I'm a bit different than
@King Stannis in that I love to show off for a bitch...
One of my favorite dishes to make for a broad coming over, if she LIKES fine dining, is braised short ribs,
decently prepared pomme fondant with thyme, and pan-seared (in butter) pearl onions with roasted carrots.
Sounds ridiculous right? .. it's really not that bad ..
Benefits are that short-ribs are cheap for one, it gives you an excuse to drink early (you've got an open bottle of wine from the dish), and the veggies mostly take care of themselves -- there's not a lot of maintanence required for the dish.
It can be made simply (not perfectly, but simply), by starting off with some chopped garlic and shallot in a pan, then onions, carrots, and celery (mirepoix) to the pan and gentle saute them in olive oil. Once the onions are translucent, start browning the short-ribs in a stainless steel pan (do not use nonstick); you can lightly flour the ribs if you want (will thicken the dish later), but it's not wholly necessary. Once they are brown, add half a bottle of red wine to the pan and scrape up the brown bits (fond) from the pain.
If you don't have a basic mirepoix on hand that's okay, but you'll need to have floured the shortribs before searing.
You can now bring the wine to a boil and I like to add about a cup of veal stock to the pot but again, this isn't necessary.
Once the wine has reduced by half, you can transfer the entire pan/pot to an oven for braising (oven safe, stainless steel, right? Cast-iron or dutch oven works too). The liquid should cover 2/3rds of the meat but not completely.. if it's too much liquid, cook it down first.. If it's not enough, add stock or water. Feel free to add a bay leaf, and some fresh rosemary to the pot.
For the carrots, simply saute in some butter towards the end, simple and elegant. Test with a fork for doneness.. Not too high a heat.. they'll cook themselves. You could also roast them in a pan, but shake it about to keep from searing to much.
For the onions, simply dump them in boiling water until fork tender. Take them out, plunge in ice bath, then peel. Once peeled, saute in butter. Don't add salt until ready to serve or they'll turn to mush.
For the potatoes.. Take 4 russets, cut off the edge, then cut across the potato (not length wise) to get 2-3 mini-hockey pucks (shape/size) out of each. Go for uniformity, it's important. From there, take a cast iron skillet, add a stick of butter and about a tablespoon of olive oil. Once it's hot, add the potatoes to the oil and shallow fry on medium heat. Once they are browned, flip the potatoes. You'll now switch from frying to braising by adding enough chicken stock to cover the potatoes 2/3rds the way up. At this point, add several springs of fresh thyme and a bit of paprika (not too much, a hint). Let these cook until the liquid boils down and thickens and the potatoes are fork tender.
Plate together on a nice dish (get some nice dishes man) in smaller portions. Spend an ounce of effort making it look composed on the plate. Serve with a nice pinot noir or a merlot, don't use a cabernet, she'll hate it if you didn't spend $30+ on the bottle.. If she doesn't really like wine, grab a cheap winemaker's blend like an Apothic Red which is suitable for novice palate..
This sounds like a lot, but if you have time you can make ahead and you'll see that, once you've done it once or twice, it's actually really simple.. It seems like a lot, because there are several components, but use this time to entertain your date -- make cocktails or pour wine, talk about the dish, have a good time.. You can also have her help you as your sous chef, chopping shit up .. Again, it's more to pass the time together, keeping her entertained than it is about the dish... I've had bitches chop onions for no reason, but they thought they were helping.
You'll have about 90 minutes from start to finish which I'd use to freak on her before dinner...
But if you're a lazy SOB, and if that sounds like too much work... then make her a classic Italian spaghetti and meatballs.. lol... Can't go wrong with that, it's simpler, and everyone likes it -- and it still requires you to cook in front of her, which.. is the whole point. Wanna one up spaghetti and meatballs, make a veal parm..