Good day there! Should you’re signed up for Emily Weinstein’s 5 Weeknight Dishes publication — which after all you’re — you heard from me this morning once I shared 5 fast and straightforward pastas that may make actually beautiful Valentine’s Day dinner choices.
However perhaps you don’t need pasta. Otherwise you’re unsure precisely what you’d like, however you need it to be fancy-ish however nonetheless easy sufficient to tug off on the finish of a protracted week.
Generally all it takes for a dish to really feel particular is utilizing an ingredient that feels a bit of treasured, one thing that you simply don’t usually attain for on a weeknight. Simply that additional little bit of consideration turns a tried-and-true dish right into a barely glammed-up model of itself.
A wonderful instance of a recipe with this “straightforward however particular” feeling is Yewande Komolafe’s honey-glazed hen and shallots. Shallots are, after all, the fanciest onion that also allows you to peel them ( you, pearl onions). Their fairly, mushy purple shade and mushy allium taste give this one-pan dinner a bit of glamour. I additionally love how they soften into mushy little shells to carry the savory skillet sauce. I do know I’ve used the phrase mushy loads right here — it’s as a result of this dish is a mild sigh of a meal.
Valentine’s Day — or any special-occasion dinner, for that matter — is a good excuse to go to all in along with your favourite protein. Julia Moskin’s cast-iron steak or Naz Deravian’s roasted dill salmon can be terrific centerpieces for a particular meal. Sides will be easy however gorgeous. Hasselback potatoes and sheveed polo (dill rice) come to thoughts.
A lot of our top-rated New York Instances Cooking recipes provide completely different ingredient choices — versatility may be very engaging. Ian Fisher’s spaghetti carbonara will be made with bacon, pancetta or slab guanciale. Use store-bought marinara and lasagna noodles for Samin Nosrat’s massive lasagna, or use selfmade. Add bloomed saffron to Naz’s entire roasted hen and rice, or don’t. Make these recipes as luxe as you want, understanding that your base template has 5 stars and tons of glad opinions.
I believe any dessert, by advantage of merely present, instantly feels particular. However I’ll depart you with a few zhuzhed-up (however nonetheless straightforward) choices. Melissa Clark’s lemon bars with olive oil and sea salt are a extremely lovely deal with for the bitter tooth in your life; Eric Kim’s gochujang caramel cookies are virtually blushing with sweet-spicy chile paste.
And if it’s not Valentine’s Day with out one thing chocolate, might I introduce you to Yossy Arefi’s straightforward chocolate cake? Her tackle the traditional layer cake requires bitter cream in each the cake batter and the buttercream frosting so as to add plushness in addition to a pleasant acidic tang to offset all of the candy. I do know a layer cake feels a bit of additional for a Friday, and that’s precisely what we’re going for right here.