Valentine’s Dinner For Two

Looking to impress your love bug with a delicious home cooked restaurant inspired meal, but your idea of cooking is using speed dial to call Salvatore’s? Well I have a recipe for you! 


Honestly this dinner is time efficient and cost efficient! It’ll be sure to tempt your lady or beau with little to no effort. If you follow my suggestions and then focus on presentation, no one will ever know you shoved everything into the hot oven and sat with your feet up while it cooked itself. It’ll be our little secret 😉

What’s on the menu tonight?
Almond Crusted Fresh Atlantic Marinated Salmon, Sweet and Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Served with Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts. 

Almond Crusted Marinated Salmon

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Potatoes

Balsamic Glazed Brussel Sprouts

These items literally cook them selves, all the work is in the prep, and it can all be done in little to no time at all. Here’s what you’ll need for your feast.

Fish:

• Two Fresh Salmon Portions 
• Greek Feta and Oregano Salad dressing (calorie wise preferred)
• Handful of almonds – chopped 
• Club House – Greek Spice (optional)

Brussel Sprouts: 

• 1/2 of a frozen bag of brussel sprouts 
• 3 tbs of Balsamic Vinegar 
• 3 tbs of Olive Oil 
• dash of Salt and Pepper

Sweet and Spicy Potatoes: 
You only need one good sized sweet potato for two, but click here for the full recipe: http://shortpresents.blogspot.com/2011/12/sweet-and-spicy-sweet-potatoes.html

To prepare: 

All of these dishes can be cooked in the oven at the same time, leaving you plenty of time to crack a bottle of champagne or wine and get the table (or yourself) ready. If you can figure out the placement right: potatoes on bottom, fish in the middle pushed back slightly, and brussel sprouts on the top and over to the side .

I use small dishes for the fish and brussel sprouts, and then a cookie sheet for the potatoes. They all cook for about 20 minutes, and all you need to do is flip the potatoes once in the middle. You can literally have everything ready to go in the oven hours before and just fire it all in the oven without a care. The only thing I would suggest is that if you are preparing the potatoes early that you chop them and put them in a bowl of water until you are ready to coat with olive oil and spices.

Marinate the fish first, simply by rinsing your fish under cold water, and then placing on a aluminum foil lined dish. Pour the salad dressing over top to coat, and then add a sprinkle of greek spice. I wait to add the almonds before they go in the oven so they don’t lose their crunch. You can marinade your fish in the fridge hours before you cook it, or literally like 20 minutes before it still tastes amazing regardless.

While the fish marinates in the fridge on the top shelf you can prepare the sweet potatoes: http://shortpresents.blogspot.com/2011/12/sweet-and-spicy-sweet-potatoes.html

Mix the brussel sprouts last: literally all you need to do is combine all ingredients and put in the oven with the fish and potatoes.

Bake everything on 350 degrees for 20 minutes
Don’t forget to add your almonds to your fish before putting them into the oven!
Put everything into the oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. After ten minutes flip your pototoes, and check to see how your fish is doing. Shake your brussel sprouts to make sure they are all being coated, and set the timer again for another 10 minutes. After the 20 minutes your fish might not be done, it really depends on your oven and the size of your fish portions.

When the fish is nearing the end place under the broiler for about 3 minutes to get the top part crunchy. You can leave everything in the oven just be sure the fish is the only thing on the very top rack. You know your fish is done when the inside is no longer a dark shade of pink and the fish falls away from the fork very easily. Do not overcook the fish please it would literally ruin the entire meal. Everything else can cook as long as you need it it really won’t matter much.

TIP: Serve the potatoes on the plate first, and then the fish and lastly the brussel sprouts because the sprouts get cold quick and you don’t want to serve your love a cold dinner or you might get the cold shoulder.

Now you have all day to go pick up what you need! You better get to it!
Happy Valentine’s Day Sweet Hearts
sincerely
sp