A hearty but light meal, if that makes any sense. That's one sizable New York steak cut in half (well, almost…) and one king crab legs from the wonderful butcher's counter at Big Trees Market here in Arnold.

The steaks are simply seasoned with salt & pepper and grilled outside to medium rare perfection (and I do mean perfection: I got it exactly right this time — even Bea said so). Dealing with an actual butcher's counter, I was able to locate the perfect cut and it was the most marbled of the bunch. I don't think I've ever had a New York cut so juicy by virtue of the heavy marbling that's normally reserved for the ribeye cut — my hands-down favorite grilling cut.

(Sorry for the photo quality. If forgot my good camera, so this is off the phone and lighting was less than optimal.)

The crab legs were previously frozen (normally the case with king crab), and to heat them, I simply placed them on the inside top shelf of the grill while I pre-heated the grill and cooked the steaks. Drawn butter and lemon. Now, let me tell you what I learned this time. First, you must always draw your butter. Leaving the solids is very unseemly, unattractive, and seriously compromises the flavor of the crab (or lobster…what have you). But it's also quite true that performing the task is a real pain and not altogether straightforward. In the past, I've nuked the butter (real butter, always unsalted), waited for the solids to separate and float to the top, and then do a half-ass job scooping them out — such that the butter isn't the pure yellow clear it ought to be. This time I put the butter in a saucepan on low while I prepared the salad. I forgot about it and suddenly heard it spitting a bit. Low and behold, the solids had formed a nice little firm "pancake" on top, which was very easy to scoop out and get a good 95% of all of it. Just make sure you don't scorch the butter.

A very hearty salad: iceberg lettuce, red cabbage, and big chunks of carrot, celery, onion, and radish; all toped with avocado and tomato wedges. For a salad like this, I don't like to put it all in a bowl and toss, because then all the big chunks find their way to the bottom of the bowl and you have to work to get proportionate servings of all the goodies. So, I cut up all those goodies, divided them into two servings and set them aside. I then put the lettuce and cabbage in the bowl, added Bob's Big Boy Real Blue Cheese Dressing, tossed, divided into two servings and only then added the big chucks of stuff proportionally to each salad. Obviously if you're preparing for one, this doesn't apply.

Bon appetit.