My Two Cents: April Dinner Party (Spring Break, Part 2)

Now, of course, we were on vacation during this little gathering, which means we didn't skimp on food. Our menu plan for the week:

Saturday night: spaghetti with italian sausage
Sunday night: garlic chicken on rice
Monday night: jambalaya with chicken, shrimp, and sausage
Tuesday night: chicken nachos
Wednesday night: surf 'n' turf
Thursday night: fresh seafood with creamy parmesan risotto and steamed broccoli
Friday night: chicken fried rice

So, late Tuesday night, my mom and her husband Kevin arrived. Fallon was already knocked out, so we spread out some of Nana's gifts in her bedroom to surprise her in the morning (because grandparents always arrive bearing gifts, right?). She woke up at 3am and came rushing upstairs to let us know with urgency that Nana. was. here. No, really! Nana's here! And thus, the day began.

I'm totally kidding. We put her butt right back to sleep assuring her that Nana would still be there when the sun woke up four hours later. Gently, of course. And she was still there to join us for the sunrise.

For whatever reason, Nana brought with her some particularly cooler weather. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to miss out on the free on-the-beach photographer. Hey, we need some updated family pics! And so, for the third time, we headed down to the pier for a little photo shoot. After a quick tutorial of camera operations, we had pictures snapping like we were the subjects of intense paparazzi.

Once I was satisfied with the number of attempts at a decent shot, we agreed to head back to our own little plot of sand for some relaxing to the waves, basking in the sun, pointing at the birds, and gawking at the crazies actually frolicking in the icy water.

We get along so well. (In truth, he was trying to tell my I had something in my teeth.)

Us.

That afternoon, it was time to feed the masses. All five of us. This, my friends, was Surf 'N' Turf Night, and it quite possibly may never be topped. After all, this meal used two entire sticks of butter. Anyhow, here she is:

Filet Mignon with Rock Crab Legs (serves 4)

Ingredients:

4 - 8oz filet mignon steaks (other steaks will work too, but why?)
4 lbs frozen pre-cooked crab legs
2 sticks butter
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
Lemon juice
Big appetite ;-)

Directions:

Slice one stick of butter in half and allow to soften (I stuck it outside in the sun for a few hours. It worked. Leaving it out on the counter all day would likely work as well.) Using your hands, mix butter with parsley, thyme, lemon zest, and garlic. Mash it all up together. Then reshape into a stick. Or a semi-formed blob. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees

Using the other half of the first stick of butter, place it in a bowl and melt it in the microwave (took me a few 30-second intervals, maybe a total of 2 minutes). Add some lemon juice (I didn't measure, I just poured...if I had to guess...a 1/4 of a cup?). This is now your crab leg sauce.

Melt a second stick of butter in a skillet until it's pretty darn hot. Like screaming hot. Ideally, this would be done in a cast iron skillet, but of course I didn't pack mine because it's ridiculously heavy, so we improvised with a regular non-stick fella. No worries, it all worked out in the end.

Add steaks to skillet and sear each side for a few minutes, constantly drizzling the steaks with the butter in the pan. Meanwhile, have your husband crack the undersides of the crab legs to expose the meat and place the crab legs in a large baking dish. Now, if you have a cast iron skillet, you would skip the next step.