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Valentine’s Dinner for Two, 2013 edition

Happy Valentine’s week, lovers!  Are you all prepped and ready to shower your honey with love this Thursday?  Will you be spending the day of love curled up on the couch with a box of chocolates? Out at a restaurant enjoying a fancy meal?  Drowning yourself in a margarita?  Those all sound like wonderful options to me.

Personally, I think there’s little else that’s more romantic than having a home-cooked meal with that special someone.  Now, as much as I love a fancy-schmancy meal, I really don’t like to spend hours slaving away in the kitchen.  (Because what’s romantic about sweating over the stove for hours while your sweet-baboo watches basketball?  That’s right: nothing.)  So my M.O. for cooking a Valentine’s meal is this: make it delicious, and keep it simple (and not too heavy.  Feeling sickly-full is not romancey.)

So, in keeping with the hot-and-spicy theme of the holiday, I’ve got a delicious meal for you to make for your loved one.  It’s full of flavor, takes very little effort (but still seems fancy), and pairs wonderfully with a margarita.  Convinced yet?  Let’s get cooking!

Chili-Rubbed Salmon Tacos with Apple-Cucumber Salsa and Lime Crema

adapted from Food & Wine

serves 2 (makes about 6 tacos)

salmon

Tacos:

  • Two 1/3 lb boneless, skinless salmon filets (preferably wild-caught)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • 6 corn tortillas (try to find good, handmade corn tortillas — it really makes a difference!)
  1. Combine sugar, chili powder, and orange zest in a small bowl.  Drizzle salmon with olive oil, then rub with spice mix.  Let sit 5 minutes (or you can just pop it back in the fridge at this point until you’re ready to cook off the fish.  When you’re ready to cook the fish, complete steps 2-4, below.)
  2. Heat oven to 350°.  Wrap tortillas in foil and bake just until warmed through, about 10 min.
  3. Heat olive oil in a grill pan on medium-high heat.  Add salt to both sides of salmon, then add fish to the grill pan.  Sear fish on both sides until cooked through, about 3 minutes per side.
  4. Place fish onto plate, then break apart into pieces.

photo 1

Salsa:

  • 1/2 granny smith apple, diced
  • 1/2 small or 1/4 large english cucumber, diced
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced
  • 3/4 tbsp. white wine vinegar
  • 3/4 tsp. sugar
  • salt
  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stir to combine.  Add salt to taste. (Feel free to make this ahead of time and store it in the fridge — it keeps well.)

photo 2

Lime Crema:

  • 1-2 tbsp. mayonnaise
  • 1 tsp. freshly-squeezed lime juice
  1. Combine mayo and lime in a small bowl, stir to combine.

taco preptacoTo put these tacos together, here’s what I like to do:

  1. Take a warmed tortilla, and smash 1/6 of an avocado in the middle (the avocado part is completely optional).
  2. Add 1/3 of one of the salmon filets (broken apart into pieces).
  3. Drizzle with a little lime crema.
  4. Top with apple-cucumber salsa.
  5. Eat it up, then wash it down with a margarita.

What’s especially awesome about this meal is that you can make everything ahead of time and just sear the fish and warm the tortillas 10 min before you’re ready to eat.  (But even if you don’t, total prep time is about 10 min otherwise.)  Like I said, easy-peasy.

Wouldn’t it be romantic to come home and have your sweetie hand you a margarita, then lay out this this spread for dinner?  Yum yum.

And here’s a complete shopping list, to make things even easier:

  • corn tortillas (taco size, preferably handmade)
  • two 1/3 lb. boneless, skinless salmon filets (preferably wild-caught)
  • chipotle chili powder
  • sugar
  • 1 orange (for zest)
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • 1 ripe avocado (optional)
  • 1 granny smith apple
  • 1 English cucumber
  • 1 small red onion
  • white wine vinegar
  • 1 lime
  • mayo

I hope your Valentine’s Day is muy caliente.

3 thoughts on “Valentine’s Dinner for Two, 2013 edition

  1. Pingback: Date Night at Home Ideas: Dinner | Go for 30

  2. Pingback: Meal for Two: Hawaiian-Style Salmon (with bok choy and brown rice) | Go for 30

  3. Pingback: Valentine’s Ideas: Dinner for Two | Go for 30

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