Name: Playbook - Sarah Herse - Date Night In Dinner Ideas!
Uploaded: 2024-03-20T21:08:54.777Z
Duration: 45 min
Description: Date Night In Dinner Ideas!

Whether it's Valentine's day, your anniversary or just a regular Friday night; sometimes it's MORE special to stay in and cook with your loved one instead of going to a crowded, overpriced restaurant. Plus, if you make the food yourself, you have way more healthy options (without sacrificing flavor or fanciness.) Check out some of these ideas for inspiration!

This is one of my favorite home date nights with my husband! I won’t post all the recipes here (because they won’t fit) but most were from a simple google search!
Sushi rolls: these take work but are fun if you want more of an activity to do. You can do all sorts of combos here: veggie, fish, even meat! We made spicy tuna & an avocado/white fish/cucumber roll. 
Sashimi/Nigiri: If you don’t want to bother making the rolls you can just prep some fish, some sauce & some sushi rice.  You can make a simple Asian sauce with soy sauce (or coconut aminos), sesame oil, garlic, red pepper flakes & rice vinegar. 
Crudo: There are many different combos here, but I like really bright, fresh flavors paired with a light fish.  
Seaweed salad: you can buy this pre-made, or make your own! 
Blistered shishito peppers: (See my recipe section for how I make this) I made a Greek yogurt/miso paste dip this time. 

There are so many options here that you can play with based on your likes & preferences!

Sushi night at home!

This was such a decadent yet healthy meal! The recipe was inspired by one on Food52.com (Written by Thirschfeld) 
1.	Prep 2 swordfish steaks by generously salting & putting in fridge (~1 hour prior)
2.	Preheat oven to 400 F
3.	For the crust, grind 1 TBSP of black peppercorns & 1 TBSP fennel seeds. I did this with a mortar & pestle but you can use a grinder. 
4.	When you’re ready to cook, coat one side of the steaks with the spices
5.	Heat a pan with some oil over medium heat and place steaks rub side down. 
6.	Steaks will start to brown; flip & cook other side as well until steak is medium rare
7.	For the carrots & fennel, I cooked in a sous vide with a TBSP of butter & fresh tarragon and finished in the sauté pan for about a minute. If you don’t have a sous vide, I would slice them, coat with oil, salt & pepper and roast in the oven at 400 for ~40 min.
8.	Finish steaks in the oven for about 8 min at 400 (you can add some butter on top before roasting for extra flavor)
Then Enjoy!

Peppercorn & Fennel-Crusted Swordfish

I made this the other night and it was the perfect blend of fancy & healthy. If you're looking for some Valentine's Day dinner inspo, this would be amazing.

Ingredients: 

- 2 cups of chopped kale
- 1/2 Red onion 
- 2 Tbsp. walnuts
- 2 Tbsp. blue cheese
- 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil 
- Salt & pepper to taste
-  2 Carnival or acorn squash 

Instructions:

1. Prepare squash - brush with oil, salt & pepper and bake for 45 minutes at 400F
2. Sauté Stuffing - Cook the onion in a pan until soft, then add kale and cook for another couple minutes until wilted, then add blue cheese, walnuts & vinegar to the mixture
3. Stuff into the center of the squash
4. Bake in oven again for 10 minutes
5. Enjoy with your favorite steak & red wine (optional)

Roasted Stuffed squash with steak

I made this a couple nights ago and it was amazing! The perfect healthy winter meal that looks fancy but is super easy to cook. I was shocked that you could actually eat the orange with the peel on.  (This was inspired by a recipe on Food52)

The salmon I bought frozen online from Moink.  I can't always find good local salmon so I recommend ordering it needed!

Instructions:

1. Slice one red onion, one fennel bulb, a few beets (I used golden) and one orange. Make sure the orange is thinly sliced so the peel isn't too tough to eat.

2. Toss with olive oil and salt

3. Roast in oven at 400F for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Sear salmon in nonstick pan over medium-high heat with cooking oil, a little juice from the orange (and citrus salt if you have it). 
*I did about 2 minutes on the skin side and 1 minute on the flesh side. (May need to adjust depending on size of filet)

5. Remove veggies from oven and serve alongside your salmon.

Squeeze orange on the salmon & enjoy!

Seared Salmon with roasted oranges & winter veggies

This is my favorite way to cook a whole chicken. It will come out juicy, evenly cooked & with crispy skin!

Recipe from Kenji Lopez-Alt

Step 1: Cut Out the Backbone using poultry shears
Step 2: Spread the Chicken and flip so it’s skin side up
Step 3: Press and Crack the Breastbone until chicken lies flat
Step 4: Tuck the Wings behind the breast (not pictured in video but will help prevent burning)
Step 5: Cover chicken with neutral cooking oil & seasoning
Step 6: Roast at 450 F for about 45 minutes  (depending on size)

Spatchcocked Chicken (for even cooking & crispy skin)

Date Night In Dinner Ideas!

Protein Cereal Bars (only 4 ingredients!)

Breakfast Series: - Breakfast Pizza: 2 Ways

Summer Salad Series: The Best Crunchy Ramen Salad

Second time making this salad and this time I used TJ's pre made lentils because I was feeling lazy. Such a good lunch combo bc I kept the chicken, cauliflower and lentils in separate containers and brought a bag of spinach and shredded carrots to work EZ work lunch

Date Night In Dinner Ideas!

More workouts from Sarah Herse