3 creative Valentine’s Day dinners perfect for a date at home

Dating at home can also be very romantic, 5 simple dinner

Beef Short Rib Stew

Before we get into the details of the recipe, I should point out that if you don’t have a slow cooker, you can easily make this in the Instant Pot and it will turn out just as good. The crazy thing about this beef short ribs sauce is how much flavor it has.

I also love that you can put it over some goat cheese polenta or grits or mashed potatoes or pasta! It really depends on how you feel. It really just depends on how you feel. Right now, this is one of my go-to beef dishes, along with my braciole, Instant Pot Shredded Beef and Rigatoni al Forno!

Ingredient Notes

• Short ribs – boneless or bone-in short ribs both work. If you use bone-in, you need 3 lbs as opposed to 2 lbs. I usually buy boneless as that is what my grocery store serves.
• Mirepoix – the combination of onion, carrot, celery and garlic is the base for almost any braised recipe.
• Wine – you need a quality dry red wine as it helps dissolve the fats but also adds some acidity to bring balance to this short rib ragu recipe.
• Tomatoes – a store-bought is easiest but can also use homemade roasted tomato sauce. The tomato paste just adds an additional rich, tomato flavor.
• Parmesan rind – the secret ingredient to this sauce imparts extra umami and flavor, while also thickening the ragu.

Pasta with garlic and prawns

If you’re in Australia, you know that prawns and spring/summer go hand in hand. This simple, richly flavored garlic prawn pasta dish is a great way to eat prawns. No cream, just light and tasty. Pair this simple prawn pasta dish with a crunchy salad and you’ve got a perfectly healthy meal!

Ingredient Notes

• Prawns peeled and deveined. Tt’s important to buy uncooked prawns as we’ll be marinating them. This will get lots of flavour into the prawns and you’ll be amazed at how much of a difference just 5 minutes can make!
• Fresh parsley is a MUST in my books! It completely transforms and adds freshness to this dish. Make sure to only add them in the last 30 seconds to keep them fragrant.
• Lemon juice where possible, use fresh lemon juice. This will add that refreshing tang and works brilliantly with the prawns-parsley combo.
• Dried spaghetti is my choice of pasta, feel free to use any other pasta you like, such as linguine. If using fresh pasta (which takes minutes to cook), this dish will be done in 10 minutes!

Chicken Piccata with Gnocchi

Using some gnocchi, topped with some butter, lemon and a little wine would make everything so much better, because those cute little potato dumplings always make everyone happy

Ingredient Notes

• Gluten-free flour – Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Flour is my go-to flour of choice when dredging chicken cutlets. I’m sure other gluten-free all-purpose flours will work just as well though.
• Gluten-free gnocchi – There are several brands of gluten-free gnocchi but my favorite is DeLallo for both its taste and accessibility at most grocery stores.
• White wine – Use any white wine that you would also want to drink. Chardonnay is what I use in this recipe but any white wine you enjoy will work. Dry vermouth is also another great option.
• Capers – I love these little briny buds but if you prefer something else consider using green olives or even artichokes.