Surf and turf platter

Serves 6

Prep time: 30 minutes active cooking, 1-24 hours for marinade

There is something that feels really special about a surf and turf dinner to me. Maybe it is because I love seafood and Josh loves steak, so it feels like it was made for us (we also mark the start of our relationship on the 4th of July, plus this is my parents’ wedding anniversary, so I’m pretty sure all those fireworks are for us, too). Whether or not this is true, I like to make it when we have visitors, for special occasions, or just to make date-night-at-home feel a little different that the usual.

Photo credit: Ken Kaushansky

For marinades:

2 lemons (in addition to 2 lemons above), halved

1/4 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic

1t of each cardamom, coriander, chili powder

1T fresh rosemary

1 small onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

salt and pepper

For platter:

1 lb new york steak

2 ruby red grapefruits

6 oz block of parmesan cheese

1 lb shrimp, 15-count

2 avocados

1 head romaine lettuce

2 lemons

First, make the marinades. I use two gallon ziplock bags. I think, probably, if I was not my mother’s daughter, I would do this in a pyrex pan, but my mom uses ziplock bags for everything, so here we are. For the steak marinade, combine 1 lemon and the onion pieces with 2T of olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1t of each cardamom, coriander, chili powder, rosemary, salt and pepper. For the shrimp marinade, combine 2t of rosemary with the other lemon, 1T of olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic and 1t of each salt and pepper.

Add the steak to the bag, seal, then turn the bag until the steak is coated. Place in the fridge any where from 1 hour to 1 day before you plan to eat. Repeat the same process with the shrimp, but do not add the shrimp until 1 hour before you plan to eat.

Once the meat has marinated, grill it. This can be done on an outdoor grill or on a grill pan inside. Remove the meat from the marinades and brush off excess marinade. Grill the steak until medium rare (or your desired doneness) and the shrimp until they form a “c” (I once learned that “c” is for “cooked” and “o” is for overdone) and remove from the heat. At the same time, also grill the remaining 4 lemon halves, face down. Allow both the shrimp and the steak to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.

Finally, assemble the rest of the platter. Clean and chop the romaine lettuce, cut slices of parmesan, supreme the grapefruit (this just means takes the segments out), and slice the avocado. I like to arrange everything in rows, leaving room for the steak and shrimp on either end. Dress the platter with juice from the grilled lemon, then add salt and pepper to taste.