I like to do pizza. It's fun, you can make it together and flirt, touch, etc. Have an appetizer plate of olives, peppers, spiced nuts. Then have a few topping combos in mind. You can get a pre-made crust - the ones at trader joes are decent, and I recently had good luck by going to the whole foods pizza counter and asking for a plain fresh (not frozen) crust ($2.50). I like to go original with toppings for this. Try figs, prosciutto, blue cheese and arugula. get creative! just have all the toppings prepped before the date so you can enjoy each other's company. Serve with a spinach salad. A nice wine. And for dessert brownies or a fruit crisp are easy and delicious! You can get creative with those and make it seem quite fancy - but it's hard to truly fuck up a brownie.

I love to make braised short ribs and/or oxtail. EASY and amazing. Sear off the meat, remove. saute mirepoix (onion/celery/carrot chopped fine). Put the meat back into a deep cast iron pot, pour in half bottle of red wine (Sangiovese - ish), then tomato paste and some broth. Into the oven at 350 for 2.5 hours (I'd check a recipe, too)...This is MUCH better the next day! Then I roast a few root vegetables and a beet salad with goat cheese and nuts to start. Not fancy, but delicious! Very much good comfort, luscious (sexy!) food for winter. Good luck!

Cocktails: manhattans (with rye if you wanna be old school)
Appetizer: Oysters with a butter garlic and/or jalapeno sauce
Bread: Wild Wheats' (or whoever) Pain au levain or a nice baguette
Dip: a nice Olive oil and balsamic with a couple of different salts and pepper
Spread: Something like roasted red peppers with humus or some such thing.
Cheese: Smoked rogue river blue, orgenzola, etc
Dried sausage: landjaegers
Soup: Butternut squash (Pacific, maybe?)
Salad: waldorf or ceasar
entree: King salmon with a light brown sugar and spice rub (really, just don't do anything to fuck up the salmon) baked or broiled or grilled. also nice in parchment.
Vegie: roasted Brussels sprouts
Starch: Whipped potatoes
Dessert: Milk and dark Chocolate, sliced fruit
Wine: a nice Pinot Noir from Oregon with dinner, a Zin before dinner, and a Port for after dinner.
Dessert Drink: warmed Grand Marnier
Aperitif: Grappa with olives for munching- not garnishing. Or pastis if you can find it and anise is agreeable.

all of the above things require little or no cooking and are harder to fuck up than to get right. and much of it is local. everything is available at central or ballard market except the grand marnier, grappa and pastis.

Pasta Putanesca: It's easy to make, tastes good, and has a slutty name.

For easy, delicious sides to go with a meat entree:

A spinach salad with a reduced balsamic viniagrette, I add oven toasted walnuts (or pecans if I'm feeling extravagant,) dried cherries, and a clean, creamy goat cheese (they carry a great one @ Metropolitan Market that's pre-crumbled.) Not too heavy on the cheese.

Green beans sauteed in a little butter and garlic, splashed with white wine just as they turn bright green.

Remember that smaller portions make for better lovemaking.

Have fun!

There is no specific dish - find whatever you want - but try to make it a communal dish. Something that you can both cook together, share a bottle of wine, and flirt.

I love this recipe. It slowly simmers like a stew, but it allows people to see you cooking.

As humble as the ingredients may be, it does not pay to cheat and use cheap pasta. Use a high-quality hard-wheat pasta, a pasta made with old-fashioned bronze dies. It's usually labeled "artisanal." That kind of pasta has the best flavor and also a rougher texture, so it can grab the sauce. Ditto using cheap stock or just plain water or worse, bullion cubes.

The technique is basically the same as risotto, but not as monotonous. Begin with a soffritto, add the potatoes, then pasta and stock and remaining ingredients. Its almost a cross between risotto and stew, and as satisfying as both.

Alain Ducasse’s Olive Mill Pasta
Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
2 medium-small onions, minced
1/4 pound fingerling potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (small red potatoes work well, too)
1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
5 1/2 cups, approximately, vegetable or light chicken stock
14 ounces artisanal strozzapreti pasta
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 medium-size ripe tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced and diced, or 2/3 cup diced sun-dried tomatoes, not oil-cured, covered with boiling water and drained
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
8 branches fresh basil or arugula, leaves removed and slivered, stems lightly crushed
1 bunch scallions, trimmed, slant-cut in 1-inch pieces
3 ounces freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, about 1 cup.
1. Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 10-inch sauté pan. Add butter. When it melts, add onions and potatoes. Cook, stirring gently, over medium heat until they begin to turn golden. Add minced garlic, and cook one minute longer.
2. In a small saucepan, bring stock to a slow simmer.
3. Add pasta to sauté pan, and stir gently. Lightly season with salt and pepper, and add tomatoes, crushed garlic and herb stems. Add 1 1/2 cups stock. Cook, stirring gently, until nearly all stock has evaporated. Add scallions and another cup of stock, and cook, stirring, adding additional stock from time to time, so there is always some liquid in the pan, until pasta is al dente, about 18 minutes. Remove garlic and herb stems.
4. Fold in cheese and all but 1 tablespoon remaining oil. Add slivered herbs. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Transfer to warm soup plates, taking care that the ingredients are well distributed. Drizzle remaining oil over each and serve.

Yield: 4 servings.