For our Valentines Day, I wanted to cook a special meal at home, consisting of surf (lobster tail) and turf (ribeye steak), mashed potatoes, asparagus, and chocolate dipped strawberries for dinner.
(and an extra bowl of fresh strawberries for Jeff, since he prefers his strawberries chocolate-free... what a weirdo... ^_^).
Although the price to make this meal for 2 is, literally, a fraction of the cost of what it would cost us at a restaurant (folks, this is why eating out can really put a dent in your wallet), the total bill for all the ingredients still came out to $25, which is around the cost of 1 week's worth of groceries (maybe even more)!!
This is why normally, I would not make meals like this at home.
But since Valentines rolls around once a year, sure, why not splurge. =)
Making each dish was actually VERY easy, and I made everything in under 30 minutes. Yet for some reason, when people see this meal, they seem to think its very elaborate!
I'm not a fan of time consuming, elaborate things.
How I made the steak:
I bought two rib eye steaks (at $5.99/lb. Each steak was about $4.50).
Preheat oven to 500 degrees, and warm up cast iron skillet in the oven.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, grill season ing on both sides of the steak, and drizzle with canola oil.
Place cast iron skillet on the stove on high heat, and sear both sides of the steak for 2 minutes per side.
Place the cast iron skillet (with steaks in them) into the oven, and cook for an additional 30 seconds per side. (this is for medium rare. Increase time to 1 min per side if you want medium).
Remove the steak from the cast iron skillet and let it rest on a plate so the juices can redistribute.
All done!
How I made the lobster tail:
I bought two 5oz lobster tails (at $6 per tail)
Butterfly the lobster tails. Forgot how to do this? Read my post about it here.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Bake the lobster tails for about 13 minutes.
Serve with a pat of butter on top.
All done!
How I made the mashed potatoes:
I bought a 3 pound bag of ruby gold potatoes (for $1/bag).
Chop and boil 4 large potatoes until its cooked. I like to leave the skin on.
Drain the potatoes and return the potatoes to the hot pot.
Melt in half a stick of butter and pour in a splash of skim milk, add in salt and pepper.
Mash with a potato masher.
If you prefer the potatoes more wet, add in another splash of milk.
You don't need gravy. The butter and salt and pepper is flavorful enough.
All done!
How I made the asparagus:
I bought 1 pound of asparagus (for $1/lb).
Break the woody base off and discard, or peel the base of the asparagus using a veggie peeler
Rinse the asparagus, and place onto a baking sheet.
Drizzle asparagus with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Place asparagus into the oven at 425 degrees for 15-18 minutes. (I actually roasted them at the same time with the lobster tail at 450 degrees and decreased the cooking time by a couple of minutes).
All done!
How I made the chocolate covered strawberries:
I bought two 16oz boxes of strawberries (at $1.50/box)
Melt half a bag of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl, in the microwave. I microwaved for 1 minute, stirred, microwave for another minute, stir again, until it is completely melted.
Dip the strawberries into the melted chocolate, and place onto a sheet of wax paper.
Place strawberries in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until the chocolate is hardened.
All done!
Everything was so easy!
looks delicious! that's how i make my ribeye! yum!
ReplyDeletewe need to make dungeness crab again!
yes! dungeness crab soon please!
ReplyDeleteActually, I think we are still in the dungeness crab season, so we need to act fast! (I think the peak of the season is December?)