Treat Valentine’s Day like a dinner for two

No one should go out for Valentine’s Day dinner this year, but that doesn’t mean you should resign yourself to take-out styrofoam shells or greasy pizza boxes. (Eating pizza straight out of the box is a gimmick, but not romance gimmick.) Whether you’re cooking your meal or calling it, treating the evening like dinner for two will ensure you have a special tone and attentive .

Basically, if it’s a move you made for dinner, you should take it out for the dinner you’re serving on February 14th. Dinners are all about impressing people with your maturity and thoughtfulness, which is a vibe that should be extended to your Valentine’s Day, who is – more than likely – the person you’ve been with almost consistently for a year. Attention to detail can be a language of love and make it feel like a meal at home different, even if you haven’t left this house for more than 11 months.

Set the table

If you have “good” dishes, use them. If you have kids, ban them for the evening so you don’t have to worry about them breaking the nice plates (have them watch a movie or put them to bed early). However, don’t use plates that are so beautiful that you can’t put them in the dishwasher, or plates that are so beautiful that you feel anxious to eat them. It’s supposed to be fun, after all.

Once you have chosen the plates, you can focus on the rest of the table. Placemats, napkins and, yes, candles are all things that make the meal more intentional and thoughtful. I also recommend place cards, although there are only two places at the table. Write your Valentine’s name on a cute little card or – better yet – a clementine (get the kind with leaves still attached if you can), place it in front of their chair, and watch their faces light up in the background. adorable edible detail.

Heat your plates and cool your glasses

If you’re going to go to the trouble of cooking a nice, medium-rare steak or mixing a perfectly chilled and diluted martini, you might as well do the extra step of serving them in or on a container that won’t negatively affect their temperature. one way or another. For the plates that will be decorated with hot dishes, just put them in an oven at low temperature (as low as possible) on a baking sheet for a few minutes just before serving. (It’s a great brunch too – few things ruin a hot egg like a cold plate.)

If you are serving a salad, put the salad plates in the refrigerator (for 20 minutes) from the freezer (if you’re in a rush) to help keep your veggies fresh and crisp. This may not be necessary, depending on the temperature you keep in your home, but it is useful if your plates are cool and hot from the dishwasher.

If you’re serving cocktails, white wine, or even diet coke, put a few fancy glasses in the freezer while you prepare the meal. It’s a particularly enjoyable move – some might say “crucial” – if you’re sipping martinis, which are at their best when frozen.

Learn some sophisticated plating tips

I didn’t expect the nifty plating to be one of the things I’ve missed during this pandemic, but it is – the crisp white plates with their negative space and carefully placed toppings. miss me. People really do eat first with your eyes , and while carving mashed potatoes might seem silly at the time, it does feel good on the plate. If you’re uncomfortable with this amount of bourgeois decadence, at least finish your dish with a squeeze of lemon, a squeeze of good olive oil, or sprinkle with fresh herbs and crunchy stuff,.

Don’t forget the butter (and the good salt)

A large amount of butter at room temperature is what separates my favorite bread restaurants from the rest. If a waiter brings me butter topped with some sort of salt flake, I’m his for the night and will follow them to hell, or at least to the more expensive pages of the wine list. It’s a powerful move, that’s what I’m saying, and you can harness its power by putting in some good butter (which is different from your everyday butter), a good salt (Maldon or something similar) and a pepper mill full of whole peppercorns.

If your meal or Valentine’s Day calls for condiments, pickles or gravy, make sure you have it all out before dinner so no one has to leave the table, and clean bottles and lids of these condiments before displaying them. You can also transfer them to cute little bowls with nice serving spoons, but cleaning the hot sauce bottle should be enough.

Discuss the division of labor beforehand

If you’re presenting the meal as a ‘gift’, cleaning up the mess you make in the kitchen should be one of them. One of the best things about going out for Valentine’s Day is not cleaning anything up, so don’t put an unexpected chore on your partner or spouse.

If the meal is a combined effort, divide the work before February 14. Decide who makes the main course, who makes the dessert, and who is responsible for the drinks schedule, piped music and cleaning in advance so as not to end up bickering at a supposedly romantic evening. Do this even if you have take out. Throwing the take-out plastic container in the dishwasher after dinner isn’t as difficult as cleaning the grease from a cast-iron pan, but it’s still a request, and you might want to ask for it. other after-dinner activities instead.