Well, I tried to pull all the stops for St. Valentine's Day. Wellll, almost all the stops. This was a meal that said, "I love you, honey, but I am not willing to pay absolute top dollar on you." 
(Explanation below.)
We had a lovely surf and turf dinner. The "surf" was king crab legs, but they were "broken" king crab legs, at $14/lb instead of $19/lb for intact legs. The "turf" was filet mignon, but it was a Kroger's "woo-hoo" special, at ~$10/lb instead of ~$18/lb, as it expired tomorrow.
Beyond those impecunious details, the dinner was lovely. First course was the king crab legs, steamed to ~150F, dunked in copious amounts of tarragon-flavored butter, and served with a ho-made Chardonnay (Master Vintner). The main course had roasted artichokes (lemon juice and EVOO); mushroom risotto with ho-made beef stock; pencil-thin asparagus (first crop of the year from Mexico), broiled and topped with parmesan; the above-mentioned filets mignon, fried hard in butter and served with cracked pink peppercorns; and a reduction sauce of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, red wine, ho-made beef stock. We really enjoyed it.
The red wine started with my ho-made CC Showcase Walla Walla Cab Merlot, which is one of the few (~3 or 4) batches I have made that I would put up against commercial wines. As if to prove the point, the replacement when we kicked that bottle was a WTSO special of a Mockingbird Hill red blend from Sonoma; this was better than mine, but only slightly, and only if you like oak.
(Explanation below.)We had a lovely surf and turf dinner. The "surf" was king crab legs, but they were "broken" king crab legs, at $14/lb instead of $19/lb for intact legs. The "turf" was filet mignon, but it was a Kroger's "woo-hoo" special, at ~$10/lb instead of ~$18/lb, as it expired tomorrow.
Beyond those impecunious details, the dinner was lovely. First course was the king crab legs, steamed to ~150F, dunked in copious amounts of tarragon-flavored butter, and served with a ho-made Chardonnay (Master Vintner). The main course had roasted artichokes (lemon juice and EVOO); mushroom risotto with ho-made beef stock; pencil-thin asparagus (first crop of the year from Mexico), broiled and topped with parmesan; the above-mentioned filets mignon, fried hard in butter and served with cracked pink peppercorns; and a reduction sauce of mushrooms, shallots, garlic, fresh thyme, red wine, ho-made beef stock. We really enjoyed it.
The red wine started with my ho-made CC Showcase Walla Walla Cab Merlot, which is one of the few (~3 or 4) batches I have made that I would put up against commercial wines. As if to prove the point, the replacement when we kicked that bottle was a WTSO special of a Mockingbird Hill red blend from Sonoma; this was better than mine, but only slightly, and only if you like oak.
