bread/ Baguette <I usually buy a fresh loaf/ roll at The Bakery at the Shell Petrol station in Westlands for about 120 Ksh>
Steak slices <Preferably the tenderloin, ask your butcher to give you softest part of the cow>
Fresh salad in a pack <retails in Nakumatt and Uchumi for 80 Ksh>
1 can Sweet corn <retails at about 130 upwards depending on the brand>
Balsamic vinegar <retails at about 400 upwards>
Extra virgin olive oil
Vegetable oil
2 Tomatoes
Sandwich cheese sliced <retails for about 230 upwards depending on the brand>
Pesto <retails for about 300 upwards depending on the brand>
Plantain < large bananas commonly used in West Africa>
1 Zucchini <also known as courgette >
Dried parsley
Black pepper
3 garlic cloves
Fruits < I used watermelon and nectarines>

Note: Remember that these are ingredients you can use more than once so it would be very good investment for your kitchen.

For the Appetizer: Pesto bites  

Heat oven to 180 degrees.

Cut bread and tomatoes in slices.  Apply pesto on the slices and put cheese and tomatoes on the top. Sprinkle some parsley and olive oil and put in a oven for 5 minutes.

 

For the main course: Steak, fried plantain & zucchini with a garden salad

Start by peeling the plantain and slicing it. Wash and slice courgette.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan and once it is hot, fry plantain and courgette slices. Once they're cooked, remove them from the oil and place on a plate with kitchen tissues/serviettes to drain out the oil.

Wash salad greens and put aside.

Follow by slicing steak in large strips. Peel and chop garlic and put to cook with olive oil on a grill plate/ pan. Add steak slices and season with salt and black pepper.
Bonus tip: Steak is cooked last because meat tends to dry up when kept for long before serving, serve when juicy and hot>

For Dessert: Fruit platter
Wash and cut up the fruit.

Plating
Place pesto bites and fruit neatly on two separate long plates.
Sprinkle some olive oil on the pesto bites before serving.
On a fancy plate <cause remember its date night> place fried plantain and courgette on top. Follow by placing the salad greens with a handful of sweet corn on top and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Lastly place the steak slices and serve. < Optional-You can sprinkle some sea salt on the top of the steak before serving>

For the married, enjoy with some well lit candles, some music, a good glass of wine or juice and finish it off with the fruit platter.
Above all, enjoy each others company, take time to discuss your passions and plans together. You may be married but you can still date your spouse until you're old and grey.

For the singles, this could be an awesome meal to impress your friends or it could serve as practice for the future :-)

As always, I'll have you know:-

-I'm up to 13800+ pageviews-thank you Jesus! and thank you all for following and trying out my recipes.

-I'm now on Youtube, you can subscribe and check out the video here: CookingwithJaz

-I am officially on twitter on this account (@cookingwithjaz)

-I am also on facebook on this page "cooking with jaz"
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-If you want to be featured on the "GUEST AND RECIPE OF THE WEEK" email me on "cookingwithjaz@yahoo.com"

-If you have tried any of my recipes, do tag me or send me the pics on any one of my social media pages

Have a lovely week :)

Sincerely,

Jaz.