Grilled Marinated Steaks and Mushroom Risotto

Saturday night has become our night for cooking or grilling a nice dinner at home instead of going out. We come up with a nice menu together, something that takes a little longer and is a little fancier than a weeknight meal. Jon usually gets a nice bottle of wine that we can enjoy with dinner and then on our deck after dinner.

So yesterday I picked up some strip steaks and Jon picked up a bottle of Cakebread Cab to go with them. I also planned on making risotto as well as sauteed spinach.

Jon created yet another fabulous marinade for the steaks:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup scotch
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, pressed
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp Mexican oregano

The steaks marinated for about 7 hours and they really took the flavors from the marinade. They were delicious!

Jon always requests risotto when we grill steaks, so I made a simple mushroom risotto. I started with onions, shallots, and garlic, and chopped baby bellas, and added freshly grated Parmesan cheese at the end. Here is a similar recipe using different kinds of mushrooms and cheese, and vermouth instead of white wine, but the method is the same.

Finally, the wine. We enjoyed a 2006 Cakebread Cab.

We have enjoyed older vintages of this wine, and found this one to be similar, although not as oaky. It was very smooth yet full, and is worth the splurge in our opinion.