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Archive for the ‘Poor Man's Chef’ Category

There’s a little saying in my kitchen:  “If you’ve got some leftovers, you’ve got tonight’s dinner.”  On this occasion, I had a piece of leftover grilled steak and one grilled pork chop that was going to get up close and personal with my frying pan!  So, with my two delightful pieces of leftover BBQ meats from day 1, here’s what else I used to make this “stick to your ribs” day 2 meal for 2:

• A big skillet
• 1 grilled Pork chop
• 1 grilled Steak
• Salted Butter
• Olive Oil
• 2 large Idaho Potatoes
• ½ yellow onion
• 1 green pepper 
• Salt-n-Pepper
• Rosemary – can’t beat the fresh stuff, but dried will do
• Sweet basil – preferably the fresh leaf kind
• Ground coriander seed
• About ½ bag or bunch of fresh arugula
• 1 lemon or a bit of bottled lemon juice 

Start by first poking a few holes into the potatoes and nuke them in the microwave for about 2-1/2 minutes just to soften them up a bit.  Dice up the potatoes, the leftover pork chop and onion and put them aside for now.

Warm up your large skillet and coat it with some olive oil.  Infuse the olive oil with the rosemary and sweet basil.  Add the chopped up potatoes, pork, pepper, and onion.  Season with a little bit of ground coriander seed, salt, pepper, and a tad of salted butter and flip it around until nice and golden brown.

Warm up the leftover steak in the microwave just long enough to make it hot (a minute to 1.5 minutes should suffice). Slice it in half into two portions.

Finally, take a small mixing bowl and toss together fresh arugula with salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

To plate it up, put a little bit of the arugula mixture onto the center of each plate.  Dish out the warm skillet mixture and spread over each portion of arugula.  Finally, place a piece of steak on the top.

Complete this meat–n-potatoes makeover with a bottle of 2007 Robert Mondavi Private Selection Meritage.  It’s a blend of 79% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot, 4% Petit Verdot, 3% Malbec, and 2% Cabernet Franc.  It’s also easy on the wallet at a price of less than $12 a bottle.

Bon appetit!

 “All cowboys ain’t dumb. Some of ‘em got smarts real good, like me.” – Urban Cowboy  

Addendum:

In case you’re interested, here is how my leftover steak and pork chops came to be…

The day before, I marinated a few steaks and pork chops and fired them up on the grill.  For the steaks, I used a little butcher’s secret known as filet mignon “tips”.   Not a recipe tip, but rather the end portions of the slab of filet mignon.  Butchers can’t sell these “butts” at the normal nosebleed price because they’re not the perfect cuts that you and I know and love.  These filet tips are usually priced at about half the cost per pound of what a “perfect” cut of filet mignon costs.  It’s still filet mignon people – they just don’t look as pretty or cost you a car payment.

So, the next time you see the butcher, ask him where he keeps his filet mignon tips.

Onto to seasoning these steak ends.  I rubbed a little olive oil on them and sprinkled some garlic salt, salt, pepper, ground coriander seed, ground fennel seed, and then karate chopped them with some dried ginger powder and teriyaki sauce.

The seasoning for the pork chops included: olive oil, salt, pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and the very reliable McCormick Grill Mates Pork Rub.

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It was nearly 10pm before my wife and I finally sat down at the dinner table on this particular evening.  What can I say – it was the first day without rain in like 15 days or something.  My sons were so excited to see the sun that they wanted to play until nightfall.  Well, nightfall came just after 8:30pm on this warm summer evening and by the time they both got scrub-a-dub-dubbed and had a little story time, it was nearly 10pm.  Besides that, I was also obsessing over a newly stained door – wondering if the stain color looked the same as the other doors in which I used the exact same stain on.  Hmmm, does it look the same??

Given that it was late, nothing was cooking for dinner, and my wife vowed to call the insane asylum if I looked at the door for one more second, I took a peek into the fridge and pulled out these 3 items:

1.)    A chunk of Spanish Manchego cheese

2.)    A hunk of Sopressata dry sausage

3.)    Package of soft flour tortillas

I decided to make a Spanish/Italian quesadilla with the ingredients that I had.  Here’s the quick and easy microwave version:

• Place one soft flour tortilla on microwavable plate.
• Shave off slices of Manchego cheese and place on soft flour tortilla.
• Slice up some of the Sopressata dry sausage and place it on top of Manchego cheese.
• Shave off some more slices of Manchego cheese and place on top.
• If you have some fresh cilantro, put some on there as well.
• Finally, place another soft flour tortilla on top.

Place it in the microwave and nuke it for about 2 minutes.  That’s it.  Slice it into 4 sections and serve it up!  If it’s more like 6 pm, you can also fry this quesadilla up in a pan with some olive oil and serve it with a salad.

An awesome Spanish vino to pair this quesadilla with is the Castillo del Baron Monastrell.  This Spanish red wine has a lot of black pepper and spices going on to really get your taste buds popping with this two minute Spanish/Italian quesadilla.

Muy delicioso!  Buon appetito!

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According to Wikipedia: “…the word burrito literally means “little donkey” in Spanish, coming from burro, which means “donkey”.  “The name burrito possibly derives from the appearance of a rolled up wheat tortilla, which vaguely resembles the ear of its namesake animal, or from bedrolls and packs that donkeys carried.”  Ok then – consider yourselves educated.

My burrito creation this evening was hmmm… well, muy barato!  ¿Comprendes?

Here’s what you’ll need so that you too can have your very own little donkey:

• ½ of a leftover grilled chicken breast
• A generous amount of fresh cilantro
• About half a bag of frozen sliced yellow and red peppers
• A few handfuls of shredded cheddar or that “nacho taco” seasoned shredded cheese  
• 2 tablespoons of salsa
• 2 soft flour tortillas
• 6 to 8 slices of jarred sliced jalapenos
• And my secret ingredient – black bean dip (try the Desert Pepper Trading Company if they offer it in your grocery store)

Fire up the skillet and cook up the frozen peppers.  Dice up the leftover grilled chicken and toss it in with the peppers.  Throw in your fresh cilantro…as much as you want or have!

Now you’re ready to assemble your little donkey.  Take a soft shell tortilla and place it on a microwaveable plate.  Spread the black bean dip all over the tortilla, as if you’re spreading sauce on a pizza crust.  Take a handful of shredded cheddar cheese and sprinkle it all over the top as if you were making Spanish pizza.  Next, nuke it in the microwave for about a minute.

Spoon a generous amount of chicken and peppers over top and roll it into a burrito.  Top with a spoonful of salsa and a sprig or two of fresh cilanto and a couple of sliced jalapenos, and your donkey is ready to eat!

Pair up your chicken burrito with a small salad and a versatile summertime white wine like the Goats Do Roam from South Africa and you’ve got cena para dos!

¡Buen apetito fellow Poor Chefs!

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I’m a huge fan of all sorts of different fish, especially when the weather outside starts to heat up.  One of my favorites is albacore tuna steak.  It’s a meaty kind of fish that goes great on the grill and is wonderful pan-seared as well.  Trader Joe’s is the bomb diggity when it comes to the tuna steak.  I normally pay about $5.69/lb, which is very cheap compared to the grocery store.  Please note, Trader Joe’s tuna does come frozen and are usually packaged with two small portions of tuna and the packages are usually less than a pound each.  

The other night, I made a stove-top version of tuna steaks that was downright delectable (if I do say so myself).  Here I share the secret recipe with all of you – my closest of friends.

First, I heated up a generous pour of olive oil in a pan (I love my trusty All-Clad pan!) – enough oil to really coat the pan.  Then I added a finely chopped (left over) pork shish kabob and some finely chopped grilled zucchini.  I brought this mixture to a caramelized state, then I added a tad more olive oil before dropping in my tuna steaks.  Word of advice – you’ll want to thaw the tuna steaks before dropping them off into this mixture!

Ok, after thawing my tuna steaks and introducing them to my caramelized mixture, I added some seasonings.  One of the best gifts that I received this spring was an herb garden.  I’ve been using the different herbs almost everyday in different dishes.  For this particular dish, I added a generous amount of fresh cilantro.  After the cilantro, I tossed in some salt and pepper, some crushed dried red pepper, garlic salt, a lemon-pepper dry seasoning and dry-powdered ginger.  Feel free to use whatever else in the way of seasonings that you think might be good.  I can imagine a number of variations that would be good in this dish.

Flip the tuna around a bit while cooking.  When the fish is about halfway cooked, add some frozen sliced peppers to give it a little more punch of flavor.  When it’s all done cooking, plate it up with some veggies of your choice (In this version, I used a bag of frozen mixed vegetables that included broccoli).  Finally, send your taste buds into a real tailspin and pair this dish with the ultimate sushi and/or tuna steak wine on the planet – Pacific Rim Dry Riesling.  This Riesling is part Washington State and part German and 100% delicious.  It’s a steal at just over $10 a bottle and goes really great with this dish!

Bon Appetit!

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When the going gets tough, the tough get going!  Or in my case, I get creative and cook!  Here’s what you’ll need to make this special “Italian” dish:

• ½ to 1 (16oz.) can of garbanzo beans or chick peas
• 1 (14.5oz.) can of diced tomatoes
• ½ box of penne dry pasta
• At least 1 cup of mixed frozen vegetables.  Some sort of vegetable mixture whether it’s fresh, frozen, or canned to make it Primavera!
• Olive Oil
• Chopped or minced jarred garlic
• Salted butter
•  Spices: Salt and pepper, crushed oregano or some sort of italian spice, crushed red pepper, ground cayenne pepper.
• Some sort of grated cheese.  Depending on your budget, you can use good old Parmesan from Kraft or real Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano.
• A little meat.  Could be chicken, pork, or fish.  A can of solid white tuna can also be used in this dish if you’re meatless in the house.  I used a leftover grilled chicken breast from the night before to make this dish.

Let’s cook.  You’ll need a pot to boil the penne pasta and a large frying pan for the rest.  Fully cook your penne pasta and drain water.  Drizzle olive oil and salt over the cooked penne and stir it around a bit.  While the pasta is cooking, nuke the frozen vegetables (if frozen).

Turning your attention to your frying pan, warm it up and coat the bottom with olive oil.  Add a generous amount of chopped or minced garlic and some salted butter.  As the garlic butter is cooking, add your dry spices listed above.  Add the garbanzo beans (chick peas) and diced tomatoes.  Cut up whatever meat you have and add it in (If it was raw and not a leftover you have to cook it first!).  Now you can slowly mix in the vegetables.  Sprinkle a generous amount of grated cheese to the mixture.  Finally, start to mix in the cooked penne.  And voila - dinner is done.

Plate it up and sprinkle with more grated cheese. If you really want to make this dish extra ”fancy”, pair it with a Sauvignon Blanc, Fume Blanc, or Italian Pinot Grigio.  If you prefer a red wine here’s one for you – Negroamaro.  It’s an Italian red grape from southern Italy, grown in Puglia and Salento.  Add candlelight and that’s amore! 

Salute fellow Poor Chefs!

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