I bought a huge, thick filet mignon today for dinner. The steaks were so big that I only bought one for the two of us. I was going to cook it on the grill so I didn’t have to heat up the kitchen, but as usual I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a yummy pan sauce. And this is a good one. I used brandy instead of Irish whisky.

• Filet Steaks with an Irish Whisky & Cream Pan Sauce (Fine Cooking #80, September 2006, p. 43)
  

• Baked Potatoes
• Trader Joe’s Spinach Salad

Wine: Byington 1997 Bates Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon (Santa Cruz Mountains, California). We picked this up a few years ago at a local winery – it was inexpensive, but fairly tasty. It’s done well over the years and turned out to be a really, really nice wine. Still has some fruit, and the tannins aren’t overpowering. Polished would be a good word to describe the wine.