Whenever you think of surf and turf, do you think about a fancy dinner out in a fine dining restaurant, perhaps on Valentine’s Day? I sure do! The old-school original surf and turf was a lobster tail set gloriously on top of its shell alongside a filet mignon. Usually served with asparagus or green beans almandine. Remember those I wrote about last month?
When I use the words fancy and a romantic holiday like Valentine’s Day, it can mean only one thing…Big bucks. That is exactly why the dish that doesn’t go together, culinarily speaking, was created.
Some restaurateurs had the idea of taking two of the highest-priced menus items and putting them together, creating an entrée that was over the top and special. Oh, and expensive. It became the “Surf & Turf for Two” special on Valentine’s Day especially. Surf and turf remained very popular through the 60s and 70s.
You still see variations of surf and turf in many restaurants today, but things have changed. While you can still find fancy AF surf and turf, you can also find it in a fast-food restaurants; and everywhere in between.
The surf or seafood part doesn’t have to be lobster tail anymore; it can be shrimp or scallops or another kind of seafood. The meat doesn’t have to be a filet mignon. It can be a porterhouse or strip steak, or any beef for that matter.
Today for Sunday dinner, I went freezer hunting and found a bag of bay scallops, those are the little ones that you don’t sear, and a flat iron steak. There wasn’t enough of either to be the main entrée, so I decided to use them both and do surf and turf.
Flat iron steak is one of our favorite cuts of steak. It’s tender and flavorful; plus, it’s so quick and easy to make. I patted the steak dry and coated both sides generously with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then I grilled it for 5 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other. It was medium rare on the rare side, how we all like it. I also made an herb compound butter to put on top of the steak while it was resting. When the compound butter melts and mixes with the steak juices, it creates a delicious sauce.
I never buy bay scallops, but I remember they were stupid cheap and figured I’d try something different. I always sear the large scallops, but I wanted to bake these. I made the baked scallops with a white wine, garlic butter sauce, and lemon with a panko breadcrumb topping. It was super quick and easy; it baked in only 20 minutes.
Trying to decide what sides to make stumped me for a bit since I didn’t feel like making potatoes. I remembered that Marty picked up 6 ears of corn at the Troy Farmers Market yesterday. The corn is very early for this part of the Northeast, but the farmer does the labor-intensive task of covering the rows of corn in plastic…making it ready before anyone else by at least 3 weeks.
It makes me sad that I can’t eat corn…at all. It totally sucks that I follow a low residue diet to manage my ulcerative colitis, but it’s better than a flare-up. I never cheat; it’s not worth the consequences. Marty and Sam said the corn was delicious. Tender and sweet; Marty chose 3 bi-color and 3 white ears. The way I cook corn is still the best way for us. Every time I do it on the grill, they don’t like it, plus it’s a mess.
My cooking method for corn on the cob is putting it in cold water after I remove the husks and silks. I add a teaspoon of sugar to the water. I cover the corn with the water. I turn it on, and as soon as it comes to a boil, I put on the lid and turn off the heat. It comes out perfect every time, with no overcooked, tough corn.
I needed a side dish, so I went back to some old-school restaurant classics and chose Noodles Romanoff. Noodles Romanoff was created by a chef named Michael Romanoff back in the 30s. This side dish was popular, especially during the 60s & 70s; that’s why I picked it. Michael Romanoff was of Hungarian descent and created this dish and named it after himself.
Noodles Romanoff is noodles in a creamy white sauce made with butter, sour cream, and parmesan cheese. There are many variations of the dish, but I kept it simple. I forgot to take a photo of it while I was making it. I made it while the steak was on the grill and the scallops were in the oven. I had to oversee both, so I forgot.
The scallops were flavorful and good, but I still like seared ones with a pan sauce better. The steak was bomb. It was flavorful, juicy, and tender. The compound butter that melted on it pushed it over the edge of deliciousness. The noodles were very good. I just remembered when my mother bought the Betty Crocker Noodles Romanoff in the box when I was a kid. She also used to buy mashed, scalloped, and au gratin potatoes too. I liked all of them, but now that I have had and make the real thing, there isn’t any comparison.
While I was writing this post, I was sitting right next to the stove. I was babysitting a pot of caramelized onions for French onion soup for dinner tomorrow night. I am making Julia Child’s version of the soup, which has more steps than other recipes, but tonight I had the time not to take any shortcuts and went full-on, Julia. You can really taste those extra steps.
Oh great! Now my mouth is watering for lobster since I’ve been writing about it and looking at the images. I’ve been craving seafood eaten at a shack type of place, outside at a picnic table, for a couple of years. I know people are like, “So go!” It’s not that easy with our business; schedules, production, deliveries, and markets. When we can take a couple of days, we have no one to watch Otto and Klaus since Sam is working on those days.
If we can coordinate all of our schedules, we will try to get away for a couple of days in mid-August. I want to go to Portsmouth, NH. I looked at all the restaurants and their menus; there are tons of gluten-free options and lots of lobster shacks. We are such beach people that we need to jump in the ocean and get our feet in the sand. Fingers crossed it works out for us.