I talked to my neice, Laura, on the way home from work today. She's about 32 weeks pregnant and was telling me about her food cravings. She said up until now, they were the typical ... REALLY want a steak, or REALLY want cherry pie filling ...
Now, however, she said she REALLY wants steak WITH cherry pie filling.
I did a little research and here's what I'm making for dinner. Wish you could be here, Laura!
Filet Mignon with Cherry Vanilla Sauce
Fire up the grill and crank some freshly ground pepper over filets.
For the sauce:
In a saucepan, combine just over a cup of Pinot Noir or Cabernet Sauvignon (I used the Noir) with:
A couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Half of a vanilla bean (that your co-worker brought you directly from Madagascar - or some other vanilla bean you can scrape up)
A couple whole cloves
A couple whole peppercorns
A bay leaf
About 20 cherries
A squirt of honey
Salt and pepper
Gorgonzola butter:
Mash together about 2 tablespoons of gorgonzola with a tablespoon of butter. Set aside.
Simmer until the liquid is reduced to a light syrupy consistency. Grill steaks, top with blue cheese butter, and let rest for 5 minutes.
Strain sauce through a seive. Put gorgonzola butter on the steak and drizzle over the steaks.
I also sauteed spinach and garlic in some EVOO, fried up some potato slices and made a radish, onion, cucumber salad (not shown).
Don't go to the grocery store hungry! Do go to the local farm hungry!
I stopped by Spicknall's on the way home and loaded up my canvas bags with a bounty of brightly colored fruits and veggies. Here's what I did with a few of them ... (note that while it is contrary to my typical style, I will try to be more exact with ingredients as I have a sense that it matters in this dish).
(Mini Eggplant)
Roast 3 small eggplants with EVOO and S&P at 375 until soft. Scoop out innards and set aside.
Boil one small potato and set aside. I used a potato left over from another meal.
Heat about 2 TBL ghee in a saucepan.
Add about 6 peppercorns and about 6 corriander seeds.
After about four minutes, crush them with a heavy spoon or pestle.
(Galangal)
(Cowhorn Pepper)
Add a medium piece of galangal and about an inch of cowhorn pepper.
Add one small onion and three small cloves of garlic - both diced.
Add three good shakes of fenugreek, five shakes of garam masala, and one shake of turmeric.
Cook until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute,
Dice half of a green tomato and add to the saucepan. Cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Run a knife through the eggplant and add to the saucepan.
Dice potato and add to saucepan.
Remove cowhorn pepper and galanga.
Add a little water if it looks dry.
Add a few shakes of salt - I used a very fine grey sea salt.
Heat through and enjoy alone or with rice or naan.
