One needs to be very creative and effortful to setup a romantic dinner. Your partner will surely love an Italian theme. Here are a few tips on how to pull it off successfully.
There are no strict rules on planning a romantic night with your partner. You can make your night as passionate and memorable as ever. Being creative is the key factor to this. And it depends largely on what the two of you prefer. You know each other best. For a romantic dinner for two, here are a few easy and sure fire tips you can consider:
Researching Important Data about your Partner
Start with listing down the type of food your partner really loves to eat. These are the best foods to prepare. You could try a little ingenuity and create twists to the usual recipes to make the event more memorable.
Once you have listed down the type of food he loves, narrow it down to even the tiniest detail. For example, if your partner loves grilled meat, is it chicken, pork or beef? Does your partner prefer his grilled meat well done or medium rare? What are the side dishes he usually prefers? What sauce is appealing to him? Start from the appetizer to the dessert and the type of wine.
Next, plan the decorations, setups and the logistics. This pertains to even the placemats or napkins you will use that will match the theme and food you will prepare. It will create the perfect atmosphere you wish to achieve, and will show how much you took the time and effort for this dinner. It will reflect just how much you know your partner.
Themes you can consider would be Italian, Oriental, Mexican, East Indian, French or Seafood. After you have chosen the perfect theme, you can go ahead and look for the right trinkets, placemats, napkins, cutlery and the like that matches your theme.
Creating the Mood
This is actually a crucial part of your romantic night together. Again, you need to list down the tiniest details like the favorite CD or song of your partner. It is best that you play something sentimental. This will surely set the mood.
Try to dim the lights and use scented candles to enhance a romantic ambiance. Use the favorite scent of your partner.
Decorate your house or garden by filling the room with your partner's favorite flowers. Color can surely add a great deal to the romantic atmosphere. Deep red is a good color for the flowers.
Along certain parts of the floor, scatter some rose petals, especially around your dinner table. You can also be as creative as making a rose petal pathway from the door to your dinner table.
You can drape fabric on some areas of the room for more elegance. You can also use this to hide unromantic sections of the room.
Preparing and Serving Dinner
Italian is one of the most popular themes used because many of us like Italian cuisines. Here are simple Italian recipes you can prepare and serve on your romantic dinner with your partner:
You could try Bresaolo con Rucola for the appetizer. Bresaola pertains to seasoned and salted beef aged for 2 to 3 months and then air dried. It is produced from a valley in the Alps along the Lombardy region of northern Italy called Valtellina. Its color is brilliant uniform red with a few thin and white streaks of fat.
Cut it very thinly to be moist and tender. Since it is very lean, it is mostly recommended to people who are dieting but it is a superb ingredient for refined and modern cooking.
Ingredients are a fistful of fresh arugula, 7 ounces of finely sliced Italian Bresaola, 4 tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1 cup of finely sliced Italian Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.
Place the Bresaola either on a large-sized plate or on 4 small plates. Make sure you overlap the slices to completelt cover the plate. Add the arugula and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the slices with salt, olive oil and pepper. Serve.
Your main dish could be Italian Meat Loaf called Polpettone. This can be made on the stove instead of using the oven.
Ingredients are 10 ounces ground pork, 10 ounces lean ground beef, ½ small white onion, 1 egg, 1/3 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, a pinch of fresh ground pepper, 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, whole milk and 1 teaspoon salt.
Use a 9- to 10-inch frying pan, heat some oil and butter. Cut the onion into big pieces and cook in low heat, occasionally mixing it. In a large bowl, combine the Parmesan, meat, pepper, salt and egg. Remove the onions from the heat after 5 to 10 minutes of cooking time but leave the butter and oil in the pan.
Put the meat mixture into the pan. Press it down using a spoon. Cook the meat mixture in Medium heat until it becomes golden brown. Turn it and brown the other side as well. When the 2nd side turns brown, add some milk until the meat is covered completely.
Lower the heat to minimum, covering and allowing it to simmer for an hour. Then, take off the lid. If there is still too much liquid, allow simmering again for another 15 minutes or so but leave it uncovered. Serve with mashed potatoes.
Chocolate Balls or also called Palline di Cioccolato can be served for dessert.
Ingredients are 1 cup Hazel nuts (shelled), 3 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate, ¾ cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon cold Espresso coffee, 1 tablespoon unsalted butter and 3 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa.
Grate the chocolate in a bowl. Put the hazel nuts inside the food processor and blend thoroughly. Mix the nuts with the chocolate, coffee, sugar and butter. Prepare a plate and put the cocoa. Roll the mixture into balls that measures approximately 1 inch, using your hands. Place the balls on the cocoa. When all the balls are ready, gently roll them on the cocoa.
Put them on a serving dish. Keep them inside the fridge until you are ready to serve them. You can use instant coffee as an alternative to Espresso. Almonds can be used instead of hazel nuts.
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