Anniversary cow and crustacean
Surf and turf has become a bit of an anniversary tradition in this house. While we went out for Thai on our actual anniversary, at some point during the festivities, we always manage to go for surf and turf.
As the years go by, the methods change, the ingredients change, the sides change, the quality increases--but the beef and the seafood remain the same--which I think is kind of indicative of what marriage is all about: all the good things remain, while changing and improving all the while.
The nicest thing about this dinner was that it was a collaborative effort--each of us contributed our talent, our abilities and our tastes to make this meal wonderful.
Paul manned the grill, and I whipped up an orzo salad with an herbal, tangy vinaigrette, and a blue cheese sauce for the filets.
I split the tails and skewered them to help them grill, and I have to say that I've become addicted to the flavor of lobster grilled in the shell--there's something about what happens to the meat when the shell takes on a char that can't be duplicated if you boil the tails.
The blue cheese sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces blue cheese(about 3 tablespoons), crumbled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes (at this point, you could also add about a cup of porcini mushrooms, which I think I'll do next time but didn't happen to have on hand for this meal). Add the thyme, white wine, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, put the blue cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard in a food processor and combine until smooth. Transfer the cheese mixture to the skillet with shallots. Gently stir the cheese mixture into the pan to form a sauce.
This is a LOVELY accompaniment for steak, and makes more than what you'll need for just this meal, so you can keep it in the fridge and use it on steak, roast--even burgers.
For the orzo salad:
3/4 pound orzo, cooked al dente
1 large cucumber, seeded, quartered lengthwise, and sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled
Combine orzo, cucumber, green onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Place dill, vinegar, and mustard in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the vinaigrette over the orzo mixture and stir well to combine. Gently fold in the feta cheese.
You could make this a meal by adding about a pound of cooked shrimp--grilled would be especially nice. But this is a cool, herbal, cucumber-y Mediterranean salad that's one of my favorites.
All this with just plain, steamed fresh green peas, (which are amazing in their utter simplicity--sweet and perfect) and it was a feast.
Dessert (which I didn't get pictures of, but we have leftovers and so I might snap some tonight) was grilled peaches over french vanilla ice cream, with a sauce made from frozen raspberries and honey (with enough Irish Mist to thin it slightly) sent through the blender and strained to make a coulee. Paul grilled the fresh peach halves (brushed with a little canola oil) about three minutes per side (cut side down first, to get nice grill marks) until they were soft and warm, but still loaded with fresh peach taste (this is a good way to prepare peaches that are a little too firm to eat out of hand).
And with that sumptuous, fresh dessert, we finally broke open the...
...which was worth every penny of the price we paid for it.
EVERY PENNY.
It was a great evening--we had a ball.
And I have to say that, while it's always fun to dress up and go out, there is something that is so much more relaxed and festive about knowing that you can have the very same quality and flavor at home--and there's no dress code!
As the years go by, the methods change, the ingredients change, the sides change, the quality increases--but the beef and the seafood remain the same--which I think is kind of indicative of what marriage is all about: all the good things remain, while changing and improving all the while.
The nicest thing about this dinner was that it was a collaborative effort--each of us contributed our talent, our abilities and our tastes to make this meal wonderful.
Paul manned the grill, and I whipped up an orzo salad with an herbal, tangy vinaigrette, and a blue cheese sauce for the filets.
I split the tails and skewered them to help them grill, and I have to say that I've become addicted to the flavor of lobster grilled in the shell--there's something about what happens to the meat when the shell takes on a char that can't be duplicated if you boil the tails.
The blue cheese sauce:
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 shallot, sliced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 ounces blue cheese(about 3 tablespoons), crumbled
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until golden brown and tender, about 5 minutes (at this point, you could also add about a cup of porcini mushrooms, which I think I'll do next time but didn't happen to have on hand for this meal). Add the thyme, white wine, salt, and pepper and continue to cook until all of the liquid has evaporated, about 5 more minutes.
Meanwhile, put the blue cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard in a food processor and combine until smooth. Transfer the cheese mixture to the skillet with shallots. Gently stir the cheese mixture into the pan to form a sauce.
This is a LOVELY accompaniment for steak, and makes more than what you'll need for just this meal, so you can keep it in the fridge and use it on steak, roast--even burgers.
For the orzo salad:
3/4 pound orzo, cooked al dente
1 large cucumber, seeded, quartered lengthwise, and sliced
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus extra for garnish
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3/4 pound feta cheese, crumbled
Combine orzo, cucumber, green onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Place dill, vinegar, and mustard in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the vinaigrette over the orzo mixture and stir well to combine. Gently fold in the feta cheese.
You could make this a meal by adding about a pound of cooked shrimp--grilled would be especially nice. But this is a cool, herbal, cucumber-y Mediterranean salad that's one of my favorites.
All this with just plain, steamed fresh green peas, (which are amazing in their utter simplicity--sweet and perfect) and it was a feast.
Dessert (which I didn't get pictures of, but we have leftovers and so I might snap some tonight) was grilled peaches over french vanilla ice cream, with a sauce made from frozen raspberries and honey (with enough Irish Mist to thin it slightly) sent through the blender and strained to make a coulee. Paul grilled the fresh peach halves (brushed with a little canola oil) about three minutes per side (cut side down first, to get nice grill marks) until they were soft and warm, but still loaded with fresh peach taste (this is a good way to prepare peaches that are a little too firm to eat out of hand).
And with that sumptuous, fresh dessert, we finally broke open the...
...which was worth every penny of the price we paid for it.
EVERY PENNY.
It was a great evening--we had a ball.
And I have to say that, while it's always fun to dress up and go out, there is something that is so much more relaxed and festive about knowing that you can have the very same quality and flavor at home--and there's no dress code!