Video:How to Plan a Romantic Dinner at Home

Transcript:How to Plan a Romantic Dinner at Home

Hi, I'm Bruce Cadle, the Date Night Chef, for About.com. Today, I want to teach you how to have a romantic, date night dinner, like my wife, Valerie, and I have enjoyed throughout our 35 years of marriage. There are three essential elements to having a great, romantic dinner. Date-night dinners need to be fun, they need to be fancy, but they need to be really, really easy.

Make the Date Night Dinner Special by Preparing the Setting

To make date nights fun, fix special food that you only have on date night, and then find a special setting, a special location. We like to eat out by our pool in the summertime or by our fire pit or by the fireplace in the winter. To make date night fancy, light some candles. Pick out whatever your favorite romantic music is, and use some special glasses and dishes that are only used on date night. To make date night easy, don't try elaborate recipes that will leave you stressed out and exhausted.

An Easy Date Night Dinner is Chili Mussels

Today I'm going to teach you a fun, fancy and easy recipe, Chili Mussels. We're going to start by just putting a pan on high heat. We add one can of diced tomatoes with green chilies. Cover that just for a minute so it begins to heat up.

Now a couple of tips about cooking with mussels. Always give them a good rinse on the outside so you get rid of any dirt or grit. Also, any mussels that are already open before you start cooking, be sure and discard those. And then once you're finished, any mussels that didn't open, you want to discard those as well and just keep the rest.

If you're going to fix this as an appetizer, you need about half a pound per person, or if this is going to be your entree, than one pound per person is just perfect. Now just cover the mussels, and the juices from those diced tomatoes and the green chilies are going to begin to steam and just fill those mussels with a great, great flavor.

Be Sure the Date Night Dinner is Intimate

You know, one of the most frequent questions we receive about having a date night is from couples with young children still at home. They say, what do I do with my kids? Well, Valerie and I had date night all the time that our children were growing up, and what we did was, we taught them that by staying in their room on mommy and daddy's date night, they were contributing to the strength of our marriage. Your kids can do it, too, and I say that because both our daughter and our son are married and have children, and both of them have a weekly date night.

These mussels ought to be ready. Oh, they are; take a look. They are open. They look beautiful. Let's just go ahead and scoop some of those beautiful mussels up. Now just pour some of that broth and tomatoes, chili mixture, right overtop of the mussels. I like to finish these off by just squeezing some fresh lime juice over top, and then garnish with some lime wedges and some fresh cilantro. Chili Mussels makes a great date night appetizer, or add a loaf of bread and a salad, and you've got a fun, fancy but really easy romantic, date night dinner. I hope your date night is a great night.

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Recipe: Chili Mussels

1 pound mussels per person if entree or 1/2 pound each if appetizer
1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies
Cilantro
2 limes (Cut one into wedges for garnish and cut the other in half for juice)

Discard any mussels that are already open. Use a wok or large sauce pan with a lid. On high heat, pour the tomatoes and mussels into the pan. Cover with lid. The mussels should steam open in three to five minutes. As soon as the shells open wide, they are ready to eat. Place the mussels on a deep plate or bowl. Pour the contents of the pan over the mussels and garnish with lime wedges and cilantro. Squeeze the remaining lime over the mussels just prior to eating.