In the spirit of the upcoming romantic holiday, we've prepared one hell of a gourmet dinner fit for any cozy night it! And trust us - this one quickly climbed up to our favorite dish that we've cooked so far!
Cocktail - Pomegranate Martini
Ingredients include vodka, pomegranate juice, cointreau.
Classic. Not too sweet (although loved the pink sugar rim) and extremely tasty. These go down quickly.
Appetizer - Shrimp Cocktail with Tequila Cocktail Sauce
Tequila in a cocktail sauce? Oh yes! The great thing about this recipe is its simplicity and flexibility. You can add, remove, doctor up... it's perfect!
Entree - Beef Wellington
This was divine. We made the entire recipe, including all sides, but we'll break down each part of the meal. First off - don't change a thing. Don't alter or substitute - leave it the way its written. To help out, though, you can make the duxelles mixture and wrap the beef in the mix and prosciutto the night before. Leave it wrapped in the plastic wrap overnight and just take out about 1 hour before cooking to get to room temp. Secondly, make the sauce! We couldn't find brined green peppercorns, so left it out - but we definitely didn't notice anything missing from the sauce. The key is to reduce, reduce, reduce! When we put the beef in for the 45 minute cooking time, we started the sauce and it took the full 45 minutes to reduce properly. It probably ended to measure approx. 1-1.5 cups when it was all said and done. To quote John, "I could bathe in this sauce." Even as I'm typing right now, my mouth is watering for the leftovers.
Side Dish - Roasted Fingerling Potatoes w/ Fresh Herbs and Garlic
see recipe link above
The beauty of these potatoes are that they cook at the same temp as the beef! And the flavor - a light and subtle herb flavor and it went perfectly with the meal. (And if you didn't quite understand how good the sauce was from the post above - we also put the sauce on the potatoes. Seriously... I'd put that sauce on ice cream.)
Side Dish - Warm Wilted Winter Greens
see recipe link above
Flawless perfection. These were undeniably delicious and a the colors just made the entire dish pop. What a fabulous change from a boring old salad. However - we followed the recipe exactly and only needed 1/4 of the balsamic sauce that we made... scale that down.
Finished Plate
Dessert - Molten Chocolate Cakes
Warm, gooey, chocolate lava cakes? What's left to say?
Wine - 2009 Chateau Les Grands Marechaux
Wine Spectator - 92/100
This small production Bordeaux was amazing. It was rich and ripe with scents of licorice and tar. When drinking, it was full-bodied with a fruity core and a velvety taste. Perfect match. Once again, thanks to Harry's Wine for steering us away from the traditional cabernet sauvignon and suggesting a fabulous wine.
Apertif - 2005 Unfiltered Fonseca Late Bottle Vintage Port
Wine Enthusiast - 92/100
This will balanced port with both sweet tannins and rich fruit was the ideal pairing for our rich chocolate dessert. You won't go wrong.
Next Week - Girls' Night In
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