Depends, if I'm cooking Texmex a can of chipotles in adobo sauce.

Sweets? A little bit of vanilla goes a LONG way. And I make my own with everclear and ordered pods split in half.

Butter cihicken or Green curry. I make and sell DIY Butter Chicken kit and I make frozen green curry paste.

Chilli. I make it ask fancy and indulgent with beer and ghost pepper and sometimes corn.

But would you be interested to know I made my ex pancakes after our first hookup?

I buy something, put it in a Tupperware, and act like I made it.

My go-to is probably a dijon-marsala pork tenderloin.

Coat a tenderloin in Dijon mustard and brown it. Toss it in the oven for 20ish minutes. Use a meat thermometer. Meat production safety is getting iffy these days.

In the same pan, sautée a shitload of finely-diced shallots in butter. Pour in equal parts cream and marsala wine. Reduce it by about half and add more Dijon until it tastes good.

Slice the meat and drown it in tasty sauce.

As you can see, I do this meal a lot. It also costs me about $300 every time I do it.

I make a pretty mean brisket in my pressure cooker.

Ideally, I'd smoke some salmon or steelhead, but I haven't had a smoker for a few years.

I didn't have someone to impress for years now, so I can't add much. I just wanted to say that I'd be down for some test-impressing for most of the recipes shared so far, in case you want to try it first. It's a free service I offer.

Lasagna and garlic bread. But not just a can of sauce and ricotta. You have to do the full bolognese slowly cooked for hours, hand made noodles, bechamel instead of ricotta, and just a sprinkling of pecorino in each layer with the bechamel.

Shakshuka, Japanese curry, or misir wot if I can be bothered to pick up injera for it.

Shakshuka is the easy answer tho. Hard to beat.

Steak, usually Entrecote. Or if there are enough guests to justify it, pork belly roast.

I know the secret to making a triple decker grilled cheese :-)

And my gf says she can make homemade alfredo or homemade meatballs.

Southern style savory cornbread

Black-eyed peas

Turnip Greens

It sounds like a really basic meal, and by most definitions it is, but it is so delicious.

i do a mean picatta. The classic (in the US where i'm located) is chicken but if i'm trying to impress i make it with fish (rockfish ideally since i'm on the West Coast) or chicken of the woods mushroom (in the right season). For anyone unaware, you flatten your chicken (or mushroom, skip this step for fish), season and dredge with flour, brown it a bit in oil, then simmer in a butter/lemon/caper sauce with a little white wine to help deglaze the pan. Top with chopped parsley.

If you are making the COTW mushroom version you need to slice and simmer in broth for an hour before you begin. Any broth works

serve with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. An American classic (by way of Italy like many others).

Gumbo

Pasta with olive oil and garlic (aglio e olio). It’s much more than the sum of it’s parts. It’s quick to make and the simplicity is impressive. Also I always have the ingredients at hand.

https://youtu.be/RzncsSIRRus

My beef stew. It's honestly savage.

Offer them ice cream.

You didn't say I had to make the food myself.

Biscoffeetoffee cheesecake.

Biscoff crust, coffee base, chocolate toffee crust. Beloved even by cheesecake haters.

I make some pretty damn good Tamil-style goat curry, or green Thai curry. If they're afraid of flavor, I make boef bourguingon and fondant potatoes made with duck schmaltz.

If I really care about em, I make Peking or Canton-style duck, a true labor of love, and if they want something sweet, I make one hell of a pumpkin cheesecake with candied pecan topping and Graham cracker crust. Or creme brulee, especially if I have fresh fruit. That always impresses, despite being one of the easier things to make.

Risotto

Poached salmon

Sounds fancy, very tasty, and super simple. Literally just boil them bitches in some white wine, and then chop up some onion and cube some potato and cook those in a pan with some oil, salt, and pepper and that's a full meal

enchiladas

green or red
shredded chicken, cheese, or shredded beef

If they like meat then brazed short ribs, found a real nice mix of maple syrup and smoked garlic to put on them

Cinnamon buns

Chocolate covered strawberries. The dirty secret is they are so fucking easy to make. You can get fancy and drizzle some white chocolate lines if you really want to impress. It takes like 15 minutes.

Lasagne or, if I really want to go all out, home made gnocchi. Not hard, but quite labour intensive and so much better than any bought alternatives

Green chili from a family recipe. You basically simmer pork shoulder or tenderloin all day smothered in onions and jalapeños and spices until it falls apart and turns into a savory spicy soup. It's easy, it just takes forever and tastes amazing so they assume you put in a lot more effort.

Pizza from scratch.

All-day ragù

I impress them with my extensive knowledge of the best local takeout restaurants, then DoorDash that shit!