Last night's dinner was . . . well . . . it's in the title, above.  No need to repeat myself here.  A bottle of Teliani Valley 2004 Saperavi wine had been sitting on my wine rack for a couple of months.  It was made in the nation of Georgia and I bought it on a whim, for under $10.  I think it was still on my wine rack because I was afraid to know what lurked within the bottle.  I've had some pretty mediocre Eurasian wines in the past.  But I decided to give it a shot last night and I was pleasantly surprised.  I don't know much about wine, but if I had to compare it to a better known varietal, I would compare it to a shiraz.  It reminded me of a not-quite-as-good, but still pretty good, relative of the Thorn Clarke Shotfire Shiraz I had a few weeks ago.  (The Shotfire, by the way, is excellent . . . it just might be the best under-$20 bottle of wine I've had this year.)

I began last night's meal by throwing a half of butternut squash that had been in my refrigerator for some time into the oven to roast.  I then turned my attention to the walnuts that needed shelling—about a half-cup.  Then prepped the broccoli and cauliflower (which I had pulled from the pile pictured here last Saturday) for steaming.  I sliced a few sage leaves into thin strips, chopped about a third of a cup of flat-leafed parsley, chopped a small shallot, and gave the fillet a heavy dose of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.  I was ready to cook.

I pan fried the filet mignon in some butter for about 4 minutes per side (medium rare) in a cast iron skillet, removed it from the pan and tented it with foil.  I then added the cauliflower to a steaming basket in a dutch over (with the water already simmering).  I put about a tablespoon of butter in the cast iron skilled and sautéed the shallot for about two minutes, then added about a half-cup of the saperavi wine.  While the red wine sauce was reducing, I added the broccoli to the steaming basket with the cauliflower (cauliflower takes about 8 minutes to steam, while broccoli takes about half that time).  It was time to prepare the sauce for the broccoli and cauliflower.  I put a half-stick of butter in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and cooked over medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes, until it began to brown, swirling often.  (Be careful here.  It's very, very easy to burn butter.  If you do, ditch it . . . turn down the heat . . . and start over.)  I added the walnuts and, about a minute later, added the sage.  The last step was whisking another tablespoon of butter into the red wine sauce and adding the parsley.  I pulled the squash out of the oven, plated everything up and poured myself a glass of wine.  All-in-all a great meal for less than an hour's labor.