Beef stew with dumplings. YUMMMM.
Here is another dessert contribution–probably too forward for the current state of your semi-relationship–but useful for others and your future as well. 2B below is a second optional approach and my preferred method.
- Purchase really good dark, somewhat bitter chocolate–get the good stuff that has real vanilla as an ingredient.
2A. Melt the chocolate in an attractive bowl and dip fresh strawberries, raspberries, or cherries. Very satisfying.
2B. Instead of melting the chocolate, just cut it up into little bite-sized chunks. Proceed to 3 below.
- Go to a decent wine shop or liquor store and purchase dry raspberry wine from Washington state–good labels are Hoodsport or Paul Thomas; a bottle should cost under $12. This is not syrupy but a true dry wine that conveys the essence of raspberry. And it complements good chocolate fabulously. It is hard not to kiss your date after 10 minutes of this combo.
This one. Especially now with all them good tomatoes. Not too heavy so you can rub the bacon all night long after.
Fresh pasta with tomato sauce, herbs, and butter.
Make Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce #3.
Cut 2-3 lbs of tomatoes in half, cook em covered til they collapse, pass em thru a food mill (if you don’t have a food mill grate em as noted above), put em back in a pan with half an onion and 4 T of butter and a little salt, simmer til thick, take out onion.
Add chopped fresh herbs of your choice. (I used basil, parsley, and a little mint last time and it was divine.) Simmer another five minutes to release the herbs’ essential oils. Season to taste.
Place cooked fresh pasta in bowls, ladle some sauce over the pasta (not too much), and put a pat of fresh clean butter on top of the sauce. Have your guests toss the pasta, butter, and sauce together. The butter smoothes and enrichens the sauce in a most luxurious way.
IMHO I say make stuff that can be eaten with the hands . Fried clams are good. For dessert you can lather up in whipped cream and lick it off of each other. can you see the shape of my sick mind?