b2@magic.UUCP (Bryan Bingham) (11/27/85)
About good meals to serve SOs: > I seem to recall advising someone on this net to cook his > best chili for someone, and now they're living together. . . Along the same lines, my husband served me chili the first time I ate dinner at his house back in our courting days. We got married about seven months later. Clearly the moral is: be careful who you serve your chili to (;-). Now our favorite romantic dinner (what he gets for Valentine's Day dinner) is a version of Shrimp Thermidor 1 lb. cooked, shelled, deveined shrimp 1/4 to 1/2 c. butter 1/2 lb. sliced fresh mushrooms 1/4 c. flour 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. dry mustard pinch of cayenne 2 c. milk grated Parmesan paprika Cook, shell, and devein the shrimp. If they're large ones, cut them in half. Preheat the oven to 400F. Melt the butter in a skillet, add the mushrooms, and saute for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, salt, mustard, and cayenne. Cook about 3 minutes more. Stir (or whisk) in the milk. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and smooth. Add the shrimp. Pour the mixture into a greased, shallow casserole dish. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan and paprika. Bake at 400F about 10 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown. This is a very rich dish, especially if you use the larger amount of butter. I usually serve it with plain rice and a green vegetable, and some relatively innocuous dessert like ice cream (NOT Amaretto Cheesecake, for example). A little sherry in the sauce is good, too. Gild that lily. b2 ( actually his wife, who is also b2 ) ihnp4!bellcore!b2