Gone are the days of home cooked meals for special occasions. First date- eat out, Anniversary- fancy restaurant, Birthday- favourite restaurant and so on. We are so spoiled by restaurants in every city, town and village that we are letting the act of making a loving home-cooked meal vanish off into the past. At Silver Mushroom we love going to eat out as much as the next person, but there are so many advantages to being able to whip up a delicious meal for a loved one or even just for your self, who doesn’t love a bit of self care?
Whether you were never taught as a child, cooking just isn’t your thing or you feel like it’s expensive to cook a 3 course dinner your self, we are here to help!
Remember, baking is a science but cooking is an art! Simply put, unlike baking when you’re cooking you can get creative and stray from the recipe as much as you like and you’re pretty much guaranteed to end up with an edible meal. If you were to get this creative when baking, chances are you’ll end up with a very questionable cooked lump of ingredients that marginally resembles a cake.
This 3 course dinner is for the seafood lovers out there, for the starter we’ll be making Scallops with Chilli & Garlic, for the main course we have creamy Salmon pasta and for desert the most indulgent Chocolate Soufflé with Magnum’s..
Difficulty level: Easy!
**All these recipes serve 2 generous portions**
Starter: Scallops with Chilli & Garlic
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 24 mini scallops or 8 normal sized ones
- 3 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 finely chopped red chilli
- Juice of 1 lime/lemon
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
Method:
- Prepare the garlic and chilli and set to one side.
- Heat the oil in a large non stick frying pan, medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot enough add the scallops and fry for about 1 minute on one side until golden, then turn over and add the chopped garlic and chilli.
- Cook all together for an additional minute then add the lime/lemon juice.
- Divide between two plates, season and garnish with coriander.
Main Course: Creamy Salmon Pasta
Ingredients:
- 200g smoked salmon torn into small chunks
- 200g Spaghetti
- 180ml Heavy Cream
- 80ml White Wine
- 2 sprigs of Fresh Dill
- 1 tsp Fresh Dill, finely diced
- 1 heaped tbsp Fresh Parsley, finely diced + extra for serving
- 2 small Shallots, finely diced
- 2 cloves Garlic, finely diced
- 1 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- small pinch of Chilli Flakes
- Lemon Juice, to taste
- Parmesan, to serve
- Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
- Olive Oil for frying
Method:
- Firstly cook Spaghetti until al dente, reserving a cup of starchy pasta water and set aside.
- In a large frying pan heat butter over a medium-high heat until browned
- Lower heat and fry shallots, then add garlic for another minute or so.
- Pour in your wine, deglazing the pan as necessary. Leave to simmer for a minutes to reduce, then stir in your cream. It’s important to reduce the wine so it burns off the alcohol and doesn’t end up too bitter.
- Add dill, parsley, a small pinch of chilli flakes and a very small splash of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
- Toss in the salmon and stir. Use the pasta water to thin out sauce as necessary.
- Add cooked pasta and stir to coat with the sauce, serve with an extra sprinkle of parsley and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
**Feel free to add in some chopped mushrooms or peas, simply add them in at step 3**
Dessert: The Ultimate Chocolate Soufflé
Ingredients:
- Baking Paper
- String
- 25g butter
- 35g muscovado sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 150g Nutella
- 3 mini Magnums
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease the 3 ramekins and line with sugar.
- Wrap the baking paper around the ramekins and staple and tie with string.
- Separate the egg whites and beat them until they stand in stiff peaks
- In a separate gently mix the yolks and Nutella with one spoonful of egg whites. Stir well until combined.
- Very carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites and spoon into the ramekins.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Once finished remove the paper.
- Place a mini Magnum into the Soufflé and enjoy!
So there you have it, a delicious 3 course meal that is actually very straight forward and quick to make. Great for a cheat day or an indulgent date night! Let us know if you make this recipe, we’d love to hear your thoughts!
