Easy 3-Course Week Night Meal

Who doesn't love an intimate and gourmet dinner at home with great company? Don't we all?! Now let me ask this again, who doesn't love hosting a gourmet dinner at home with great company on a weekday? Probably most of us don't. The notion that gourmet home dinners does not belong on a weekday is wrong. The only difference is preparation and finding the right menu.

For my cousin's 30th birthday, I've decided to make an intimate and fancy dinner for a group of 8 people. Unfortunately, with the craziness of our schedule, the only day we could do it is on Thursday. It took 4 days to plan this dinner. And when I say plan, I mean timing and scheduling is included. As it turns out, with careful planning and preparation, three course dinners are easy breezy on a weekday.

Here's the menu:

• 1st course: Crockpot Tuscan Tomato Basil Soup
• Main Course: Pan seared/roasted Filet Mignon, Baked Shrimp Parmesan with steamed broccolini and herbed-roasted potatoes on the side
• Dessert: French Macarons

Its all about the timing. All in all, aside from the cooking time with the slow cooker, it took me an hour to cook and half an hour for food prep and cleaning. While potatoes are roasting in the over, my shrimps are marinated. Right after taking the potatoes out of the oven, I placed the shrimp which took less than 10 minutes to cook. Additionally, broccolini's were steaming while cooking the steak. Orchestrating your timing is paramount for this seemingly complicated yet simple undertaking. Like everything else in life, planning ahead of time made it manageable and even quite simple.

For the avid bakers, we all know that French Macarons is, without a doubt, a difficult dessert to make. This takes days to prepare thus unrealistic to include in this menu. However in my case, I made the cookies 2 days in advanced. There are plenty of desserts that are easy and fast to make to substitute these dainty little cookies.
 
1st Course: Tuscan Tomato Basil Soup (Crockpot)

 This serves 8-10 people. 

Soup Ingredients:
2 (14oz) cans diced tomatoes with juice
1 c diced celery
1 c diced carrots
1c diced onions
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 c fresh basil (or more, adjust to your taste)
4-6 c chicken broth (depends on how creamy you want your soup, I added 5 cups on mine)
1 pc bay leaf
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

(Roux Ingredients)
1/2 c flour
1/2 c butter

1 c of milk (optional, depending on how creamy you want your soup but I skipped this on mine)

1 c shredded parmesan

Add together all soup ingredients to a large slow cooker. Cook covered on high for 5 hours or on low for 7 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving, make the roux by melting butter in the sauce pan and gradually adding the flour. Use a whisk to stir constantly. Then add 1 cup at a time of the soup from the slow cooker, up to 4 cups. Once incorporated, add the roux into the slow cooker along with the Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Use a whisk to make sure the roux and parmesan are mixed properly. Continue to cook on low until serving.

Troubleshooting:

This soup is originally creamy but I prefer mine more broth-y (if such word exist). It was somewhat creamy but not quite a cream soup. To adjust to your liking, adjust the ratio of the amount of broth to the milk. With mine, I skipped the milk and increased the broth by 1 cup.

It was delicious!!!!

Main Dish: Filet Mignon

Filet Mignon
Freshly ground sea salt and pepper
Olive Oil
Butter
Rosemary Sprigs

Cast Iron Skillet
Meat Thermometer

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 

Wash filets thoroughly and pat with a paper towel. Make sure the meat is on room-temperature then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

Heat-up the pan on high-medium heat until very hot. Add olive oil and filets for 2-3 minutes on each side until brown. Add butter and sprigs of rosemary leaves. Place the pan inside the oven and roast for 3-4 minutes or until desired doneness. For medium rare, use your thermometer to get to 130-135 degrees and 140-145 for medium.

Take out of the oven, using a spoon, baste the meat with the melted butter in the pan. Then, transfer to a plate and cover with a foil for at least 5 minutes This allows the heat to naturally cook inside of the meat.

Baked Shrimp Parmesan:

Shrimps (peeled and devined)
Minced Garlic
Olive oil
Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

Seasoned Bread Crumbs
Shredded Parmesan

Melted butter
Lemon

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Drizzle shrimp with olive oil, salt pepper and add minced garlic. Mix together and marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.

On a deep bowl, mix together the bread crumbs and parmesan. Toss the shrimp in the breadcrumb mix to lightly coat. For this recipe, the shrimp isn't breaded rather lightly coated. Lay on a foiled baking sheet making sure its not touching each other. Drizzle with melted butter.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 7-10 minutes. The shrimp should be crusty yet soft. Do not overcook. After done, drizzle with lemon and serve immediately. 

Herb-Roasted Potatoes

Blend of Baby Potatoes (cut in half)
Italian Seasoning
Olive Oil
Freshly ground salt/ pepper
Rosemary Sprigs

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Line baking sheet with foil (for easy cleaning) and lay out halved potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, italian seasoning, salt and pepper and add few fresh rosemary sprigs.

Bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

We ended this dinner with a bang! I made my biggest french macarons thus far at 3 inches a piece.

So there it is ladies and gents, gourmet dinner at home on a weeknight much like a restaurant meal only cheaper and perhaps better! Get out of the bland and usual dinner routine and add some spice to a weeknight. For me, this is mission impossible-accomplished! With my very unpredictably busy business schedule (unlike the usual 8-5), I managed to make a cozy candle-lit gourmet dinner for a party of 8. Not to mention, the french macarons. Pat in the back, Gracie!

I hope this inspires you to find some time in your busy weekdays to gather up some energy to spend an hour or so in preparing a dinner your family will talk about for awhile. Ditch the soda, have a glass of wine instead. Life is worth celebrating and its great to remind ourselves that occasionally.

Bon appetit!