Her Rack (of Ribs)

His love for meat made her cook this meal out of her love for him. This is what she needed to make her rack (of ribs) taste delicious:

2 small racks of ribs

mustard

barbeque sauce

thyme

salt, pepper

Turn the oven onto grill mode (250 degrees). Rub salt and pepper onto the ribs. Then rub mustard and barbeque sauce onto the ribs and sprinkle thyme on top. Put the ribs on an oven grill with a tray underneath so that the marinade does not drop into the oven. Let the ribs stay on the rack for half an hour before putting them into the oven. Cover the ribs with tin foil and put them in the oven for 40 minutes. Remove the thin foil and put the ribs back in the oven for 20 minutes to make them look brown and crispy.

On the side she prepared a warm salad consisting of mushrooms and onions, fresh avocado and steamed asparagus. 

Salmon with Mustard and Lemon Marinade

It was a decision made at the store. When I saw those salmons fillets I immediately remembered the recipe that I inherited from my dad. It was my favorite  fish recipe (only one i know). So I said to her why don't I cook for you tonight -with romance in my heart...

Ingredients:

2 medallions of salmon

5 tbsp of mustard

1 lemon

2 cloves of garlic

Mixed pepper

Sea salt

A bundle of red spring onions

New spring potatoes

Here's how it goes:

Put the salt on both sides of the salmons. Into a separate bowl squeeze the juice out of the lemons. Add the mustard in and mix until dissolved. Grate the garlic and mix it in as well. Flip the salmons in the marinade that you just made (good job!).

Put the salmons onto a heated pan with oil. Cook on medium heat until they are almost done and then add the spring onions. Cook them until they are completely done. Put them onto a plate and eat (optional).

For the potatoes: Wash and boil them...

Avocado Affair

This was made simply out of her love for him avocados...

Avocado Spread

1 avocado

1 tbsp of lemon juice

200g of sour cream

1 clove of garlic

salt, pepper

Squish the avocados well with a fork. Add the lemon juice and spices to the mixture. Mix the sour cream and grated garlic. Add sour cream mixture to the avocado mixture. Serve with bread, crackers or chips and enjoy the Avocado Affair!

His Chips, Her Chicken Skewers

His Chips

So it all started by her saying lets make something healthy. So I thought to myself home-made chips should at least be healthier than store-bought ones. Here's how it goes:

Step 1: OWN A DEEP FRIER
Step 2: Peel potatoes (e.g.three?)
Step 3: Grate potatoes in to really really thin slices
Step 4: Fry them potatoes in 190 degrees until they are crispy, light brown (not black?)
Step 5: VERY IMPORTANT! Keep on tasting the chips until there is so little left and she is pissed!
Step 6: Take chips out onto a plate with paper towel on the bottom
Step 7: Sprinkle some salt on them (or other spices?)

Her Dip (that made the chips even more unhealthy)

200g of sour cream 

1 tbsp of ketchup

1 clove of grated garlic

Spices: paprika, pepper, all spice (assorted spice mix for red meat)

Her Chicken Skewers

Since he was making something completely UNhealthy, I decided to make chicken skewers and a dip for the chips. Here's how it goes healthily:

400g of chicken thigh pieces
Marinade: mustard, honey, garlic, lemon, oil
1 paprika
1 red onion
Skewers

Make the marinade for the chicken according to your taste. Let the marinated chicken rest in the fridge for an hour. Cut the paprika and onion into larger pieces. Put pieces of chicken, paprika and onion through the skewers. Cook in 200 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Parfait Quickie

He was in a hurry again when it came to making a desert. That's why she had to make cooking a quickie - Parfait Quickie. It was really simple. They chose the following ingredients:

Fresh, cold, smashed strawberries

Cookie crumbs (e.g. Digestive)

Grated white chocolate

Turkish yoghurt

Honey

Layer by layer they added the ingredients into tall glasses: strawberries, crumbs, chocolate, yoghurt, honey, crumbs, chocolate, strawberries, crumbs, chocolate, yoghurt, honey, crumbs, chocolate...

...well you get the idea. Then she added some simple decorations including a few whole strawberries. After this they let the parfait sit in the fridge for a while or well she did. He ate his straight away.

Here's what their Parfait Quickie looked like:

Couscous Controversy

After deciding to make couscous, the store trip became more controversial than intended. He would've been fine with just beef and couscous (or just beef). She insisted to buy mushrooms, thyme, cashews, onions, tomatoes and so on. It was decided (she decided) that they would make Beef Cashew Couscous, Tzatziki and Tomato Salad. While cooking she cut her finger. He knew that sharpening the knives had been a bad idea. Here's the dish she cooked while he whined about how long it took.

Beef Cashew Mix

480g of beef strips

200g mushrooms

1 bundle of spring onions

150g of cashew nuts

Oil, salt, pepper mix, thyme

Slice the mushrooms and chop the spring onions. Fry the cashew nuts slightly on a pan. Cook the beef strips in a bit of oil on a big pan and add the spices and thyme. Let the meat cook on low heat for 20 minutes to make it tender. Add the mushrooms and the cashew nuts to the meat. Let the mixture cook for 5 minutes. Then add the spring onions to the mix. Serve on top of the couscous.

Couscous

4dl couscous

4dl of beef stock

1tbsp of oil

Boil water and add a beef stock cube and oil to it. Take the pot off the heat and add the couscous into it. Stir and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Tzatziki

3dl of Turkish yoghurt

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cucumber

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of pepper

(fresh mint)

Grate the garlic and cucumber. Dry the excess water off the cucumbers. Mix garlic and cucumbers into the Turkish yoghurt. Add the salt and pepper to the mixture. Chop and add 3 leaves of fresh mint. 

At dinner she, he and his flatmate enjoyed the Finnish Summer weather in the yard. His flatmate gave her compliments on the food and asked her where she had learned to cook like this. He on the other hand was too hungry to bother.