Mud Covered Surf & Turf

Ah, how I love Central Market.  Each week the flyer comes in the mail and I can't wait to see what deals they have in store.  Go ahead, make fun of my boring life.  The week of Valentine's Day they were of course featuring the creme de la creme - filet mignon and lobster tails.  This was not our Valentine's dinner, however we couldn't pass it up.  Being the fabulously lucky gal I am, Alex headed off to the market to pick up nightmare ingredients.  Somehow he came back with all things muddy.  Sunchokes, baby red carrots, golden beets, candystripe beets, rooted butter lettuce and lobster - all things that thrive in the mud.  Hence, mud covered surf and turf.

Central Market, I do love you so.

Sunchokes, candystripe and golden beets, baby red carrots, lobster tails, enough filet mignon to feed a family of at least four.

These sunchokes were a bit intimidating.  At first they looked to me like ginger covered in mud and to be honest I had no idea what to do with them.  I had never tasted them, let alone cooked them.  We do grow artichokes and cardoons but this certainly looks nothing like the part from those we eat.   After a look online I discovered a sunchoke is a Jerusalem artichoke, which is basically a species of sunflower.  What I had in front of me were the roots of this plant, often cultivated as a root vegetable. 

Gorgeous produce.  I can only hope to grow things this pretty in my gardens.

I think Alex thought he was shopping for an entire dinner party with the size of these filets he brought home. 

I wanted to maintain the rustic beauty of the vegetables so i left them in their entirety, drizzled with a little EVOO, sea salt and pepper.

Chopped rosemary from the garden to toss on my sunchoke chips.

Working on my bearnaise sauce. 

Ready to go on a double broiler.

There are many preparations you can use for lobster tails.  I usually cut them down the middle, pull the meat away and wash between the shell and meat.  Then, dry with a paper towel and brush with garlic lemon butter.

Ready to be grilled.

With the sunchokes I decided to make chips.  After washing, skinning and thinly slicing the tubers they were fried until golden and crispy.  Yes...I fried on the stove top this time.  The high water content of the sunchokes made it not so bad.

Muddy lettuce :-)

Butter lettuce, tomatoes, goat cheese, pecans, bacon pieces.

Pink peppercorn vinaigrette.

After the sunchokes were fried, I tossed them with fresh chopped rosemary and Parmesan cheese.

Fried Backstrap & Boursin Stuffed Jalapenos

For this meal I used all found ingredients.  Venison (again), Boursin Cheese, Butternut Squash and Grape Jelly.  I promise you really can make a good meal by shopping your fridge.  As all ladies know, we are sometimes forced to shop our own closets for that perfect outfit when shopping isn't practical.  Likewise, you can always shop your kitchen for ingredients and create something new and fun without leaving home!

Venison, backstrap - i think??

Jalapenos and Boursin Cheese

Boursin, cilantro, green onions, chili powder, paprika

Halve, remove veins and seeds then stuff with cheese mixture.

I love Butternut Squash.  So yummy and so gorgeous.

Peel, and cube squash.  Drizzle with vinaigrette or seasonings of your choice.  Here I used a simple brown sugar balsamic butter.

My NOT so creative idea for the backstrap was to fry it like chicken fried steak.  However, I decided to top it with a grape jelly chili sauce.  You know, the kind you find at creepy potlucks and office parties on meatballs.  I am not a potluck fan so had really never tasted this concoction but many people I know actually rave about it.  Sounded strange to me, but what the heck?  After all, we were eating venison for probably the third time in two weeks.  That sounded strange to me, too. 

Grape jelly, chili sauce, lemon juice, probably some wine since it pretty much goes in everything, garlic, butter, paprika, blah, blah, blah.

Jalapenos, cooked in oven until just crispy.  Grilling would also work well.

Garden spinach, orange tomatoes, pickled onions, garlic white wine vinaigrette

Chicken Fried Backstrap and Boursin Stuffed Jalapenos topped with Grape Chili Sauce

We must have not had wine on this particular evening, however Purple Haze was the perfect pairing with the spicy, grape sauce.