Date Night at home can be one of the most intimate and special dates of all. Skip the fancy reservations, stay in the comfort of your home and cook a romantic dinner for two. This exquisite date night at home recipe of mine will impress your significant other. It is easy to prepare together or ahead of time.
This is a sponsored post for the Ohio Beef Council.
To make date night at home special and not like every other dinner, you need to put a little more effort forth. Set aside time alone (when kids go to bed or hire a sitter), create a romantic atmosphere, and cook a special meal.
I like to cook fine cuts of meat for date night at home. It can be quite costly to order finer dishes at restaurants but more attainable when cooked at home. One such cut of meat is veal. Veal is an extremely lean and tender cut of meat that is easy to prepare and instantly adds sophistication to any dish.
My Roasted Veal Chops with Tomatoes and Peppers Over Cauliflower Mash Recipe is perfect for date night at home.
Roasted Veal Chops with Tomatoes and Peppers Over Cauliflower Mash Recipe
| Servings |
- 2 Veal Chops 6-8 oz each, 1-1/2" thick
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 5 garlic cloves divided
- 1 can cherry tomatoes Italian preferred
- 3 bells peppers red, yellow, and orange preferred
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp Capers drained
- 1/4 tsp paprika smoked preferred
- 1/2 tsp black pepper freshly ground preferred
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/2 cup Chicken broth
- 1/2 tbsp butter unsalted
- fresh chives for garnish optional
- 1 head cauliflower medium
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp ½butter
- course kosher salt
Ingredients
| |
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium head.
- Add peppers, saute until skins start to brown.
- Add 2 tbsp water and 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning.
- Add 1 glove crushed garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes, drained capers, paprika, and season with course kosher salt and pepper.
- Keep warm, serve over Veal Chops and Cauliflower Mash.
- Tenderize veal chops with a meat mallet.
- Preheat oven to 400° F.
- In heavy skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat.
- Add Veal Chops and sear 3-4 minutes per side until veal chops have a good brown seal on both sides. Reserve oil and veal bits in skillet.
- Transfer Veal Chops to baking sheet, place in oven to roast until chops reach desired doneness. Roast for about 10 minutes for medium-rare (135°F) or 20-25 minutes for medium-well (155°F).
- To the reserved oil in skillet from Veal Chops, add wine, stirring constantly over medium heat, scraping up all the browned bits of veal from the bottom.
- Add chicken stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until sauce thickens to your desired consistency.
- Add 1/2 tbsp butter to sauce before serving over veal.
- To prepare cauliflower mash:
- Put 4 cloves garlic in salted water and bring to boil.
- Add cauliflower florets, reduce heat to medium and cook until cauliflower and garlic are tender and soft, about 10 minutes.
- Drain cauliflower, making sure to remove excess water.
- Place cauliflower, garlic, butter, buttermilk, salt to food processor and process until smooth and creamy.
- Season salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chives, if desired.
- Plate the Veal Chops over the Cauliflower Mash. Spoon sauce over Veal Chops. Top with tomato and peppers dish.
This extra special dinner if full of amazing flavor with wonderfully tender veal and vegetables bursting with flavor. This recipe contains flavorful ingredients that are readily available year-round.
Veal chops are succulent no matter how you prepare them. Don’t fear preparing this delicate meat as it is easy to prepare and super tender no matter how you prepare it. The key to cooking veal is to not overcook it. Savor the flavor of this extremely lean meat. Although very flavorful, it is a healthy choice with only 5.6 grams of fat and 160 calories per 3 oz serving.
Once reserved for the elite, veal is readily available at supermarkets in a variety of cuts. It is perfect for date night and special occasions. My children enjoy veal just as much as my husband and I do. It is a succulent cut of meat that is perfect every time. With ta higher price tag than beef, portion control is key to being able to enjoy this decadent meat more often. 
My Roasted Veal Chops with Tomatoes and Peppers Over Cauliflower Mash recipe is served with a hearty assortment of colorful and flavorful vegetables.
Although I enjoy cooking, for date night, I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen. To make this recipe quick and easy without sacrificing taste, I use canned tomatoes and saute the peppers instead of roasting both in the oven. Buying a quality imported Italian canned cherry tomato is very important for this dish as they are already roasted and full of flavor. My husband and I really enjoy sauteed peppers, so I use 3 full size peppers for this recipe. You may want to scare it down to 2.
For date night, you’ll want to prepare enough food to be full but not a heavy meal. Adding a cauliflower mash instead of heavy mashed potatoes keeps this dish lighter while still filling. Don’t be afraid to try this trendy mashed potato alternative. Prepared with buttermilk, this cauliflower mash has amazing flavor.
Three simple elements come together for a sophisticated date night at home dinner that will easily impress your significant other.
Veal is a “white” meat, however it is commonly paired with both white and red wine. For a dish like mine, a white wine is preferred. If you chose to add a rich batter to your veal chops, a red wine would be suggested.
Date night at home is all about making dinner special. Preparing a special meal is key.
Setting the mode is also highly important. You don’t want dinner to feel like any other ordinary dinner with the family. Set the mode with dimmed lights, fragrance-free candles, your nicest dinnerware, cloth napkins, romantic music, and fresh flowers. This will tell your spouse that you value and appreciate your time together.
It is important for couples to spend quality time together for date nights. Married couples can easily get caught up with the demands of daily life. Add children to the mix and date nights can get quite difficult. Do your marriage a favor and set aside time weekly to focus on your spouse with date night. A date night in makes weekly date nights more easily attainable while still reaping all the benefits.
Don’t be afraid to try a finer cut of meat like veal on date night to make dinner extra special. You don’t have to be an expert chef to crate a delicious veal meal like my recipe. Ethically raised veal produces tender, delicate cuts of meat that will instantly make your date night meal special.
Veal farmers across the United States pay extra special attention to the feeding and treatment of the veal calves. They live indoors, protected from the elements in group pens where they can socialize while being fed a highly nutritionally-balanced milk or soy-based diets that contain iron and 40 other essential nutrients.
Find more romantic recipes on the Ohio Beef Council website. Check out other date night ideas.
Once dinner is over, continue date night with a movie, board game, or pour another glass of wine and let the conversation continue to flow.