The Beard & I have set aside each Wednesday night as date night. Sometimes we go out to dinner, other times we do a quick stir fry and binge watch episodes of The Walking Dead or Vikings that I am behind on. The main purpose is that we spend time together. This week I decided that I was going to make him a decadent dinner. He’s an amazing boyfriend and by George he deserves it!

I was at Lucky’s, one of my favorite grocery stores, when I remembered a recipe I had mentally book marked awhile ago for a stuffed steak roll. We are all about meat, and despite whatever crap Arby’s is advertising, I got the meat!

One of my habits, good or bad, is that I never give a recipe a chance. I read it all while mentally substituting ingredients to what I think would be better. So buckle up and I’ll share what my brain came up with.

Behold the Lardon! Like any delicious dinner, it starts with some variation of bacon.

While this was rendering I heated my oven to 425 degrees and proceed to slice my fennel bulb and Peruvian purple potatoes. Purple is one of my favorite colors so when I saw these at the store, somehow several of them ended up in my cart. I coated these with melted ghee, salt, pepper, bacon and a few garlic cloves.Bake for 30-40 min.

Now the Mise en Place. That’s just a fancy french term for getting everything set up or just chopping the heck out of everything. Below I have the mushrooms, shallots and fennel stalk. (I put the fennel fronds in the freezer to save for stock)

After these were sauteed in my pork drippings, it was time to build my masterpiece. I originally wanted a flank steak but they were out and so I ended up with a flat iron steak that I tried to pound down. The flat iron ended up taking longer to cook so I would recommend a flank cut if you can find it.

Next I covered up my delicious sauteed veggies with some slices of provolone.

Then topped it off with some freshly chopped spinach. It’s just so pretty…

Now it’s time to sear this future hunk of deliciousness. Because my flat iron steak wasn’t thin enough I had to start with it in one giant roll and cut into pinwheels afterwards. If you end up with Flank, you should be able to slice from the beginning.

Can you feel the saliva puddling up on your tongue?

I tossed this in the oven for about 10 minutes to make sure it cooked through, then sliced and seared the pinwheels. I will eat things pretty rare but The Beard prefers a little less pink.

My best suggestion when cooking is learning to let the flavors speak for themselves. Not everything needs a sauce, or lots of salt. We had earthiness from the mushrooms, richness from the bacon, an anise like flavor from the fennel, crispiness from the potatoes, and of course pure joy with the roasted garlic.

Our decadent dinner was delicious and we capped it off with chocolate coconut macaroons which I bought, because I had already made enough stuff for one evening! So I challenge you next week to have a decadent date night with your significant other, your friend, or your family. Life is about experiences and sometimes you’ve just got to treat yourself!