If you want to copycat Olive Garden restaurant recipes, this article will get you started!
As my anniversary with my boyfriend approaches, I am always looking for something unique to do. We both have agreed traditional gifts are not the way to go. The good news is I have an idea that will both surprise him, and make him happy. You see, I don't cook. He does. It isn't so much that I don't cook; it really is I can't cook. I've tried. I just can't do it. But if it is a recipe, I can follow it. So what I have decided to do this year is to surprise him with his favorite restaurant food, made from scratch.
There is a chain restaurant that we go to frequently. The menu has lots of choices, but he always picks the same thing. It goes by a rather fancy name, and I don't want to give away the restaurant, but it is basically a pasta dish with chicken, bacon and mushrooms among other things. What he doesn't know is that I found out most of the ingredients by going to the restaurant's website and reading the description of the meal. He certainly doesn't know that my best friend and I went there for lunch the other day while he was at work, and I ordered it.
She and I picked it apart, and tried to figure out every single flavor. Remarkably, we seemed to do a pretty good job. Since we were there when it wasn't so busy, our server came over, and we were all talking. Pretty soon, she was telling us what she knew, and I started writing furiously. Then, she went out back, and asked the kitchen staff. They told her a few more things, and she reported back. Pretty soon, just by paying attention to what was already out there, I had the recipe. Well, at least the ingredients I needed.
So while he has been at work during the day, I've been experimenting. I've had to try it a few times, but I'm getting much closer. I know once I think I have it I will have to go back to the restaurant and taste it again just to make sure, but it will be worth it. Not only can I surprise him with this dinner, but it is something that I can make on a continuous basis. Somehow I don't think he will complain.
To get you started, here is the recipe for the Olive Garden Salad Mix:
1 bag American blend salad
4-5 slices of red onion
2-4 banana peppers
4-6 black olives
1/2 cup croutons
1 small tomato, quartered
Good luck copying your favorite Olive Garden restaurant recipes!