Valentine’s Day/Anniversary supper ~

Valentine's Day/Anniversary supper ~

As many of you know, this is not just Saint Valentine's Day, it is also the 22nd anniversary of my marriage to the Beautiful Mrs. Tas ~ 
 
I asked her what she wanted for our "official" meal, and she said that she would like a rib-eye steak with potato salad - her favourite things, and thankfully easy to do on a weeknight with work early the next day. I'll also be doing a more special, "follow-up" meal this weekend of bacalao al pil pil.
 
As for dessert tonight, I had planned on presenting her with these:
 
http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/saint-valentines-day -request-from-mrs-tas_topic3177.html
 
However, since the mini cannoli shells have not yet arrived, I asked her for an alternate dessert, and she has requested strawberry cream puffs:
 
http://foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net/cream-puffs-profiter oles-choux-la-crme_topic2368.html
 
Considering everthing going on, on a week-night, no less, I think it came out pretty well; here's the spread:

Here we have broiled Basque-marinated rib-eye steaks topped with Burgundy-caramelised onions and mushrooms; shrimp scampi broiled with garlic chips in butter/olive oil; potato salad dusted with pimentón de la Vera; toasted garlic-and-Italian-cheese bread; and finally choux à la crème aux fraises ~

Okay, they're strawberry creampuffs....

Not pictured is the blackberry merlot, which went pretty well with everything.

Of course, all - including even the strawberry whipped cream - was home-made by yours truly; and all turned out much better than any restaurant from here to who-knows-where (since we live in the middle of nowhere, it's a long ways)....

My only real disappointment was that the steaks didn't sear quite the way I was hoping they would. They were done inside just right for us, but I wanted more sear.

But I won't complain, they still tasted great with the Basque marinade, mushrooms and onions ~

Being a Montanan, I'm no expert at shrimp, but these turned out pretty well. I heated a cast-iron pan in a 500-degree oven, then swirled a little olive oil and butter around until they were hot, then tossed in a couple of sliced garlic cloves to sizzle for a few minutes and infuse their essence into the oil. I then tossed in the salted shrimp, cooking them a couple of minutes on each side before squirting on a splash of lemon and immediate plating.
 

Probably just a tad over-done, but they tasted outstanding - taking in the garlic, lemon and butter flavour really well. They didn't seem tough or stringy, so it's all good.

The potato salad was made at the request of the Beautiful Mrs. Tas, with zesty dill pickles and topped with a dusting of pimentón; nothing technically special about it, nor about the bread, which was simply buttered and seasoned with garlic, then topped with a blend of Italian cheeses.

What makes them special is that they are long-time favourites in the family, and as the saying goes: happy wife, happy life ~

The cream puffs were very good, and easy. Strawberry was the flavour requested, so strawberry is what she got ~

A great dessert for a special dinner on a special day ~

The meal above is proof that any supper, even after a day of work, can be nice!

Thanks for looking!

>> Consider yourself invited ~

Thanks, I'll check it out.