Every Fine Dining Chef Knows How to Make This

Surf and turf, no question, is one of the most epic combos in the food world. You've got filet mignon and lobster, two powerhouses of flavor, with both coasts during the 1960s arguing over who came up with it. But we'll get into that later. Right now, let's set the traditional garlic butter aside, and I'll show you how to make one of my favorite sauces and why we're gonna do it first. I have eight ounces of fresh pearl onions, and any color pearl onion is fine. You can also use already peeled and frozen, or even just small dice one yellow onion. Now, for a little trick to easily peel them, we're going to slice off the root end and then add them to some boiling water for 90 seconds. Then, we're going to transfer them over to an ice bath and quickly shock them just until cool. From there, simply give them a little pinch from the stem end, and they'll pop out with ease. Love this technique. Next up, I've got one cup each of oyster and baby bella mushrooms. Domestic buttons or shiitakes are also great here. A combo of these mushrooms, or even just one of them, will work great. Using a damp paper towel, just gently rub off any unwanted particles or dirt. Then, for the oyster mushrooms, I just simply tear them from top through the stem. Easy. Then, for the baby bellas, give it a thin slice at the end, roll it over to stabilize it, and then thinly slice. Super easy. Now, I'm going to finely mince two teaspoons of fresh thyme, and always good to use the stems as long as they're tender. A lot of flavor in there. Almost done with the prep, but first, we're gonna smash and finely mince two garlic cloves, then julienne four slices of regular cut bacon. You can see where I'm going with this. Bring all the prep over to the cooktop where I've got a large nonstick ceramic saute pan. I'm turning the heat up to medium, and then we're gonna cook the bacon while frequently stirring until it becomes crispy and the fat is rendered. This will only take four to five minutes. Once it looks like this, try not to eat it, and set the crisp bacon to the side, and then in the same saute pan, I'm going to add an additional two tablespoons of olive oil because we're going to add in the mushrooms and give it a gentle season of salt and turn the heat up to high. If you don't know, mushrooms suck up as much fat as you throw at it. That's why I added the olive oil. We're going to let these cook untouched for two to three minutes, then saute them for 30 seconds and let them sit for an additional two to three minutes. Now, while these are roasting, let's talk about the history of this dish. It's said to have been created in the 1960s, but in true Tupac and Biggie West Coast, East Coast feud, the Eye of the Needle restaurant in Seattle, Washington, said they first served it up at the World's Fair in 1962. However, the Lowell Sun newspaper in Lowell, Massachusetts say they ran an ad for Surf and Turf in 1966, and therefore they are the inventors. Regardless of who came up with it, I'm glad they did because it's ridiculously good. Okay, back to the mushrooms. At this stage, let's add in the pearl onions and saute them for two to three more minutes. Then, once they're lightly browned like this, we're going to stir in the garlic and cook it just until fragrant, which only takes about 30 to 45 seconds. And for a little last second audible, how about a quarter cup deglaze of dry white wine, like a Chardonnay or Pinot Grigio. Cook it until it's almost gone, or as we say, all set in the culinary world, and then let's fatten this up with two cups of heavy whipping cream. Next, turn down the heat to low-medium and cook it for about four to five minutes to reduce, concentrate, and thicken the sauce. The smells already are insane in here. After that amount of time, you should have a really nice, thick, rich sauce that can easily coat the back of a spoon. This is known as nappe. Turn off the heat and set it to the side, and we can almost call this good, and we'll wrap it up right before serving it, but first, let's get to the lobster tails. Now, you can use cold-water lobster tails or warm-water lobster tails. The cold-water ones tend to run about 10 to 11 bucks for a four-ounce tail and are pretty easily accessible. I usually figure one to two of these per person, and yes, you can absolutely buy bigger cold-water tails. The big monsters I have here are from the warmer waters and run about 16 to 18 bucks for a 12-ounce tail. These also are usually available in smaller sizes. Regardless, both will work for this recipe and are the classic surf to use in this dish. However, I also understand lobster is expensive, so two great substitutes are making shrimp scampi or even some pan-seared scallops. I've got videos for both if you wanna check those out. Now, there are many ways to cook lobster. You can broil it, bake it, or even steam it, depending on what you like the most, and if you want, you can see each of these procedures on my website at billyparisi.com. I even offer metric conversions for the rest of the world. You're welcome. With that being said, I'm going to cook these OG chef style that is very culinary school-esque because, well, that's where I learned this technique, and it's called a court bouillon, which is a very flavorful poaching liquid for seafood, especially lobster. So in a three or four quart pot, I'm going to add in six cups of water, two cups of dry white wine, next, about six to eight sprigs of fresh thyme, one bay leaf, and three to four parsley leaves and stems. Now, for some citrus, squeeze in the juice of one lemon and throw those in there along with one stick of unsalted butter. For a little mirepoix, I'm going to roughly slice one rib of celery and one carrot along with roughly chopping a half yellow onion. Season it very well with coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper, and feel free to taste it. It should be loaded with flavor. Almost ready for the lobster, but first take it over to the cooktop or we'll bring it to a gentle simmer over low to medium heat. Once you see a few bubbles coming to the surface like this, let's add in our lobster tails, and hey, why not one of the big boys too? This will take roughly eight to 10 minutes for the smaller ones and 10 to 12 for the bigger one. This is the best, most gentle way to make extremely flavorful food, especially for a delicate piece of seafood like lobster. All right, now, while the lobster is cooking, no matter the method you choose, you have to put your chef hat on because it's go time. There still is plenty of time to get that steak cooked to medium rare and for a rest. So I've got two center cut eight to 10 ounce filet mignons. These are the classic beef cut for the turf in this dish. However, you could absolutely use ribeye, New York strip, or even flank or skirt steak based on your budget and what you like. You be the judge. If you can't tell, I want you to make this. That's why I'm giving you so many options. Now for prepping them. I'm going to pat the filets down first with paper towels to remove any moisture to ensure a good sear. Then season them on all sides with coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper. I usually mop up the sides of the filets with the seasoning that's left over on the plate. Now just as an additional option, if you're doing some planning and have at least four hours before cooking this, I recommend dry brining these by placing them on a rack, patting them dry, and generously seasoning with salt and pepper. Place them in the fridge uncovered for four and up to 24 hours. This process will make a juicier, more flavored filet with a better maillard crust. But if you're going for the gold and less than an hour, you'll be fine with the season right before the cook. So in a large carbon steel or cast iron skillet, add in two to three tablespoons of olive or avocado oil and crank the heat up to high. Once it begins to lightly smoke like this, we're going to add in the filets. Turn the heat immediately down to medium and leave them untouched for 90 seconds. I know a lot of temperature control for this recipe, but you can do it. Then let's come back and have a look. See how there's still a bit of gray in the center? Let's brown up everything by moving the filets around in a circular motion like this for 30 seconds each. Flip the filets over, yeah, absolutely perfect brown crust. Turn the heat to low and then add four to five tablespoons of unsalted butter, six to eight cloves of garlic, and six to eight fresh thyme sprigs. We're next going to baste the tops of the steak using a large spoon for a total of three minutes. This amount of time with these size steaks will render a perfect 125F medium rare internal temperature. We are so close to wrapping this dish, but first let's set the filets on a rack to rest and why not just add on the thyme and garlic for more flavor? Do it. Now let's quickly go back to our simmering lobster tails in the court bouillon. It's been eight minutes and those little tails are done, so let's remove those and then give two extra minutes to that bigger tail and then remove it. Just set them to the side on a plate and I'll pop them right next to the filets. I told you it was go time, right? So go back to the cooktop and let's heat up that sauce. To help loosen it up a little, just add one to two tablespoons of water. Don't forget to hit it with the cooked bacon and then the finely minced thyme. Heat it while constantly stirring over medium heat. Let's give it a final season of salt and pepper and my gosh, does this smell so, so good. Told you the sauce would hold just fine. It's finally time to plate up and I'm gonna give you a few options here. First, place the filet on a plate, then slice through the lobster tail with a knife to expose the meat and place it next to the steak. You can serve the sauce on the side like this in a ramekin or you can remove the lobster from the shell, place it on top of the filet and pour that delicious sauce over the top. Or last but not least, the sauce goes on the bottom on the plate and why not slice the steak to see that gorgeous medium rare with the lobster tail on top? And the possibilities are endless when it comes to serving this dish. I personally love it with twice-baked potatoes, all-gratin potatoes or you can go on the lighter side of things with roasted asparagus. Whatever you choose, I'm pretty sure whoever you're serving this to is going to be dang impressed. This may be the best combo to come out of the 60s besides Jimmy Page and Robert Plant but if you're looking to level up with some more classic, fancy recipes, my Chateaubriand is a must-try. It's unreal and I've got an awesome video to show you how it's done. I'll see you there. Bye.