Wondering what to cook for dinner? The food options can be very varied, depending on what products you are going to use for preparing the evening meal and the amount of time. Dinner should be nutritious and contain a normal amount of proteins, fats and carbohydrates for the normal functioning of our body, because scientists have confirmed that dinner is no less important a meal than breakfast.
An excellent option would be to prepare a complex dish: stew or casserole. You can customize any of the recipes based on your personal preferences and availability of ingredients. If you are interested in the topic of delicious dinner: recipes, then in our article we will look at 5 dinner options that are perfect for both one person and the whole family, and are also suitable for those who have a little more time and for those who prepare dinner in a hurry.
Spaghetti bolognese
Bolognese got its name from the city of Bologna, famous for its culinary masterpieces. The city has been famous since the Middle Ages for its dishes - Bolognese sauce, unleavened dough products filled with tortellini meat, as well as many famous raw smoked and dried sausages.
Classic Bolognese sauce includes two types of meat - usually pork or beef, but there are also serving options with chicken, as well as vegetables, tomato paste, dry wine, spices, hard Italian cheese, and milk or cream. The meat sauce was served with spaghetti or added to lasagne.
An interesting fact is that initially the sauce was not served with spaghetti, but with ordinary egg noodles, but over time, when the sauce began to be served in luxury restaurants, the noodles were replaced by its more expensive counterpart - spaghetti pasta.
Let's start preparing the dish:
- Bacon – 100 g;
- Beef – 500 g;
- Celery – 100 g;
- White onion – 1 piece;
- Carrots – 1 piece;
- Garlic – 2 cloves;
- Olive oil – 2 teaspoons;
- Spaghetti – 400 g.
For the bolognese sauce:
- Canned tomatoes – 500 g;
- Fresh tomatoes – 200 g;
- Basil;
- Tomato paste – 2 tablespoons;
- Dry oregano – 1\2 teaspoon;
- Red or white dry wine – 150 ml;
- Parmesan – 200 g;
- Chili pepper optional.
Spaghetti bolognese
Preparation:
- Place a large sauté pan over medium heat and add 2 teaspoons olive oil.
- Finely chop the bacon and place it in a preheated saucepan, fry until golden brown.
- Reduce heat and add finely chopped onion, grated carrots, chopped celery, 2 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper to the bacon. Fry everything over low heat for 7-10 minutes, the vegetables should become soft.
- Add the minced meat to the saucepan and gradually increase the heat to medium, then cook for 5-6 minutes until the meat turns light brown.
- Carefully chop the basil leaves and add it along with canned tomatoes to a saucepan, then add dry oregano, tomato paste, wine and diced tomatoes. Mix everything with a wooden spatula, lightly pushing the tomatoes and turning them into a puree.
- When the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat and cover with a lid. Cook the sauce with the lid closed for an hour, stirring occasionally. You should get a thick sauce.
- As soon as the sauce is ready, add finely grated Parmesan cheese to the saucepan and mix thoroughly.
- 10-15 minutes before the sauce is ready, start boiling the spaghetti, then dry it, add the sauce and decorate the top with the remaining grated Parmesan and basil leaves. Bon appetit!
Baked potatoes with chicken in honey sauce
A wonderful and incredibly simple dinner recipe - you don't need many ingredients and only 15 minutes of free time to prepare the dish! For the recipe, you can use chicken fillet, thighs or legs - according to your taste.
What you will need to prepare the dish:
- Chicken thighs – 5-6 pieces or 300 g chicken fillet;
- Potatoes – 500 g;
- Red beans – 250 g (optional);
- Olive oil – 1 teaspoon;
- Garlic – 2 cloves;
- Liquid honey – 1/4 cup;
- Mustard – 5 teaspoons;
- Water – 2 tablespoons;
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Baked potatoes with chicken in honey sauce
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- Sprinkle chicken thighs with salt, pepper and garlic.
- Place a frying pan over medium heat and add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place chicken thighs in a preheated frying pan and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until a golden crust forms.
- Add 1/4 cup of honey, mustard and water to the same pan. Mix everything thoroughly and fry for another couple of minutes.
- Cut the potatoes into wedges and add them to the frying pan with the meat, add a little more salt and pepper and cover with a lid. Leave for 7-10 minutes. At this point you can add red beans.
- After this time, take out the meat and potatoes, put them in a baking dish and put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes until fully cooked, then serve - bon appetit!
Shakshuka
Shakshuka, how to cook, www.gastronom.ru
National dish of Israel. Shakshuka is scrambled eggs cooked with tomatoes, bell peppers and spices. These ingredients can be found in almost every refrigerator, which can be called an undoubted advantage of this tasty and quick recipe. Few people have heard of this dish, so you will be able to impress guests and make the usual menu more interesting. It can rightfully be called one of the best quick recipes.
What you will need to prepare 2 servings:
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- chicken egg - 2 pcs;
- large tomatoes - 1-2 pcs;
- sweet pepper - 1 piece (large);
- onion - 0.5 pcs;
- garlic - 2 cloves;
- cumin spice - to taste;
- salt, pepper - to taste.
Preparation:
- Prepare the onion, peel and chop.
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Cut sweet peppers and tomatoes into cubes.
- Prepare a frying pan and heat it up. Place chopped onion on it and fry until golden.
- Then add finely chopped garlic.
- Fry for a few more minutes.
- Add tomatoes and bell peppers.
- Add spices.
- Mix everything thoroughly and simmer for half an hour. The pan should be covered for the first few minutes and then cooked without it.
- During this time, almost all the juice from the vegetables should evaporate.
- Take a wooden spatula. Make “holes” for the eggs in the vegetable mixture. Beat an egg into each well. Add salt and pepper.
- You need to simmer covered for about 10 minutes.
- Serve hot with fresh bread.
Casserole with chicken and vegetables
An option for those who don’t want to spend a lot of time preparing dinner is a casserole. You can make a casserole from anything; we suggest you make a healthy, incredibly tasty casserole that is perfect as an option for the whole family. If necessary, replace products to suit your taste.
Ingredients needed for the casserole:
- Penne pasta (feathers);
- Broccoli – 1 head;
- Champignons – 300 g;
- White onion – 1 small piece;
- Olive oil – 2 teaspoons;
- Garlic – 4 cloves;
- Boiled chicken – 350 g;
- Flour – 3 teaspoons;
- Chicken or vegetable broth - 1 cup;
- Milk – 1.5 cups;
- Mustard – 1 teaspoon;
- Cheese – 100 g;
- Salt – 1\2 teaspoon;
- Black pepper to taste.
Casserole with chicken and vegetables
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
- Over medium heat, cook the pasta in lightly salted water until half cooked. A couple of minutes before this happens, add broccoli to the pasta, stir and boil. Once the pasta is ready, drain the water and dry the pasta and broccoli well.
- Place a large saucepan over medium heat, add 2 teaspoons of olive oil, heat and add finely chopped onion. Fry for 2-3 minutes, then stir and add sliced champignons and chopped garlic. Fry the vegetables for another 5-7 minutes until the mushrooms are completely cooked.
- After this time, add flour to the mushrooms and mix well so that the flour is evenly distributed over the vegetables. Cook for another 1.5-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add the broth and stir again, pour the milk into the saucepan, add mustard, salt and pepper. Cook until the mixture begins to boil, then remove it from the heat and immediately sprinkle with grated cheese. Stir and the sauce is ready!
- Pour boiled pasta, broccoli, champignon sauce, chopped chicken into a large baking dish and mix. If desired, sprinkle grated cheese and bread crumbs on top.
- Place the casserole in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until the cheese has melted.
We take the dish out of the oven and serve warm to the table - bon appetit!
Turkey meatballs
You will need:
- Turkey fillet – 350 grams;
- Onion – 1 pc.;
- Carrots – 1 pc.;
- Garlic – 1-3 cloves;
- Rice – 100 grams;
- Egg – 1 pc.;
- Vegetable oil - for frying;
- Salt and spices - to taste;
- Breadcrumbs or flour - 3 tbsp. l.
Peel and chop the onion, garlic and carrots, fry for a couple of minutes in a frying pan with a small amount of vegetable oil. Boil the rice in salted water until tender. Wash the turkey fillet, dry it and pass through a meat grinder. Combine the minced meat with rice and vegetables, add salt and spices, beat in the egg and mix everything until smooth. Form small balls with damp hands and roll them in a breading of breadcrumbs, flour or crushed corn flakes. Place the meatballs in the pan and fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides.
Risotto
Risotto is another incredibly popular Italian dish, which originates from the Lombardy region, namely the city of Milan. There are legends that risotto was accidentally served on the table of the Italian Duke, and it was a common experiment of the Duke’s personal chef, who initially tried to cook soup with rice, but all the water boiled away and only rice remained.
Over time, the recipe for risotto has changed, but its classic basis remains short-grain rice and a filling of meat, seafood or vegetables. The delicacy was seasoned with butter-based sauce, also adding many spices. We'll look at a recipe for risotto with vegetables and bacon (you can replace it with any other type of meat if desired), here's what you'll need to make it:
- Bacon – 200 g;
- White onion – 1 piece;
- Butter – 50 g;
- Rice – 350 g;
- White wine – 1/2 cup (optional);
- Tomatoes – 200 g;
- Chicken or vegetable broth – 500 ml;
- Cheese – 100 g.
Risotto
Preparation:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Place the saucepan on the fire, add vegetable oil. Finely chop the bacon or chicken, place in a saucepan and fry until golden brown. Finely chop the onion and place it together with butter in a saucepan, fry for 3-4 minutes over medium heat.
- Boil the rice until half cooked, then place it in a saucepan with the meat and mix gently. If you use wine, you need to add it at this moment and keep it on the fire for 5-6 minutes until it evaporates.
- Finely chop the tomatoes and add them along with the broth to the saucepan, cook until the water begins to boil.
- Remove the rice from the heat, transfer it to a baking dish, sprinkle grated cheese on top and place in the oven for 18-20 minutes.
- Remove the finished rice from the oven and serve. Bon appetit!
Chicken burrito
A burrito is a dish straight from Mexico, made from a soft corn or wheat tortilla filled with various vegetables (most often beans, tomatoes and onions) and meat. The burrito is seasoned with hot sauces like salsa, chili or sriracha. In recent years, the favorite sauce has been a sauce based on sour cream with the addition of green onions and garlic.
The Mexican burrito has many analogues - tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas and fajitas, which differ from each other only in the filling and type of preparation. A burrito that is deep fried is called a chimichanga and its recipe is very similar to the enchilada recipe. The dish is in great demand all over the world, and is also considered the “calling card” of Mexico.
There is a legend that it owes its origin to a Mexican merchant who sold food on the street. To keep food warm longer, he came up with the idea of wrapping it in wheat tortillas - the cost of such tortillas was unusually low, and the dish itself brought him fame throughout Mexico.
We're looking at a classic Mexican chicken burrito that only takes half an hour to prepare.
Ingredients you will need:
Tortilla – 2 pieces (you can use pita bread, but it should be very dense);
- Chicken fillet – 2 pieces;
- BBQ or chili sauce;
- Sour cream – 1 glass;
- Garlic – 3 cloves;
- Green onions;
- Canned beans – 200 g;
- Red onion – 1/4 pieces;
- Cheese – 100 g;
- Tomatoes – 2 pieces;
- Salad;
- Salt and pepper.
Chicken burrito
Preparation:
- Place the tortilla on a well-heated, lightly oiled frying pan and fry for 60 seconds on each side.
- Boil the chicken fillet, then cut into cubes or slices and place in a shallow bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of barbecue sauce, salt and pepper to the bowl. Stir and place the chicken in a preheated frying pan, fry for 3-4 minutes. Be careful not to burn the sauce!
- Make the sauce: in a small bowl, mix sour cream, finely chopped green onions and chopped garlic cloves, lightly whisk and set aside.
- Take the beans out of the jar and dry them. Cut the tomatoes and red onion into cubes, and tear the salad with your hands.
- Let's start assembling the burrito: first, carefully grease the tortilla with sour cream sauce, put lettuce on top, then tomatoes and onions, beans and fried chicken. Grate cheese on top, salt and pepper. Carefully roll up the tortilla.
The burrito can be served immediately or fried first - we wish you bon appetit!
Furniture and accessories
Even the largest balconies are a little cramped - so for a romantic dinner, compact furniture is ideally needed. For example, two chairs and a small table, which we suggest covering with a red tablecloth.
The table should not be crowded with everyone - there should be free space on it
There is not much space on the table - only for two plates, wine glasses and a candle. A miniature serving table is appropriate behind your back, where you can place a bottle of light alcohol, spare candles and containers with food. Find a place on the balcony for a blanket - if suddenly the object of your love freezes.
Quiet music will complement the atmosphere. It is preferable if there is a light instrumental or something quiet and sweet, for example, pop music from the 50-60s of the last century.
In the design, use more red, purple and pink colors - they have an exciting effect. And it’s better to give up cooling blue and green.
The final touch on the “romantic” balcony is flowers. And better alive. Read the article: How to make a flower garden on a loggia? A more unusual way to organize a romantic atmosphere on the balcony is to put a sauna there. And although it requires more preparation, it is worth it. Read how to make a sauna with your own hands at the link:
Men can please their significant other by combining a balcony with a kitchen. After which the woman will simply have to organize a romantic evening herself.
