Recipes for love.

Hello and welcome to the Uwoo recipes for love page. Nothing says that you care more for somebody then going to the trouble of preparing a meal for them. Our dating expert is a very good cook and she wanted to share some of her quick fix meals that look good and taste even better. The focus of most of these recipes is simplicity and broad appeal, but she has also included some of her favourites that are a touch more tricky for those who are feeling adventurous. Our aim in providing these recipes to you is to give you examples of very simple yet good looking dishes that will serve you well.

We have tried to make our recipes simple and easy to follow, leaving you more time to relax and concentrate on the task at hand. That is setting the scene and focussing on enjoying yourself with your date.

We recommend that you ask your date not only what foods they like but in particular, what they do not like. This will help your meal to go more smoothly and avoid any awkward moments involving food that is not liked.

Please click on any item from the above menu to go straight to the recipe. Alternatively, scroll down to see all the recipes.

Prawn Cocktail

• 6 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 4 tablespoons Tomato Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon Worcester Sauce
• 1 crispy lettuce (or bag of pre shredded lettuce)
• 8 ounces of cooked and peeled prawns
• Ground black pepper
• 1 lemon

Mix the mayonnaise, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce until they are well combined. You should have a pink sauce. Shred the lettuce and us it to fill two small bowls. Mix the prawns with the pink sauce and spoon the resulting mixture on top of the lettuce. Be generous but do not overfill the bowls.Season with the black pepper and place a wedge of lemon at the side of the bowl. Another very simple yet very effective dish. You could also pep things up by sprinkling the top of the prawn mixture with cayenne pepper. What can we say but that this is a timeless classic - perfect dating food.

Easy Chicken

• 2 skinless chicken breast fillets
• 2 squares of aluminium foil
• Barbecue sauce - Heinz from a squeezy bottle is fine
• 4 ounces of grated cheddar cheese
• Pepper to taste

This is the simplest recipe ever and will produce results that will amaze you. Just place each chicken breast in the foil square and cover it with the barbecue sauce. Grind on some pepper to season - you do not really need to add any salt. Wrap the chicken tightly in the foil and place these parcels on a baking sheet and put in the middle of an oven at 180 degrees celsius for about 30-40 minutes. When cooked through, open the parcels and grate some cheddar cheese on top of the chicken. Return the opened parcels to the oven to just melt the cheese. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable of your choice. French beans are always a good choice. If you want maximum simplicity, we suggest you buy frozen mashed potato (it is as good as fresh) and go for vegetables that can be steamed in the microwave. As an extra tasty alternative, you could add some grilled smoked bacon before adding the cheese. Enjoy - this is one of my favourites, ridiculously easy and very tasty! This is so simple and looks impressive - a sure fire dating winner.

Note: 180c = 350f = Gas mark 4

Easy Chocolate Mousse

• 6 ounces of Plain Chocolate
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 1 tablespoon of rum or brandy
• 5 fluid ounces of double cream

You need a little basic cooking skill for this but it remains quite easy. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of just boiling water. As soon as it melts, remove from the boling water, beat the egg yolks in and add the alcohol. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and then fold into the chocolate mixture. Portion as required into sundae glasses and chill until set. Serve topped with whipped cream and some grated chocolate. If your partner can tolerate them, you could also include chopped nuts. Tip - keep to the recipe exactly and take care to measure correctly. Making good dessert is all about following the recipe to the letter. In particular, do not be tempted to add extra alcohol - if you do the whole thing will not work! A perfect recipe for chocoholic daters.

Melon and sorbet

• One galia melon
• One tub of raspberry sorbet
• Sparkling wine like cava (optional, but a nice touch)
• Demerera sugar

This one is a sure dating fire winner. It is tasty, healthy and very simple to put together. Get a ripe galia melon - you check for ripeness by smelling and touching the melon. A ripe melon gives off a distinct and very pleasant melon smell but remains firm when pressed. If the melon does not smell, it is not ripe. If the melon is soft, it is over ripe.

An average portion is a quarter of a melon. Cut your melon in half and remove all the seeds. Cut one half into eight equal pieces. You should have eight melon pieces that are crescent shaped. Arrange four pieces in a bowl and place a scoop of sorbet in the middle. For special touch, sprinkle the melon with demerera sugar just before serving. Alternatively, for a really nice touch, pour in a little sparkling wine in place of the sugar. These are just a couple of many alternatives with this really simple starter - experiment and enjoy!

Lemon Chicken

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 eggs
• Butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter
• Salt and pepper

Give your date an Italian experience to remember!

Pound chicken until tender and thin - I find the best way to do this is to loosely wrap the breast in cling film and bash it with a wooden rolling pin. Put the flour and egg in separate bowls - beat the egg and season the flour with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken breast with flour and dip it in the egg. Heat a large frying pan and put in a knob of butter. When the butter starts to foam, place the chicken in the pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken from the pan and place it on a baking sheet and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees celcius. To the frying pan add the garlic, white wine and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Add the butter and mix until melted. Remove from the heat. Serve by placing the chicken breasts on individual plates and drizzle the sauce over the top. I serve this with roasted italian vegetables that you can buy frozen and prepared, ready to slam in the oven.

Note: 180c = 350f = Gas mark 4

Easy trifle

• 1 packet of raspberry jelly
• 1 can of ready made custard
• 1/2 pint of whipping cream
• fresh raspberries(optional)

This one is very simple but sure to impress. Mix up the jelly according to the recipe on the packet. Prepare some trifle glasses or small bowls by putting a layer of fresh raspberries at the bottom (you can also use fresh or tinned raspberries but make sure they are well drained). Use the unset jelly to fill the glass to about half way. Put in the fridge and wait until set. Open the custard and use this to fill the glass to within an inch of the top. Whip the cream until firm and pile on top of each trifle. Decorate with chocolate flakes or nuts. Simple, tasty and can be prepared in advance - a dating delight.

Garlic bread

• One half size french bread
• Minced garlic-fresh or from a jar
• Butter(salted)
• Fresh parsley (optional)

Prepare the garlic butter in advance by mixing the butter and garlic in the following ratio: one teaspoon of minced garlic to 1 ounce of butter. For two people you should prepare two ounces of garlic butter but the actual ammount to use is really down to personal taste. Prepare the bread by slicing it into pieces that are about 2 centimetres wide. Try to cut at an angle to make the bread more attractive. Be sure that you do not slice right through the bread. Butter each cut in the bread on both sides, add some chopped parsley if you want and wrap the whole thing in foil. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for between 8 to 10 minutes. You will know when it is cooked by the fantastic smell coming from your oven.

Note: 180c = 350f = Gas mark 4

Cook steak properly

• Sirloin, fillet or rump steak
• Butter
• Salt and Pepper

You know which cut of steak you like the best, so buy the one you like. I prefer sirloin as I think it has the best flavour. Ask for the steak to be cut about 2 centimetres thick and look for steak that has a lot of small flecks of white fat spread evenly in the flesh. This fat melts when cooking and adds to the juicyness so important with steak. For a 2cm thick steak, the cooking times are:

• 5 minutes for rare
• 9 minutes for medium
• 13 minutes for well done

Put a good knob of butter in a frying pan and heat until the butter starts to foam but before brown flecks start to appear (when it will be burnt). Season your steak just before you put it in the pan with a good grind of pepper and a light sprinkling of salt. Place the steak in the frying pan and do not move it for one minute, Turn over and do the same for one minute. Then turn down the heat and cook each side evenly for the remainder of the time (i.e 1.5 minutes per side for a rare steak). Turn of the heat and let the steak rest for five minutes or more. Place foil over the pan to avoid excess heat loss if you want. I serve the steak by placing on a plate and dribbling some of the pan juices over the meat. Alternatively, return the pan to the heat and whisk some butter and water into the steak juices, to make a light sauce to serve with the steak. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable of choice or good old fashioned chips, peas and mushrooms.

Creme brulee

• 4 ramekins
• 200ml of double cream
• 200ml of single cream
• 3 egg yolks
• 50g of caster sugar
• 5ml of vanilla essence
• Demerera sugar

Put all the cream into a bowl suspended over a pan of hot water. Apply heat to the pan but do not allow the water to boil. Heat the cream until it starts to give off steam from the surface. In a separate bowl, beat together the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla and then pour the heated cream over the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Pour the mixture equally amongst the four ramekins. Place the ramekins in a roasting pan (or similar) and fill with water to half way up the sides of the ramekins. Bake in an oven at 150 degrees celsius for half an hour or until just set. Remove and allow to cool and then chill for several hours in the fridge (in fact it is best to make these the day before). About three hours before serving, sprinkle the brulees quite thickly with the demerera sugar and place under a very hot grill until the sugar begins to caramelise. Put back in the fridge for three hours. Alternatively, just before serving, use a blowtorch to caramelise the sugar.

This is a really great recipe to make in advance. It is quite rich though, so ensure that you match it with a lighter main course.

Note: 150c = 300f = Gas mark 2

Foil baked fish

• 2 large fish fillets
• 1 small carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 3 spring onions
• 1 lemon
• Fresh parsley
• White wine
• Salt and pepper

Choose the white fish that you like best for this. I really like pollack. Heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Make some squares out of tin foil - about a foot square will be OK. Place 1 fish fillet on a foil square. Finely chop the vegetables and mix them all togther. Portion them between the fish squares equally. Chop some parsley and sprinkle over each fillet. Top each fish fillet with lemon slices. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Fold the foil over the fish and crimp the edges together slightly to form a loose but watertight parcel. Leave a hole at the top to pour in a splash of wine (2 tablespoons should be plenty). Seal up the parcels, put them on a baking tray and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 15 to 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily.

Serve on its own as a starter or you can use it as a main course and serve with boiled new potatoes, french beans and hollandaise sauce. A healthy alternative is to serve with a salad.

Note: 180c = 350f = Gas mark 4

Pork chops with apple rings

• 2 pork chops
• 1 cooking apple
• light olive oil

Preheat your grill to medium. Brush the chops with the olive oil. Peel, core and slice the apple into rings that are approximately 5mm thick. Place the apple rings in one layer in the bottom of a grill pan (i.e under the wire grill grid). Put the chops on the grill grid and grill them for 10 minutes. Remove the chops and let them rest on a warm plate covered with foil. Place the apple rings on the grid and grill them until they are just brown on both sides. Portion the apple rings between the chops and serve.

You can serve lots of vegetable combinations with this, or even have a salad. I like mashed potato and roasted vegetables personally.

Belle Helene pears

• One small can of pear halves
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• 50g of plain chocolate
• knob of butter
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Basically this recipe is pears with ice cream and chocolate sauce - a combination which is fantastic.

Drain the pears. Portion some ice cream into a bowl or glass and add a pear half to each. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a bowl over warm water. When molten, mix in the milk and vanilla and pour onto the pears and ice cream. Serve immediately and enjoy