Our Navy guest's time with us was winding down and I wanted to put together a memorable meal for them, Courtney (my daughter) was the bar manager in a 5-star steak house prior to joining the Navy so she's very familiar with a first class meal. Where she worked though tomahawk rib eyes were a very rare item, never advertised, and only available to select customers when they could get them. She'd seen one or two but had never eaten one. She and I discussed what to serve for this meal and I tossed out the idea of doing tomahawks and her eyes got big as saucers. First decision made. Being that I wanted to mix things up and do something totally different, I was at a loss trying to figure it out. Along comes
S
S-met
with his Friendsmas post and BINGO!! He saved the day and the seed was planted. I knew the format, now all I needed to do was figure out the menu. This took a few days and I kept going back to his post for inspiration. After much deliberation here is what I decided to do. All five courses are listed in the order they were served.
1) Mini bread loaves stuffed with spiced ground tenderloin topped with mozzarella cheese and served with homemade au jus
2) Spicy beef consomme garnished with fresh scallions
3) Caprese salads with a balsamic reduction
4) Smoked and reverse seared CPB tomahawk rib eyes, bacon stuffed twice baked potatoes, and a grilled veggie medley with yellow squash, zucchini, and onions
5) Cranberry, apple, pecan cake glazed with bourbon caramel sauce and served with French Vanilla ice cream
Knowing this was gonna take a HUGE amount of time, I got started the day before. Researched recipes for the consomme, got disgusted with them, and made up my own recipe. Got the cake all put together and cooking then started on the consomme. Prep time was very minimal but it took about 45 minutes for everything to cook down, then had to strain it off into a smaller pan. Took a taste and about went to my knees. It was amazing!! Side note: this is the first time ever making the stuff so went into it totally blind. Cake done, let cool and into a Ziploc baggie to stay fresh till the next day and consomme went into the fridge. Then cooked the spiced ground tenderloin for the stuffed bread, which also went into the fridge till the next day. Now....I also knew there were going to be a whole lot of steps to this so I did not take pics of each step through the process of each item, just the highlights. There are still a lot of pics though. Maybe that means there were a lot of highlights??
I start putting the bread loaves together first. Created the cavity and stuffed with the spiced meat
View attachment 426720
Top with the mozzarella
View attachment 426721
Bake the potatoes and remove the "meat" and load with bacon
View attachment 426722
Mix up the potato filling, stuff taters, and garnish with parsley
View attachment 426723
Caprese salads are next
View attachment 426724
Cut up veggies to be grilled and toss with some of my garlic olive oil and Tuscan seasoning
View attachment 426725
Balsamic reduction on the stove and getting happy
View attachment 426726
Au Jus coming along. Should not have taken the pic right after stirring. Oh well...
View attachment 426727
Consomme re-heating. Same problem with timing of the pic. Oh well X2
View attachment 426728
There were 5 people total so figured 2 of these monster steaks would be plenty
View attachment 426729
Rubbed with a bit of Worcestershire sauce and a hefty dose of my beef rub
View attachment 426730
Steaks onto the
Rec Tec. Ran low heat / extreme smoke for about an hour then ran grill temp to 275 till steaks reached an IT of 120
View attachment 426731
Mini bread loaves done. Time to put the plate together and start dinner
View attachment 426732
First course served. Never done anything like these but they came out really well and were a huge hit
View attachment 426733
Second course served, the consomme. God this stuff was good!! Deep, rich, beefy flavor with just a slight spice tingle on the back end.
View attachment 426734
Third course, the caprese salads
View attachment 426736
All the while the first three courses are going on, I'm keeping an eye on the steaks between each course. They are on the sear burner. Cooked to an IT of 128-130
View attachment 426740
Steaks done and into the house. Just beautiful!!
View attachment 426741
OMG!! What more can I say?
View attachment 426742
Taters all done
View attachment 426743
Veggie medley all done
View attachment 426746
First steak sliced for folks to build their own plates. I served the first 3 courses but you're on your own for this one. A couple slices on the far left for Tracy
View attachment 426747
My dinner. Two pics
View attachment 426748
View attachment 426750
Time for dessert. Cranberry apple pecan cake with bourbon caramel sauce and French Vanilla Ice cream
View attachment 426751
Put a fork in me, I'm done. Don't think I'm gonna eat again for a week. As much as I truly appreciate all of the positive commentary about my Christmas prime rib dinner, this meal makes that one look like a trip to McDonald's. This meal was a truly spectacular 5-star meal. There is not a thing about this that I'd change. Everything on the menu has been requested again real soon by Tracy. I've never done anything on this level before and it was a bit of a balancing act to bring it all together to serve at the correct time, but it all came off without a hitch. Needless to say, there were a few very happy Navy folks and one happy wife in this group. I need a day or two break but then I'll be ready to do it again. Heck, Tracy has already started planning the next one with some special friends. I have it down to a science now though and it'll be much easier next time. I also have all of the recipes so that'll save a lot of time.
Now to really put this meal into perspective. Two years ago...heck even possibly a year ago, this meal would not have happened. What was required for me to put all of this together was learned right here in SMF. This place is nothing short of amazing and I am truly enjoying my time here. Many thanks to all the folks that have provided the insight, input, and inspiration to make something like this happen!!
One happy camper,
Robert
I need a drool-proof keyboard for this forum!
