Once upon a time, I had a steak frites dish at a restaurant in Mohegan Sun. It was quite possibly one of the best things I ever ate... after all, we're talking about french fries, steak, and enough butter to block an artery or two. So when I happened to find the recipe, and then the grocery store had steak on sale, and we were looking for a simple (meaning easy and little effort) meal to make for our Culinary Sunday - I knew that we would have to replicate the steak frites. Soooo glad we did!
Cocktail - Side Car Martini
Okay... I know what you're thinking. Cognac, limoncello, triple sec, and sweet and sour? Really? Sounds like a long island iced tea but with more upscale ingredients. Do not shy away from this!!! We raised an eyebrow, Jenn threw chance in the air and what turned out was a tasty masterpiece that will be recreated as often as possible. (Who knew?) Do not make changes, do not substitute and do not pass this one by. Even if you're not a cognac drinker - try it! However, limit yourself to one... there's a lot of alcohol in this bad boy.
Appetizer - Caramelized Endive Soup with Blue Cheese
Run, do not walk, to your nearest grocery store to pick up the ingredients. I could bathe in this soup. It was rich, decadent, and oh-so-creamy but had very little cream in it. The honey-caramelized endive was a dream and it had the velvety texture of a bisque. This goes on the "best things I've ever eaten" list.
Appetizer Wine - 2010 Domaine Cheveau Macon Solutre-Pouilly
Wine Rating - Can't find, and don't even care becuase it was just that good
So recently, we've been commenting that the whites we've been drinking have been a little on the sweet side. Well... home run on this baby! This white burgundy has aromas of grapefruit and peach with a hint of creaminess. On the palate, there are soft fruits but a nice mineral taste with a long-lasting finish and good acidity. Slam dunk.
Entree - Steak Frites with Roasted Garlic Butter
So good, I could cry. And I know you're wondering what could possibly make steak and french fries so delicious, and I'll do my best to explain it, but in the end - sometimes the basics blow us away. It was so good, that we actually had a fresh herb and wild greens salad on the side, and no one even touched it for fear that the other person at the table may sneak some food off their plate when they weren't paying attention.
Let's talk the steak and the marinade. We had 3 people at dinner and got a 2 lb sirloin steak. (We only ate about half of it... no need to get such a big one... however, great for leftover steak salads.) For those 2 lbs, we doubled the marinade and let it marinate approx. 6 hours. (FYI - tried to scallopini it with no success - don't bother... just cut it super thin when you're serving.)
Now let's talk roasted garlic butter. The recipe is written to serve one, so we doubled the garlic butter. Let me explain how critical roasted garlic is. Do not try to "cheat" or cut down on time and use raw garlic. How many garlic bulbs do you need to roast? Think of one bulb as one tablespoon. So we roasted four bulbs. (Coat in EVOO, cover in foil, roast 45 min at 375.) We then combined all the ingredients in the recipe exactly as written. Don't forget the fresh herbs - I think they really make a difference.
So now we talk final product. Embrace the calaories and deep fry your french fries. (We used frozen "fast food style" fries.) If you bake them, you risk them going soggy with the butter. Combine your french fries and your steak (cut to be approx. the same size as the french fries) in a large bowl and then drop tablespoons of garlic butter into it. Using tongs, just quickly toss until the butter melts. Continue to add garlic butter until your desired result. We ended up using about 2/3 of the garlic butter we had made. Save the extra butter - you can use it on garlic bread or corn on the cob, or pretty much anything. Also, be liberal with your parmesan cheese. It only makes the recipe better! If you haven't understand my message yet - make this recipe!
Entree Wine - 2007 Schug Cabernet Sauvignon
Wine Rating - 88/100 (way too low in our opinion)
This well-structured cabernet is blended bordeaux-style and we could definitely taste the similarity. The mouthful is ripe of currants and red berries but the tannins are very mild and there is a subtle spicy oakiness. It was definitely bursting with berries but has an earthiness to mellow it out. Harry's Wine Shop - you outdid yourself this week. Everything was just spot on!
Dessert - Panna Cotta (Round 2)
We refused to give up on this dessert so therefore had to try it again. Before I review, let me just point out that cold panna cotta + hot dessert sauce = melting. So please note - make a cold sauce. But I digress - this was amazing! The last recipe had too much liquid in it and therefore never firmed up properly. This was the perfect recipe, the flavor was spot on, and the texture was lovely. We filled oversize muffin tins with the mixture and then before serving, ran a wet knife around the edge and flipped it over. Perfect! And because there was a bag of frozen strawberries that needed to be used, we made a sauce of the strawberries and chambord. Delightful! (So glad we got this one right... last week was so disappointing!)
Next Week - Greek
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