Shall we "dress for dinner"?

Welcome back! Hope you're hungry. I need to start by saying, that I had sweet beef dreams last night and a full, satisfied belly. Oh... what a  night! 5 1/2 sticks of butter and 27 cloves of garlic later, we feasted. My hands still have a faint smell of garlic and I have no problem with that at all! Occasion? Our local grocer had a sale - beef tenderloin for $4.99 per lb. That's all the reason you need for a dinner like this.
We were going to be eating a little late so we needed a good starter. Fresh raw oysters. Topping a Saltine cracker with a dab of spicy cocktail sauce, a swish of horseradish and a beautiful, meaty, fresh oyster, we assembled perfect little hors d'ourves. Hopefully Phill doesn't need stitches in his hand. That's all I'm going to say about that.

 There's a restaurant on Hilton Head Island that we love, called Steamers. One of the very best Creole sauced shrimp dishes EVER! The sauce is heaven. You get your rolls and you dip, slop, slurp whatever is left after the shrimp is gone until the bowl is wiped clean.  It's a "must have" every time we go. Needless to say, that put us on a mission - duplicate that shrimp! Alas, Mary has done it. She has made it a few times now and I do believe, the one last night was the best. You start by browning garlic in butter (lots and lots of butter!) and a bit of sugar for carmelizing. Add in your celery, fresh rosemary, salt and pepper of course, creole seasoning and fresh squeezed lemon juice. Pour this mixture over the shrimp and bake for a few minutes until the shrimp are pink. We also warmed some nice, crusty rolls for dipping. I must have been too busy licking my bowl, because I forgot to take pictures of the finished product! So here's an "in progress" shot:

About the time we finished off the shirmp, the rest of our dinner was coming together nicely. Mashed potatoes. Using Yukon Gold, she diced the potatoes and ran them under water to get rid of as much starch as possible. Sauteed them in an iron skillet with, of course, butter and lots of chopped, fresh garlic. Instead of using water, we finished cooking them with half and half. Beat 'em up with a good old hand mixer and you have the perfect accompaniment, creamy, fluffy, garlicky mashed potatoes.  Along with that, I steamed some broccoli florets and tossed them with some fresh chopped garlic as well.

And now I present, the star of the show, Mr. 5 Pound Beef Tenderloin:

Isn't that a thing of beauty? For a dollar a pound more, they would trim it up for you, but we just brought it home as is and did our own work. First, let's work on the sauce. Start with a pound of shallots, covered with olive oil and roasted in the oven, a few slices of crispy bacon, a cup of Porto, butter, garlic, fresh thyme and beef stock. Simmer until reduced, about an hour. Transfer into a blender, whip to desired consistency. Please note, that it WILL look like a chocolate milk shake at this time but trust me to say, it won't taste like it haha! Now, season the beef with salt, pepper and chopped fresh rosemary and brown all sides in the iron skillet with the bacon grease.  As soon as you get a nice sear, pop it into a warm 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

When it comes out, transfer meat to a platter and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. By now, the men are just hovering around the counter like a pack of hungry wolves and the aromas filling the house are making our tummies rumbly! A few minutes before serving, pour the blended sauce into the hot skillet and whisk into a nice gravy, serve on the side. As you see below, we don't bother with setting fancy tables or doing things formally. It's all about the food and drink. Oh, and we did have to drink the rest of the bottle of Porto. Why let such a thing go to waste right?

                              

Now we're not always dessert people, but on this night, I thought a nicely presented, little something sweet, would finish this dinner off perfectly. Enter my non baking skills. I love to cook, grill, fry, roast WHATEVER but when it comes to baking... not too good. So why not try making something like a Lemon Molten Cake with Simmered Blueberry Sauce. Yea, go right for the big stuff. I knew it was going to work out perfectly when, the recipe had called for 2 whole eggs and 1 additional yolk, I broke the 2nd egg into the bowl and it was double yolked. To me, that was a good omen. I don't have a stand mixer so I had to stand at the counter and beat the eggs, fresh lemon juice, vanilla, sugar and flour by hand for 14 minutes. Luckily, my son who just turned 4, is the overly helpful type. He was able to get beer for me from the fridge so I didn't have to stop mixing. That's a handy thing to have around. Meanwhile, I have blueberries, sugar and water simmering on the stove. The recipe called for using 12 brioche molds so you can invert them onto plates but all we had were a few ramekins. Being the creative geniuses that we are, we used silicone cupcake trays.

 

They only have to bake for 8 minutes but we had refrigerated the batter and didn't account for the chill. I'd say they baked for about 10 minutes, just until they felt a little spongy. They flipped out of the molds nicely, plated each one, topped with  a little blueberry sauce and a  touch of powdered sugar and lo and behold:

I made dessert!

A couple dozen beers and a few bottles of wine later, I'd say it was a great night. Although, we didn't get to do any outside cooking last night, I'm letting this one slide because DAMN it was good!
Come back next week when we'll be serving up GRILLED CORNED BEEF. Your table is waiting!
L&M