This was a celebration of sorts. We started the evening with
my crab cakes (made from all jumbo lump crab meat without any assertive seasonings such as Tabsco or Jalapeno pepper this time). If I do say so myself, better crab cakes can not be had at any restaurant. (It is all in the quality of crab meat). We had this with a very crisp clean tasting California vintaged Sparkling wine,
Mumm Napa Cuvee DVX 2001. We are partial to this wine, since it is connected to fond memories of our visit to the winery many years ago. We were club members at that time and one of the privileges of membership was free tasting samplers when we visited the winery. We spent a lovely afternoon, in Napa, on a spring day tasting samplers of sparkling wine overlooking the vineyard carpeted in the full bloom of bright yellow mustard flowers. Heaven!
The crab cake starter was followed by
hanger steak with red wine vinegar, port wine reduction with real "
wasabi". This time I simply seasoned the hanger steak with Kosher salt and black pepper, seared it in a frying pan with olive oil and finished it in the oven to medium rare. I removed the steak to a plate loosely covered with an aluminum foil to rest. Meanwhile, I deglazed the "
fond" with a small amount of red wine vinegar and reduced. I added port wine and again reduced. I poured back the
jus accumulated on the plate where the meat was resting and finished it with pats of butter. Off heat, I added a good amount of real Wasabi. You can see green specks on the steak in the picture above.
We opened a bottle from this year's shipment of
Buccella 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon. We have been fans of Buccella wines for some time. They consistently produce a highly extracted quality wine. This vintage is no exception. It has complex black fruit upfront with dark chocolate and cinnamon notes with rather refined tannin. Perfect with the steak. Hanger steak is not as tender as tenderloin but may have more flavor. The real wasabi in the sauce gave a fresh note that was a bit like but different from horse radish. It added complexity and interest to the steak. This steak is best served sliced very thin--equipment alert: a really sharp steak knife may be required. This time I did not pre-slice the meat.
My wife served a small desert but at this point the details were fuzzy to me.
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