Inside My Mid-life Crisis

Our first wine from this weekend is a bold Italian red. Masi Campofiorin 2008 IGT Rosso Del Veronese
This deep ruby red colored wine with a ripe cherry and sweet spicy nose gave way to an even bigger cherry-berry softly tannic beauty. According to the label this wine is from the Verona area and made using the Appassimento method of partially drying the grapes on bamboo racks then double fermenting with fresh grapes--who knew? We really enjoyed it and in true Italian style served with cheese tortellini in white sauce to accompany our home-made grilled Italian sausage.

The next one is a blend from Aviator 2009 Yakima Valley AVA. We picked this one up at the St. Martins Wine tasting event a couple months ago. This blend is Cabernet Sauvignon 50%, Merlot 25%, Petit Verdot 10%, Cabernet Franc 10% and Malbec 5%. The blend reminds me of some of the "Old World" reds we sampled in our class and the use of Petit Verdot as a blender is the real common denominator. The Winemaker notes really say it all; complex, rich dark cherry, spice and vanilla--the spice was my first impression for sure. This one paired beautifully with grilled rib steak served Oscar style with petite lobster tail.

If you are not familiar with Oscar style--you are in for a treat. Rib Steak topped with al dente cooked asparagus spears, an oz or 4 of your desired seafood then drizzled with sauce Bearnaise.

Cut the tough ends off your asparagus spears and place in a shallow skillet just covered with water. Add a pinch of salt to the water. Cook to al dente while the grill-master attends to the meat.

I was lazy yesterday and used a packet of Bearnaise sauce with skim milk and butter and prepared according to directions while the asparagus cooked. Easy and "almost" as good as homemade...

Season your steak and using large kitchen shears cut down the center of the top of the lobster tails shell stopping when you hit the tail. Grill the tails in the shell along with your steak. These were the small tails you see advertised regularly for around $6 each and they finished in the same time that thick medium rare steak came off the grill. Pull the shells apart (they are hot; grasp each side and pull open to free the meat from the shell) pop the tail meat out, cut into bite size pieces.

Arrange a few asparagus spears on each portion of steak (we share a steak) then top with lobster and drizzle with 2 T of Bearnaise sauce.

Most of the time the seafood used is crab but shrimp and lobster are equally great. . Accompany with a fine  glass of wine and you need nothing more.