Cooking to Impress: Dishes to Make an Impression

Let's face it, cooking is the way to anyone's heart - man, woman, or child. And when that particular person is someone you'd very much like to impress, then the question of what to make becomes of the utmost importance! Here are a few of our favorite "dress to impress" dishes. What are yours?

1. Duck Breast with Black Olive Risotto - This dish is a two-for-one deal! First you get delicious duck, which is impressive because most people don't make or eat it outside of restaurants. And then you get risotto, which has a reputation for being luxurious and labor intensive (even if it's not!).

2. Roasted Chicken - A crispy, golden roast chicken never fails to make a big impression when you carry it out of the kitchen. You really can't go wrong with a classic like this!

3. Pan-Seared Sockeye with Porcini Mushrooms, Red Bell Peppers, and Sea Beans - Fresh fish always seems like a luxury to us! This recipe is easily adaptable to whatever fish is local and in season.

4. Fresh Pasta with Mint Pesto, Peas, and Ricotta Salata - Homemade pasta, and you've already hit it out of the park. Topping it with a fresh pesto and some salty cheese is just extra insurance! Our other favorite impressive pasta dish is butternut squash, sage, and browned butter.

5. Goat Cheese Tart with Roasted Eggplant, Zucchini, and Caramelized Onions - Impressing a vegetarian (if you aren't one) can feel intimidating. Not with gorgeous individual tarts like this!

What about dessert, you say? Well, what about a chocolate walnut tart? Homemade ice cream is always a winner, as well. And personally, we can’t resist a little chocolate mousse.

What dishes do you serve when you want to make an impression?

(Images: See linked posts for full image credits)

Comments (16)

couscous stuffed, mozzarella topped tomatoes.

My latest dish(es) to impress went a little something like this:
Amberjack sashimi with red grapefruit and cucumber "mignonette"
Indian-spiced cod wrapped in grape leaves
Licorice ice cream parfait, with cumin tuile and spiced caramel syrup

Pictures here</a href>. Yes, I know normal people do not cook like this.

My boyfriend made me Beef Wellington one time, and I was SO impressed, because it was delicious and he doesn't cook very often.

A beautifully cooked steak is one of my go-to impressive dinners - mostly for when I want to "impress" upon my fiance how lucky he is. ;)

Because I'm often unsure whether given guests eat meat or not, I have 2 go-to recipes that look special but can be enjoyed even by vegans. One is orecchiette pasta with swiss chard, beets, and goat cheese rounds (coated with herbs and fresh bread crumbs, drizzled with olive oil, and baked until warmed through). The other is spring risotto (with peas, artichokes, asparagus, mint, and lemon) with grilled shrimp. Both the goat cheese and the shrimp are prepared in separate pans and can be served on the side (or not at all) depending on people's tastes.

And chocolate mousse never fails - whipping cream by hand in front of guests at the last minute always seems to impress (even though it's actually really easy).

I agree on the roast chicken. So simple but when you can do it perfectly it's so impressive. Another I do is french omelets. Doing them made to order with two or three pans going on the stove top at the same time takes practice but it's worth it. I like to do simple things, executed perfectly. That to me is more impressive than elaborate preparations.

I have discovered that it the most fun to impress my little girl--and very, very easy. When I make something she particularly likes, she applauds and says "Yay!" How nice is that? This weekend she stuck a sticker on my shirt and told me very seriously, "You've been making a lot of good things lately, Mommy. Keep that up and I'll give you another sticker."

"Impressive" dishes (for a 4 year old) are Spanish tortilla (especially if she can watch the flipping from a safe distance), buckwheat pancakes, fried rice, and any dessert at all.

I make a fantastic Cream of Mushroom soup that makes people swoon, especially my husband. I serve that with fresh sourdough bread and butter. For dessert, I serve Lemon pudding, which my husband just dies for.

Wild mushroom risotto always impresses and it's so easy. Ditto for roast chicken and fresh fish. Gotta get the homemade pasta down.

Mom's homemade apple pie. Also Mom's special chocolate cake with bananas.

@ericahd, um, neither of those are vegan dishes. Vegan means no animal products whatsoever. Vegetarian maybe.

When I'm "dressing to impress" food-wise, it's often with dessert rather than dinner. I have a beautiful three layer lemon cake that I just adore.

My folks gave me a recipe for pork wellington, too, which is dead easy and amazing. That one'll go on the "Impressive (ly easy)" list for sure!

Whoops! I ddn't see that you separated those out, sorry.

Jamie Oliver's Fifteen Christmas salad. It consists of rocket, clementines, a simple vinaigrette, buffalo mozzarella, proscuitto, lemon, parmesan and mint. It is delicious & sure to impress. I have also substituted the citrus with fresh figs or pears. Which brings me to another favourite - poached pears, gingerbread (Williams Sonoma has a good recipe) and the best quality vanilla ice cream. Fantastic (and easy) dessert for entertaining.

Julia Child's Coq au Vin; Bud's Sunday Roast Chicken with spoonbread; leg of lamb stuffed with olives, bread, pinenuts and herbs ; really good Argentinian grass-fed beef steaks; root vegetables Diane; ricotta gnudi; goulash...

I am sooo trying eprewitt's menu, since the thought of it is enough to make me swoon...

It's summer here so we've had a lot of backyard potluck bbq/grill evenings. BBQs here are generally 1 plate piled high with meat and salad with bread on the side. No dessert.

Everyone seems to be brining a pack of meat or a salad so I've taken to preparing fresh pineapple marinated in butter, sugar and cinnamon. This is grilled to perfection after dinner and served with vanilla ice cream.

Goes down very well.

Crustless ham tarts are just about the easiest thing I've ever made for brunch and impressed the heck out of my guests. Recipe and pictures here: http://www.nycnomnom.com/post/413473667/crustlesss-ham-and-egg-tarts

My entree to impress is Marcella Hazan's rolled, stuffed, pasta. I make a fresh ball of pasta, roll it out to one large piece and then slather it with a mix of fresh ricotta, spinach, diced prosciutto, onions, egg, etc. Then roll the whole thing into a tube, wrap it in cheese cloth and boil. Then slice, put in tray over a little bechamel, tomato sauce on top, bake, serve.

She liked it so much she married me.