Date Night In

I think that any couple with kids understands the importance of date night.  A night when you can reconnect as something other than parents, where you can just relate to each other one on one.  But date night can also become a real pain in the ass:  where are you going to go?  What are you going to eat?  Who is going to watch your crazy ass kids?  Do you have to take off your yoga pants and put on pants with a zipper?

It becomes tricky.

So sometimes we'll opt to have a date night in.  We won't eat dinner together as a family like we usually do, we'll let Isabella have mac and cheese and get her to bed at a reasonable hour and then we'll have a fancy home cooked dinner, pop a bottle of wine (or sparkling cider these days), and either catch up on the dvr, watch a movie, or play some cards.

It's the best of both worlds, you get your date night and you can stay in your yoga pants if you like.  Don't get me wrong I love getting dressed up and getting out of the house, but sometimes time or money gets in the way and I don't want to sacrifice that one on one time.

This is a great date night in recipe that's easy, not too time consuming, and still just a wee bit fancy.  Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon with Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus.

Ingredients:

For the Filet

2 cuts of filet mignon
3 tbs butter
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 blue cheese crumbles
sea salt and pepper

For the Asparagus:

1 bunch of asparagus
8-10 slices of prosciutto
olive oil for drizzling
salt and pepper

Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Heat 1 tbs of the oil and 1 tbs of the butter in a large, oven safe, skillet until hot.

2.  Season the steak with coarse sea salt and pepper and quickly sear on both sides in the oil and butter mixture until just browed then put the entire pan in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes to get a steak that is medium.   Adjust cooking time depending on how you prefer your steak cooked.

3.  While the steak is in the oven prepare the blue cheese topping.  Melt 2 tbs of butter in the microwave, then add the bread crumbs, blue cheese crumbles, and remaining tbs of olive oil.  Set aside.

4.  Trim the coarse ends of the asparagus.  Then take 5-8 asparagus stalks and wrap in a slice of prosciutto.  Drizzle the asparagus bundles with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Take it easy on the salt since the prosciutto is already salty.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

5.  Once the steaks are out of the oven, turn on the broiler.  Place the steaks onto a baking tray and top each steak generously with the blue cheese bread crumb topping and broil until hot and bubbly, about 3-4 minutes.  Let steak sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

6.  Serve each steak with a few bundles of roasted asparagus wrapped in prosciutto and a salad or some sauteed mushrooms.

Enjoy your date night in.

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