Whether you are planning a romantic dinner or just find yourself cooking for two, this is an easy menu that will leave you lots of time to enjoy the evening and your guest. You can prepare some parts of the dinner the day ahead, such as the vinaigrette salad dressing, the orzo and the panna cotta. You can even saute the chicken cutlets and refrigerate them, then warm and finish with the sauce the day you serve them.
Photo by KJSMITH47 / iStock
FRIED GOAT CHEESE AND ARUGULA SALAD
SERVES 2
Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad
¼ pound fresh goat cheese
¼ cup dried bread crumbs
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 cups baby arugula (or spring mix lettuce)
1 tablespoon olive oil
To make the vinaigrette, in a bowl, combine 2 tablespoons olive oil and the vinegar and gently whisk or mix with a fork. Add the salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Set aside.
Shape the cheese into 2 equal rounds, each 3 inches in diameter and ½-inch thick. In a bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, salt, pepper and thyme. Spread this mixture on a piece of waxed or parchment paper. Working with 1 round of cheese at a time, press both sides into the mixture to coat it. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the arugula with the vinaigrette and toss to coat. Divide the salad on 2 salad plates. Set aside.
In a small, nonstick skillet over medium heat, warm the remaining olive oil. Add the cheese rounds and cook until lightly golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Turn the rounds over and cook until the cheese begins to melt and spread slightly, about 1 minute more. Remove the skillet from the heat. Using a spatula, quickly transfer each browned cheese round to a salad, gently sliding it on top. Serve immediately.
CHICKEN PICCATA
Photo by Gwenael Le Vot / iStock
SERVES 2
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature, separated
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, plus more for dredging
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup dry white wine
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ cup unsalted chicken stock
2 tablespoons drained capers
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Lemon slices
Mix 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour in small bowl until smooth. Roll into 2 small balls (called beurre manié). Set aside.
Place chicken halves between 2 large sheets of plastic wrap. Using meat pounder or bottom of a cast-iron skillet, lightly pound chicken to ¼-inch thickness. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Place additional flour and bread crumbs in shallow dish. Dip chicken into flour mixture to coat; shake off excess.
In a large skillet over medium heat, warm olive oil. Add chicken breasts to skillet and cook until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to platter; tent with foil to keep warm.
In the same skillet, bring wine, lemon juice and chicken stock to boil over medium-high heat. Whisk in the beurre manié, one at a time, and boil until sauce thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. (If sauce gets too thick, add more stock until sauce is desired consistency.) Stir in capers, parsley and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Pour sauce over chicken, garnish with lemon slices and serve.
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Recipe tips
Why pound chicken breast? Pounding chicken breasts redistributes the thickness of the meat so the halves become more evenly shaped. This allows the meat to cook faster and evenly and to retain its juiciness. You can use a meat mallet/pounder, but the bottom of a cast-iron skillet is faster, easier and less likely to tear the meat.
What is a beurre manié? This is a kneaded dough of equal parts butter and flour, used to thicken sauces and soups toward the end of the cooking process. It’s the easiest and most desired way of thickening. Adding flour to hot liquids will result in a clumpy sauce. With beurre manié, you prevent this from happening because the individual flour particles are coated with fat (butter). The butter melts as you whisk the beurre manié into the sauces, releasing the flour evenly into the liquid as it thickens.
Stock or broth? The difference is in the ingredients. Stocks are made with bones and vegetables and contain no seasoning or salt. Broths are made with meat and vegetables and are seasoned. Both can be used as the base for soups and sauces. However, the gelatinous quality of stock (from the bones’ marrow) makes it better than broth for deglazing pans and is often used in place of butter or creams to make sauces. If a recipe calls for stock, broth can be substituted—just remember to adjust for the salt and seasonings already included.
ORZO WITH ROASTED RED PEPPERS
Photo by William P. Edwards / iStock
SERVES 2
½ tablespoon organic butter
½ tablespoon olive oil
½ medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
Half of a 7-ounce jar roasted red peppers, chopped
½ teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt, separated
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1½ cups unsalted vegetable stock
1½ cups water
½ pound orzo pasta
¼ cup coarsely chopped basil
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, warm butter and olive oil. Add the onion, and sauté until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and sauté another minute. Add the red peppers, ½ teaspoon salt and crushed red pepper flakes to the onion-and-garlic mixture. Sauté an additional 3–4 minutes or until all ingredients are combined. Remove from heat.
In another medium saucepan, combine vegetable stock and water, and bring to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt and the orzo pasta. Cook according to package directions, about 7–8 minutes. Reserve approximately 1 cup of cooking liquid before draining pasta.
Add drained pasta to the pot containing the onion-and-pepper mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula, being sure to incorporate the vegetables throughout the pasta. Add the basil and Parmesan cheese, and stir to combine. If the pasta looks dry, gradually add some of the reserved cooking water until properly moistened. Serve hot. (If orzo is prepared the day ahead, reheat in the microwave.)
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Recipe tip
What’s the best way to cook pasta?
- Water: Use 1 gallon of water per 1 pound of pasta.
- Salting the water: Use 2–3 tablespoons for every gallon of water.
- Adding pasta to the water: Add all at once and stir immediately to prevent pasta from sticking together.
- Cooking time: Use the suggested cooking time as a guide, but check a few minutes before the end time. Pasta should be served “al dente,” meaning tender but firm to the bite.
- Adding oil to the water: Don’t do it! Adding oil to the water prevents the pasta from absorbing the sauce.
- Draining: Save ½ cup of the cooking liquid; you may use some to finish the pasta with the sauce.
- Rinsing pasta: Don’t rinse unless you are serving cold pasta in a salad. To prevent it from sticking or clumping together, if not serving immediately, stir in a cup of sauce.
- Amount per person: As the main course, 4 ounces; as a side, 2 ounces. For uncooked spaghetti noodles, 2 ounces is a handful with a diameter about the size of a quarter. For uncooked elbow macaroni, 2 ounces measures about half a cup.
CHOCOLATE PANNA COTTA
Photo by William P. Edwards / iStock
SERVES 2
1½ cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1½ tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
1½ ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate morsels
Whipped cream (optional)
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger or candied orange peel, chopped (optional)
Ground chocolate or cocoa (optional)
Into a small bowl, pour ¼ cup of the heavy cream. Sprinkle the gelatin over it, and let stand until softened, about 10 minutes. Place the bowl into a larger bowl of hot water, and stir mixture until the gelatin is dissolved.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring the remaining cream, sugar and salt just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the gelatin mixture to the chocolate mixture, and stir until well blended. Pour the custard through a strainer into a glass measuring cup or a bowl with a pour spout. Divide the mixture evenly between two 5- or 6-ounce custard cups, and let cool to room temperature. Cover loosely and refrigerate until set and thoroughly chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 1 day. Garnish with optional toppings such as whipped cream, crystallized ginger, candied orange peel and ground chocolate, if desired.
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BELINDA SMITH-SULLIVAN is a chef and food writer who lives in Trenton, where she is a member of Aiken Electric Cooperative. She has a culinary degree from Johnson & Wales University and is certified in wine studies from the Culinary Institute of America in Napa Valley, Calif. Her articles have been published in several regional magazines and in her blog, “The Flying Foodie.”