My husband and I had an in-house date night for Valentine’s Day. It was even nicer because we were able to drop our kids off at a sitter’s and come home and make a nice dinner. Can’t get out? Can’t get a sitter? Hold your own in-house date night. Here’s a peek at our date night menu. I was so happy with the way almost everything turned out.
~Date Night Menu~
Mixed greens salad with gouda & blood orange
Dry Aged Steak w/ Sauteed Mushrooms
(broiled since there is 2 feet of snow on our grill)
Lobster Tail
Baked Potato Loaded w/ Sour cream, cheddar, & Bacon
White Chocolate & Blackberry Tart
Malbec
~Dinner in Detail~
I was so excited that all the courses were timed perfectly. We were able to enjoy the salad and shrimp while our potatoes and steak were in the oven. When the first course was done I sauteed the mushroom while the steak rested and my husband finished the baked potatoes.
We kept the salad simple with mixed greens, shredded gouda, and juice from a blood orange. I added just the tiniest pinch of salt and it would have been perfect with a splash of balsamic vinegar to finish it off.
Spicy Bacon Wrapped Shrimp is amazing and easy – so very easy. Here is how I make the shrimp. This is usually a special treat just for New Year’s Eve but since weather interfered with seafood deliveries, the place we were going to get our scallops was out of them.
We had a dry aged New York Rib Steak, done under the broiler to medium well. With just a hint of pink it could not have been more perfectly done without going over. It was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Too bad I was already so full I only ate a little of it. The only thing that would have been nicer is if we could have used our grill and made this steak. I sauteed mushrooms in some of the bacon grease from frying a few pieces for the baked potatoes and oh were they the best ever.
We also got a free lobster tail for buying the steak. I have never been a fan of lobster until now. I don’t know what was wrong with the lobster I had in the past but this was amazing. Although I am quite positive I boiled it too long (is the tail suppose to curl up in a ball?), it still tasted delicious, drenched in melted butter. As I told my husband, I can totally handle a lobster tail that is D.E.A.D. A live lobster, with beady little eyes staring at me and antennae squiggling and claws threatening me are a whole ‘nother story. I may or may not have made motions for all of the above and been completely un-romantic about the whole theory of their aphrodisiac qualities.
Load baked potato. Really, what can one SAY about that besides the fact it is completely off any diet known to man? Amazing, melt in your mouth, steaming potato loaded with sour cream, sharp cheddar and salty crispy bacon, vegetable, er, starch heaven. Do not get between this girl and her baked potato.
Dessert was not the epic finish to dinner. No, not at all. I was planning to have Vintage Blackberry Pie Pops but yeah, we cleaned those suckers up the day they were made. They would have been amazing dipped in a white chocolate whipped cream, right? Anyway, I did have some pie crust and filling left over from them so I made a tart. The fatal error was the fact that I was absentmindedly making it and when I should not have baked the blackberry filling in the crust, I did. This turned it into a beautiful but dried out layer of purple. I topped it with a gorgeous white chocolate mousse and fresh berries. Next time? I will skip baking it together. Next time I am making the tart, adding white chocolate mousse, then piling blackberries on the top. That will be amazing, no question.
Overall, dinner was a culinary success. We had a great evening working and dining together in the kitchen. We need to do this more often and I will be sure to share the next date night menu with you for more ideas. Maybe a little less glamor next time. Pulling from 24 Frugal Dates, I think I am going with movie night next.
2 Comments