Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New Year's Eve -- Exerting Man's Dominance over the Sea

DB~ and I went down to the Strip on Monday in preparation for our New Year's Eve feast.  My charming wife's ever-so-slow crawl to being a vegetarian led her to wanting seafood from Wholey's.  I dabbled with doing a meat for myself, especially a rabbit that I was looking at from Strip District Meats, but in the end I chose solidarity.

DB~ selected some King Crab legs, but I wanted something that I have never had before.  I walked back and forth along the seafood counter, but nothing really jumped at me.  Finally, I set eyes on some mako shark steaks.  They were cut thick, probably 1/2 to 3/4" thick, and had this odd Eye of Horus-thing going that looked like a blood-filled sac of some sort.

I thought about all the surfers and beachgoers that get chomped by sharks each year and thought it would be good to get one back in the win column for humans by chomping on one of them.  I didn't feel like grilling out on a cold, snowy night, so DB~ found a series of recipes for pan-frying shark.

I went with a heavy rub of salt, pepper, and Old Bay on both sides and the edges of the shark.  I cut the steak into two pieces and removed the Eye of Horus blood sac, because it looked gross.  Once I got the olive oil hot over medium-high heat, I seared the rubbed shark on both sides for 3-4 minutes each side.

I took the shark out of the pan and deglazed the pan with a mix of orange juice, soy sauce, and ginger.  I cooked the sauce down on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickened.  I then drizzled it over top of the resting shark.


DB~ boiled her crab legs for about 5-7 minutes and plated them next to an excellent beet risotto that she prepared diligently.  Making a true risotto is a pain in the rear, but absolutely worth it when done right as this one was done by the sous-chef.


On the side, we had a cheese plate with a French baguette sliced crostini-thin.  The cheese was a French cheese called Pyrenese plain.  It was a soft and creamy cheese that went very well on the crostini.

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our 5th full year together.  The year 2014 promises only good things, as well.

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