Martini Filets & Grilled Carrots

Martini marinated filets with grilled carrots and cheese & spinach soufflé!  After what seems like an abnormally long time away from the grill, I finally returned to what I enjoy best: grilling meat (and drinking beer..it IS Octoberfest season!).  To make this meal even better, we prepared it for our 10th wedding anniversary.  For our celebration, we made dinner and I gave Zoe a medal because frankly, she deserves it.

Armed with two pounds of center cut tenderloin filets and the Weber Charcoal grilling cookbook, I placed the filets in a marinade of gin, olive oil, and lemon zest.  While they were happily marinating away, Zoe worked on the soufflés and I prepped the grill and carrots.  As I said on Twitter, any marinade that starts with a trip to the bar is a good marinade.

It seems as of late, I have been solely grilling steaks on the Summit.  Partly because it is quicker and second, I just love the grill marks I get on the Summit’s grates.  Tonight I decided to grill everything on the kettle.  The heat output in the two zone fire was great.  However, the grill marks are just not the same.  Also, I realized I really need to buy both a new top grate and a charcoal grate.  Hello, Amazon…

The filets were marinated for an hour.  The carrots were prepped with melted butter with nutmeg and red wine vinegar.  With the filets about done, I placed the carrots on the grill. They were parboiled, so I only grilled them to add some marks, flavor, and heat.  With everything finished, the meat took a brief rest and the carrots were mopped with more butter.  Did I mention I also like butter?

To plate, the filets were topped with blue cheese crumbles and speared olives.  The carrots were topped with some fresh Italian parsley from the herb garden.  Zoe worked her magic on the soufflés and voila…dinner.