Date nights are special to us. My six-year-old lives with us 50% of the time and we spend 99% percent of the remaining time on work, chores or something else society would deem productive. Obviously, the time my wife and I actually get to spend alone together is limited so twice a month we manage to push life aside and have date night. Some date nights are planned together and some need a planner without someone else’s input. On this particular Friday, Christina assumed control of date night planning so I shut up and waited for my directions.
My wife and I were out Friday afternoon when she dropped me off at home and told me to get ready to go out while she ran some errands. I showered and dressed in time to follow my next set of instructions which was to put away her groceries while she changed so we could leave. I admit, though, that after putting away the groceries I did not want to go anywhere – between what she bought for dinner and the dress she wore to go out, I did not see any need to venture out into the world. She reminded me that date night was her plan, not mine, so I did as I was told.
We whetted our appetites at Viva il Vino in downtown Anderson. This is a little Italian wine bar that transports you out of Anderson the moment you walk in the door but that is a story for another blog. The point is that we had a couple glasses of great wine, a great talk with the owner, and went home to cook, eat and enjoy our evening.
Since we had no one to serve but ourselves and all night to do it, we cooked everything in phases. We cooked a dish, ate it, talked, and repeated the process four separate times. As usual, I was the assistant in the kitchen so I took care of all the important stuff such handing her things, refilling wine glasses with our Victoria Valley Vineyard Syrah, and poorly transcribing what she was actually doing to the food. Here is what I came up with…
Clams
Pour wine and scrub the clam shells.
Tablespoon of olive oil, three cloves of garlic and a big fat pinch of peppercino
Clams go in! Toss ‘em around for a bit.
I think she said something about getting them all coated in the oil before proceeding to the next step.
½ cup of seafood stock
Almost forgot the seafood stock recipe… In pot with water, add parsley stems, basil, dill, shrimp shells peeled from prep from next course, fennel stems, black peppercorns, two teaspoons of salt, ½ lemon, clove of garlic. Let simmer until needed here.
My brain: wow, she really looks good in that dress. I am glad she did not change before she started cooking….
Her out loud: quit staring at me and write this stuff down, please.
½ cup of white wine
Put bread in the oven
BIG pinch of saffron
Bring all to a boil.
½ lemon
She yells at me for not hearing her ask me for a lid. I blame the dress, and then find a lid.
Yell at mix to boil and then yell at clams to open up. I questioned this step but it seemed to work on both fronts.
Add lemon wedges for decoration
½ stick of butter
Drop heat and swirl
Serve when all clams are open and sauce is “silky and beautiful”
Refill wine glasses
The Result: I would have settled for this as meal as I could have sat at our dining room table and eaten clams all night. This was just an appetizer so after we devoured the clams and had a glass of wine, it was time to move on to the second appetizer.
Pesto Shrimpy Goodness
First the pesto:
Handful of basil (the spice, not our friend by the same name. That would be a weird twist to date night).
Garlic clove
½ tablespoon of salt
13 grinds of pepper
½ cup of pistachios
Her: “OMG this smells good!” – Yes, she said “OMG”.
Handful of parmesan
A bit of olive oil
Then the shrimp:
Hot pan + hot wife
Tablespoon of olive oil
Scream in surprise and anger that the pan was too hot and the oil burned.
Start over
Hot pan + hot wife
Add oil (heat is good this time)
Add shrimp
One minute, flip when golden brown
Another minute or so, then turn off heat
Add pesto
Stir
Put on plate with Love and a squirt of lemon
Agree that Andrew Bird’s Satisfied is a great song for iTunes to select for our first bite
Refill wine glasses
The Result: I love shrimp and I love pesto but it never occurred to me to combine the two. Now I am not sure I want shrimp any other way for a while. Unless of course she makes the one where the shrimp snuggles up with bacon and jalapeno and then I will consider it…
Risotto With Fennel and Spinach
First, sauté the fennel:
½ bulb, thinly sliced
Nine twists of pepper
¼ tablespoon of salt
“dab” of butter
Tell the dog to stop barking. Seriously, this idiot barks at everything. I think he is barking at a spot on the floor.
Sautee until caramelized
Throw in some basil leaves as an afterthought to add flavor and clear counter space.
Declare fennel sufficiently caramelized and remove from pan. Leave pan on stove and keep burner burning.
Make the risotto
Add ½ stick of butter to abovementioned pan
½ cup diced onions
Tablespoon of diced shallots
Add a dash of Big Daddy’s Flaming Lips hot sauce
Add two cups of abarrio rice
Coat rice in tasty goodness
Run to computer to check song title on iTunes (Damien Jurado – Predictive Living)
Add one cup of Barefoot Pinot Grigio
Add chicken stock as needed (4-5 cups total, added incrementally)
Pinch of saffron
Stir and simmer for a bit
Taste and make seriously contemplative faces
Add another dash of Big Daddy’s, stir a bit, taste
Add a bit of broth from clam prep, stir a bit more, taste
Add another pinch of saffron, keep stirring, taste
Add fennel
Add two big handfuls of baby spinach
Turn off heat, turn off heat (I am not sure how to turn off heat twice she said it twice so I deem it important)
½ cup of parmesan
Tablespoon of butter
Sprinkle of parsley
Nine grinds of pepper
Refill wine glasses
The Result: This was a perfect interlude to the seafood extravaganza. First, it delayed and built my anticipation to the grand finale. Further, I just absolutely love risotto. Rice is dry and boring and little more than a supporting character to me but I can always enjoy a good risotto as a standalone meal.
Salmon With Super Awesome Crust On It
First the crust:
Couple of slices of day old five grain bread
Zest of one lemon
¼ cup of dill
Teaspoon of salt
Nine twists of pepper
One hot wife in a hot dress
A sprinkling of parmesan
Discuss possibilities of adding garlic and elect not to in order to preserve the flavor of the salmon.
Then the salmon:
Two tablespoons of olive oil in a hot pan
Three salmon filets topped with crust goodness from above
Partially cook in pan then finish in oven (400 degrees) followed by five minutes under broil
She spends the five minutes looking at the clock and checking the fish. I spend it checking out her dress.
Refill wine glasses and serve
The Result: At this point I should have been beyond full. The previous four course and growing number of wine glasses should have been catching up to me but all I could think of was that there might not be enough salmon for my wife to have any. Seriously, how was I going to share this? The crust was a new taste for me on salmon but it worked perfectly. I loved that little bit of rich, crispy flavor on top of the juicy, cooked-to-perfection salmon filet.
Final Thoughts
I cannot think of anywhere else I would have rather spent my Friday date night with my wife. A meal of this quality would cost a small fortune if we ordered it from a restaurant and it would not have been as much fun. We cooked together, we laughed together, we ate a great meal, drank great wine and in case I did not mention, I had a lady in a hot dress to share it all with.
No comments:
Post a Comment