March 14th

Girls have Valentine's Day. We get chocolate, cute cards, stuffed animals, flowers, dinner... you know. The WORKS. But what do guys really get out of the holiday? Not really anything except the enjoyment of our company right? Yeah right. They get totally screwed on February 14th, so some genius came up with the idea for Steak & (I'm not saying it on here) Day. March 14th, the day when guys are the ones to be put up on a pedestal. On this day, I was supposed to make steak, but in my previous post, we were incredibly busy with work so Justyn wasn't able to celebrate it.


Last weekend, we were going to do it, but things just kept getting in the way. Enter yesterday... I finally got around to making the T-Bone steak, horseradish mashed potatoes w/ chives and grilled asparagus in a vinagrette (shallot, garlic, lemon zest, juice, honey & olive oil).

The yukon gold potatoes would take the longest so into a pot they went filled with cold water and on the stove to boil for 23 minutes. I then prepped the asparagus for grilling by snapping off the tough ends. I chopped up shallot and garlic, zested the lemon and extracted the juice. Those were added to the asparagus along with honey, olive oil, salt and pepper. I tossed to coat and let Justyn take care of the grilling. I then seasoned the steak. By the time I got done with all of that, the potatoes were ready to come out. I drained them and put them back in the pot for mashing. I added a couple generous scoops of sour cream, splash of milk and 2 tbsp of butter. I mashed those together until I got the right consistency and used a spoon to mix the chopped chives and wasabi.

OK, I know what you're thinking.. Wasabi?! Yes wasabi. I screwed up and got tube wasabi instead of horseradish. But you know what? It still turned out pretty tasty. So, after mixing all the ingrediants in with the potatoes, they were done. I set those on a warm burner and started to sear the steaks. I was generous with the pepper since I knew Justyn likes things over seasoned like that. The sear turned into a lovely deep brown color on both sides of the steak. I then popped them into the oven on 325 for 10 minutes to finish cooking while I prepared the topping for the steak. I sauted some sliced red onion and mushrooms until carmelized. I set the mixture aside and prepared the sauce by deglazing the pan with some brandy and let it reduce while scraping up all the fond. I added some beef broth and let that reduce by half. The splash of milk and blue cheese crumbles followed. I combined that into a soupy sauce consistency and waited until it formed into a nappe (which coated the back of the spoon nicely) - God I'm such a foodie now.

Time to serve. I removed the steaks from the oven, and plated.

Here's a shot of it:






I was careful to garnish with a couple chives, but I still feel like I could improve on presentation. In any case, it was delicious! The meat was tender and juicy at a medium rare. The potatoes were flavorful and the asparagus had a nutty taste from being charred on the grill. Mmm.... Justyn was a happy camper after that meal. Happy S&** Day lovely!