Date Night Dinner: Filet Mignon, Citrus and Herb Shrimp, Baked Potato and Salad

Yum.

I love food.

Have you noticed?

And I love Steve.

Hence, the following dinner was born:

Grilled Filet Mignon, Grilled Citrus and Herb Shrimp, (Grilled) Baked Potato, Salad.

Steve has been ridiculously busy lately.

Like, I would probably be sitting on the floor at Miller Dwan, rocking back and forth in my straight jacket if I was that busy.

But instead, he's tired but calm.

And still going out of his way to do sweet things for me like picking up Kempton's holistic, expensive, and difficult to find dog food from the feed place in Wisconsin...even though I didn't ask him to.

Yes, I do realize that I am crazy.

Why do you ask?

Anyway...I wanted to make him a nice dinner to show him that I appreciate him and everything he does.

Take a look:

Delicious little filet...we don't eat a lot of red meat. One small filet is enough for us to share. Steve likes simple flavors, so I simply rubbed the meat with sea salt, fresh cracked pepper, and a little olive oil.

Citrus and herb shrimp...my favorite way to eat shrimp right now. I'll post the recipe below - you should try it immediately!

Po-ta-toe! We split this too, because I knew that we had plenty of food. To prepare this little bugger I scrubbed it, poked some holes in it with a fork...then wrapped it in aluminum foil that was drizzled with olive oil, salt, pepper and some dried herbs. We cooked it on the grill (along with the steak and shrimp). Yum!

Are you hungry yet?

Everything turned out phenomenal. It's hard to see in the pictures, but the steak was medium rare - exactly  how we like it (I am giving Steve full credit for this, and I would also like to apologize to him for running around squawking about how they were going to be overdone), and the shrimp were perfect.

We shared a bottle of red wine and had a lovely evening.

I use the term "shared" loosely.

Try this shrimp and let me know what you think - it is oh-so-good and the nice thing about this recipe is that you can customize it using whatever citrus and herbs you have on hand...I hope you enjoy it!

Citrus and Herb Shrimp (serves 2)

• 1 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 cup citrus juice: orange, lime or lemon...or a combination of the 3. I usually use 1/2 cup of orange and 1/2 cup of either lime or lemon depending what I have on hand
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or sea salt)
• 1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
• 3 tablespoons fresh or 1 tablespoon dried herbs of your choice: try thyme, oregano, basil, cilantro, tarragon, marjoram or rosemary...or a combination. I usually use an Italian blend; or thyme, oregano, and basil...but I have experimented with other combinations and everything seems to turn out really good
• 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Marinade for one hour, stirring occasionally. Preheat grill to 375 degrees. Thread shrimp on skewers (unless they are JUMBO and not likely to fall through the grates) and cook for 2 - 3 minutes per side, or until they are cooked through. Be careful not to overcook! These suckers cook fast and get rubbery when overcooked. Yum!

Printable Recipe