This past Saturday night, the wifey and I celebrated our second anniversary. We decided, since we are in the middle of remodeling our home (which will eventually include a big kitchen remodel...YES!!!!!) to save a little money and just have a fantastic night in with good food and good wine. So, I started thinking of the many dishes that could be made on such an evening and finally settled on something I had never prepared before. Plus, I decided that since I am so bad about updating the blog, to have Abbey photograph the whole process from opening the first bottle of wine to the first bite. I hope you enjoy.
First thing first, I started the night off by opening one of my favorite bottles...Benegas Syrah - 2005, an Argentinian syrah that melts my face right off. I took a swig and then lit the grill.
For the food. I started us off with some grilled lemon garlic shrimp as a bit of a teaser for what was to come. These are prepared with a simple lemon, olive oil, kosher salt, and minced garlic marinade. They don't really need to marinate for more than 30 minutes or so, and then they are ready to go on the grill.
While we enjoyed the shrimp I placed my piastra (a smooth cast iron or other metal or stone surface) on the grill to heat up. I prepared 6 deep sea diver scallops with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. I then scored the tops of the scallops about a quarter of an inch and set aside. I then prepared the caprese part of the salad with fresh heirloom tomatoes which I thieved from Jerad's tomato plant while he wasn't looking (haha) and a LOT of fresh chopped basil. I then placed the tomatoes and basil in a large mixing bowl and drizzled with some high quality olive oil.
Next, the ahi. I should at this point mention that both the scallops and ahi recipe has been altered a bit but originated in Mario Batali's book Italian Grill. Ok back on track. I made a rub for the ahi that consisted of chopped fresh rosemary, kosher salt, pepper, and sugar. I rubbed the ahi steak in olive oil and then generously patted the fish with the rub (see photos on flickr). It was at this time that the seafood was ready for some heat. The scallops went on first, they were placed on the hot piastra scored side down. These guys get cooked primarily on one side for about 6 minutes or so. After I placed the scallops on the piastra I put the ahi on the grill directly over the heat. The ahi wants to be cooked rare so it only took a couple minutes a side. I let it cook about 2.5 minutes a side and then pulled it off and set it inside to rest. By the time I was back at the grill the 6 minutes was up and the scallops got flipped and seared on the opposite side for another minute. I tossed the scallops in with the tomatoes and basil, drizzled some good olive oil on top, cracked some fresh black pepper and now its ready to be plated.
Back at the ahi, now that the fish has rested and the juices are perfect, I sliced it into about 1/4" slices and plated it. All this time I had some broccolini steaming with kosher salt, pepper, and a bit of butter. After all of this was plated I drizzled a tiny bit of my best olive oil on the ahi and sprinkled it with the smallest pinch of kosher salt.
Below you will find a few select photos from the process, I hope you enjoy. If you want to view all of the cooking photos please visit my flickr site by clicking here.
