Surf & Turf Date Night Dinner

This type of meal is a perfect ‘occasion’ meal. It doesn’t have to be for Valentine's Day necessarily (but also perfect for it!). Think celebration meal, anniversary meal, or just an ‘I love you’ and you deserve a nice surf and turf kind of meal! One of my favorite Ina Garten recipes is her endearing ‘engagement chicken’. The concept of steak and lobster at home gives me all the same feels.

One of the times that I truly knew I loved my boyfriend Jared was the night he made me a filet mignon for Valentine's Day. It was the first meal he had ever really cooked for me and while it tasted delicious, we also finished off the evening in CVS buying burn wound cream because the poor guy got into a huge oil spat. Cooking for your loved one really is one of the nicest ways to show how much you care.

I hope I haven’t scared you off, because I know that without a doubt you can rock a steak and lobster dinner at home! The menu is broken down into (3) easy parts!

• 3-cheese mashed potatoes
• Prosciutto wrapped asparagus
• Herb butter steak and lobster

I could literally eat all three of these dishes right out of my cookware! They are that good. Start out by getting your mashed potatoes and prosciutto wrapped asparagus prepared and ready to go! All my friends say they have such a hard time cooking dinners other than casseroles or one pot wonders because there are so many moving parts. I hear you!

I still get a little overwhelmed when I’m trying to make something with 3-4 parts. The trick is planning your schedule out ahead of time. This factors in all those ‘oops’ moments and gives you a chance to take your time and not rush. Take the first hour and totally prep your mashed potatoes and prosciutto wrapped asparagus and keep them warm. My Cuisinart Tri-Ply Copper Cookware is perfect for this because the pans retain so much heat and keep all of my dishes warm from the center outwards. Just pop your finished mashed potatoes and asparagus on low and keep the lid on to stay warm.

After you’ve gotten your asparagus and mashed potatoes hammered out, you’re on to the main event! Steak and lobster! Which I know probably sounds a little intimidating (and you may have never even bought a lobster tail from the seafood department) but I promise it’s not scary at all!

My trick to making simple steak and lobster is salt, pepper and flavorful herb compound butter! I love taking soften unsalted butter and mixing in flavorful herbs like rosemary, Italian parsley and minced garlic. This simple fix will give your steak and lobster so much flavor!

I like to cut my lobster in half (my Jean Dubost French Farm Chef Knife is perfect for this!) sear the steak on both sides and let it steam in that luscious compound herb butter. The whole cooking time for your lobster should take less than five mins! So simple!

Last but not least, the steak! The trick to getting steak perfectly pink inside is watching your cooking time like a hawk. It doesn’t take steak more than 2-3 minutes on each side to cook to a medium temp. If your steak still feels pretty soft in the center it will need to cook a little longer, if it has a little spring back after pressing the center than its over cooked.

The most important part of cooking steak is actually what happens after. Let your steak rest, covered with foil for at least ten minutes before cutting the piece open. If you follow these simple tips I promise you will have juicy, occasion dinner worthy lobster and steak!