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Enjoy date night in your own backyard with this Steak and Wine Pairing.

Richard and I rarely have a night alone together on the town, so we have gotten really good at coming up with date night ideas to enjoy at home, like the perfect steak and discount wine pairing in our own backyard, so get ready to head on down to the supermarket and wine store for the ingredients. Every year, there’s always that one food trend that you hear about and must try. It starts out in just the fancy restaurants, and all of a sudden, even the fast food joints are incorporating it into their meal deals. Well, I’ve decided to jump on this one before it hits the mainstream: Calabrian peppers.  We have this amazing Dine In Family Restaurant in town that imports a lot of ingredients and flavors from Naples, Italy. They use this Calabrian chili paste and oil on a few of their pizzas, and it is exceptionally delicious. I tried it for the first time last summer, and all of a sudden, I started seeing it everywhere: in other restaurants, my favorite cooking shows, and I was even able to buy it online. Richard and I love our food spicy, so I decided to take my favorite cut of steak, which is actually a skirt steak, and create a Calabrian chili rub to pair with the perfect red wine I bought from my favorite liquor store, Cameron Hughes.

This steak and wine pairing is a great romantic meal for two to enjoy at home.

 

Ingredients for Calabrian Chili Skirt Steak:

• 1 pound skirt steak
• 1 T balsamic vinegar
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t Calabrian chili paste
• 1/4 t smoked paprika
• salt & pepper to taste

 

Directions for Calabrian Chili Skirt Steak:

1. Create your marinade by combining the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Calabrian chili paste, smoked paprika, salt, and pepper. Warning: this chili paste definitely has some heat, so you may find that just 1/2 teaspoon is enough for your palate. I suggest easing into it if you’re not a huge fan of spicy food.
2. Coat the skirt steak in the marinade, and allow it to rest about one hour. Skirt steak is actually my favorite cut because it always has the perfect amount of marbling {ratio of fat to actual meat} and really absorbs the flavors of any marinade.
3. We enjoy our steak cooked medium rare, so just grill it a few minutes on each side. Then allow it to rest a few minutes before slicing so that the juices do not all run out immediately. I suggest serving this steak alongside grilled corn and grilled peppers {either bell peppers or jalapeños}.

 

The Perfect Steak and Wine Pairing

No romantic dinner outdoors is complete without a delicious wine, right? I generally prefer two types of wines: a light, crisp white or a bold, dry red. To pair with my skirt steak, I selected the Cameron Hughes Cabernet Sauvignon. If you’re not a wine drinker, Cabernet Sauvignons are known for being full-bodied reds, making it the perfect complement to our steak. It held up well to the kick from the Calabrian chili and grilled jalapeno and is best served around 70 degrees. Cameron Hughes offers several other reds if you are looking for a medium-bodied wine, like a zinfandel or red blend.

Cameron Hughes makes high-quality wines at affordable prices. Simple labels, simple website. Cameron samples thousands of wines a year, and he only selects the best to sell as one of the few Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) wine brands. This means they source their wine and sell direct to the customer – which is how they are able to sell great products at reasonable prices.

Shop Cameron Hughes now and receive FREE shipping when you purchase 3 bottles of wine using the code: INEEDWINE18

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.