When I initially told my husband that I was going to attempt a gourmet Valentine's Dinner I asked him for some suggestions. He basically just responded by saying, "Steak." I guess that's what all the fellows like. But there are lots of steak options out there so my search began. My Dad (who is also a fellow) claims that Costco has the best NY strips steaks out there. So I requested that he pick up some for me on his next trip (as I do not have a Costco membership). So he did. And these steaks were huge. And quite nice looking. I have learned that my husband likes a pretty simple steak. Something where the flavor of the steak shines through. Not too much marinating or sauces or what not. So I decided to grill them and then make a compound butter to top them with. I found this awesome butter recipe by Emeril.
How I Grilled My Gigantor Valentine's Steaks
1-I sat the steaks out to get to room temperature. The cooking shows always say to do that.
2-I put a bunch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper and a little bit of olive oil on each side and pressed the salt and pepper into the meat.
1-I sat the steaks out to get to room temperature. The cooking shows always say to do that.
2-I put a bunch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper and a little bit of olive oil on each side and pressed the salt and pepper into the meat.
3-I preheated my grill pan to the highest heat.
4-Then I grilled them. For about 9 minutes. I seared both sides for a few seconds and then kept cooking it on one side at high heat for about 4 minutes. Then I flipped it and lowered the heat to about medium for the rest of the time. They actually turned out pretty well. I usually over or under cook steaks but these were medium to medium rare. Pink in the middle. Crispy on the outside. (They may look a little black but I think that's just the crust b/c they tasted good and not burned) Add some compound butter to the top and you are good to go.
4-Then I grilled them. For about 9 minutes. I seared both sides for a few seconds and then kept cooking it on one side at high heat for about 4 minutes. Then I flipped it and lowered the heat to about medium for the rest of the time. They actually turned out pretty well. I usually over or under cook steaks but these were medium to medium rare. Pink in the middle. Crispy on the outside. (They may look a little black but I think that's just the crust b/c they tasted good and not burned) Add some compound butter to the top and you are good to go.
These were the best steaks I have ever made. Normally I leave steak grilling to someone else. But I really pulled through this time.
I always like to have something green on my plate to make it look pretty so I stole 8 asparaguses (probably not how you pluralize that) from my mom and roasted them with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. And then my mom told me that a lovely roasted tomato always makes a nice looking plate. So I stole two of those and put some Italian Seasoning and Parmesan cheese on them and roasted them for like 10 minutes. All in all a lovely looking plate.
Now on to Dessert......
My husband is not super interested in chocolate. I mean he likes it and all but it's not his fave. But you know what is one of his favorite foods? Bread. All kinds. Any kinds. So then all the sudden it hit me. I have to make him BREAD PUDDING for dessert. It's perfect. It's not chocolate and it's made of his favorite food and it's a dessert. I found a million recipes and wanted to do something crazy and complex with a nice sauce but instead I went for the easiest, yet highest rated one I could find on All Recipes.com. I added a mix of dried berries instead of just raisons but I followed the rest of the recipe. My Husband ate 4 of the six servings. So I guess he liked that too. So, Overall.....Worth it.
And seriously, I'm still pretty tired from making all this. Last night for dinner we had frozen pizza.
