Our Father's Day Feast

Not too long ago, Wayne suggested it might be fun to look up some restaurant menus and then try recreating them at home. That sounded like a great idea to me as well. And Father's Day was the perfect time to give this a try. Since it was kind of last minute, I needed to find a menu for which we already had the ingredients, specifically the halibut that he had requested for his special dinner. Flagler Steakhouse at The Breaker's in Palm Beach was the perfect restaurant for our initial attempt.

They had a "daily fresh catch" on their menu, and I decided our "fresh catch" would be the halibut, and I'd serve it with asparagus, mashed potatoes and lemon butter sauce, just like their menu suggested. I used the same recipe/method for cooking the fish that I had done the week before with mahi mahi and it was just as delicious. In addition, I found a new recipe to try for the sauce - Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce - and it was good as well, but also a bit time consuming.

Creamy Lemon Butter Sauce

• 1/2 cup white wine or chicken broth
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons cold butter, in chunks

Bring the wine and garlic to a boil, and simmer until reduced by half, about ten minutes. Stir in the cream and cook over low heat until thickened a bit. Add the lemon juice and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted and smooth. Makes 4 servings.

We started with Classic Oysters Rockefeller but decided against also having a salad

The Flagler Steakhouse menu had a lot of dessert options! 

• Tres Leches Dulce de Leche 
• Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies and Milk 
• Caramelized Cheesecake Strawberry Compote 
• Warm Apple Pie Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel 
• Breakers Key Lime Pie 
• Seasonal Fruit Cobbler Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel, Pecan Crumble 
• Valrhona Chocolate Layer Cake Vanilla Ice Cream 
• Layered Carrot Cheesecake Caramel Sauce, Whipped Cream, Walnuts 
• Selections of Ice Cream and Tropical Sorbet Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry 

A lot, but none of them really appealed to me! I had about decided on the simple Chocolate Chip Cookies (since that's what I made to take to the church for Father's Day) when Wayne requested a Cherry Pie. So, even though that wasn't part of the menu, I made one for him. Then we didn't even eat it until the next day! (I guess he filled up on those chocolate chip cookies before dinner!!)

I'd say our first foray into this new experiment was a great success, and we saved a lot of money! Just the appetizer and desserts would have been $100, and I've learned that "market price" for fish is always super expensive. Stay tuned for the next installment!