Valentine's Day Dinner 2015

I know, this post is a wee bit tardy, but as you know, it's been a rough couple of weeks.  I decided to go ahead and publish it anyway. After all, the whole meal could apply to any occasion, not just Valentine's Day.

I always have such a hard time committing to food for special occasions.  I want to make all the things.  But this year, I decided to mostly stick with what I know, and just try a couple new things.

I'm not a seafood person even a little bit, so I don't make it very often.  The Dad loves it, though, so I decided to go with a Surf n' Turf theme this Valentine's Day.

But let me start with appetizers.  I didn't "make" anything, but instead put out a few cheeses, some soprassata, guava paste, fresh sliced apples, and crackers.  Super simple, but delicious nonetheless.

For the main menu, I did grilled ribeyes, lobster tail, seared scallops in a butter-wine sauce, cheese ravioli with browned butter, roasted asparagus, and focaccia bread.

The Dad grilled the steaks while I ran the show in the kitchen.

I couldn't remember ever making lobster tail before, so I just Googled a couple recipes to get a time frame for broiling.

One minute per ounce seemed to be the most popular suggestion, so that's what I did.

I seasoned it with salt and pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, and stuck some butter down in the valley of the meat before cooking.

I know I had never made scallops before, and there were a TON of recipes for bay scallops, which is what I bought.

I ended up sorta combining several recipes to do my own thing, without having to be distracted by following directions.

I seared them on both sides in my cast iron skillet, removed them, and dumped in some white wine and lemon juice to deglaze the pan.

Then I added a couple tablespoons of butter.

I don't do scallops, but that sauce was DELICIOUS on my bread.

I wish I had had some parsley or something for color, but The Dad said they were delicious.

The kids weren't on board at all.

For the asparagus, I just drizzled it with olive oil, seasoned it with kosher salt, then roasted it at 400 for 15 minutes or so.

A squeeze of lemon when it was done.

The ravioli just got browned butter with a drizzle of basil olive oil.

Simple heaven.

Put it all together and here's dinner on my plate:

I'll save dessert for another post.
It didn't suck at all.

As I'm sure you've noticed, I've been messin' with my blog layout a little bit.
The most noticeable part is probably the photo size.
I'm not sold on the especially giant vertical pictures, but figured I'd try it out and see.
I'm just ready for a change, and a full overhaul would need to be hired out.
Which costs money.
So in the meantime, humor me while I tinker with it.
Feel free to leave feedback, but be nice, or I'll tell your mom.