Kate's Cure for the Common Cuisine: Sweetheart of a Meal: Crab Stuffed Filet Mignon, Roasted Veggies, Stuffed Bell Peppers

Mr. Max and I had a little chat on Sunday night. We pondered our Valentine's dinner as we looked back to the last two years where we have really gone all out. I believe our inner-romantics are still there, somewhere, but given the weekend we just had and the Mondays we thought we would have, I suggested maybe not doing anything that night (since we will have the cooking class to celebrate the day of love this Saturday) and he asked "take out?" and we simultaneously agreed "Eatzi's!"

To my surprise, my Monday didn't last as long as I anticipated and I was able to make a sweetheart of a meal after all. After the beautiful flowers I received at work, the boy deserved it. When he walked in, surprised at the sight, he asked if the aforementioned conversation was all a ruse just to mislead him into this surprise. Nope, but sure did work out well...

Thank you AllRecipes.com for your email at 7:04 this morning with this idea, the clarity came shining through. The featured recipe was a filet mignon in a rich balsamic glaze, but then I kinda wanted to stuff it with crab so I looked up a few recipes to get some ideas and here is the finished product.

Grocery List:

2 tbsp. Olive oil
2 Filet Mignon (I got a 6 oz for me and an 8 oz for the man in my life)
2 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar (recipe I was looking at said 1/4 cup BV but then I noticed I didn't have enough, I had about enough to cover 2 tbsp. so I made up for adding sherry vinegar)
3 tbsp. Sherry Vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
2 tbsp. butter
6 oz. lump crab meat
1 tbsp. red bell pepper, minced
1 tbsp. green onion, minced
2 tbsp. onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. vegetable stock
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning (Tony's Creole)
2 large pinches of breadcrumbs (I had Panko on hand and those worked well!)
Worcestershire Sauce

Start by pre-heating your oven to 350 degrees. Combine a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce, the balsamic vinegar and the sherry vinegar in a bowl. Heat 1 tbsp. olive oil in a skillet on medium. Sear your meat, browning each side of the meat for a total of about 8 minutes in the pan. Next, add the Worcestershire and vinegar to the pan. Melt the butter and stir well.

As the meat is browning, start your crab mix. Dice the bell pepper, onion, green onion and garlic - add to a separate skillet with 1 tbsp. olive oil and heat on medium until softened.

Next, add the crab meat, lemon juice a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce and Cajun seasoning. Next add the vegetable stock and bread crumbs, stirring well. Once combined, take off heat and put aside.

After the meat is browned on each side, remove the meat and keep the vinegar/wine/butter sauce in the skillet on low heat. Create a pocket in the meat using a knife and stuff with the crab mixture. Set the stuffed filets in an oven safe dish and pour the sauce over top.

At this point, I had leftover crab stuffing and still 3/4 of a bell pepper so I decided to see how that would pan out for me. I stuffed the bell pepper with the crab mix, topped with shredded Parmesan and stuck it in the oven safe dish to cook with the steaks. This wasn't my favorite, to me, it was too much crab in one sitting but to each their own.

Cook for 15 minutes or until you have reached your desired pinkness - I left the bell pepper in an additional 5 minutes for a total of 20. Spoon the juices from the sauce over the stuffed filet and serve!