WineLife365

Posts Tagged ‘Poor Mans Chef’

What’s the day of the week that has so many of us down in the dumps?  It’s Monday, of course!  The weekend was fun:  you probably drank some great wine, ate some terrific food, and spent time with friends and family.  Basically, you did everything that you wanted to do all weekend long, but then it’s all over and the start of another frenzied week begins.  Here’s a thought:  Why not turn Monday, or at least Monday night, into something to look forward to with a “special” meal?!

Here’s a Poor Man’s Chef creation to wipe away the Monday Blues:

1 package of boneless chicken breasts (Approx. 1-1/2lbs.)
1 large Yellow Onion (sliced, diced, whatever…)
1 bag of Baby Spinach (You know, the bagged salad stuff in the produce aisle)
A handful of sun-dried tomatoes
A handful or maybe 2 or 3…of fresh watercress
A few slices of VA baked ham lunch meat (chopped)
1 lemon for some fresh squeezed juice
About one cup of Near East Mediterranean Curry Couscous  (leftovers from Sunday night’s dinner)

From my spice rack

McCormick Fennel Seed
McCormick Montreal Seasoning
A dash of Chef Paul Prudhommes Magic Seasoning

Directions:

Coat a large pot with olive oil on the stove top. Add pieces of chicken breast, sliced onion and sun-dried tomatoes.  Sauté a bit, then add the spices.  While cooking, add the ham, the entire bag of spinach and handfuls of fresh watercress to the pot and simmer it all down.  Douse with freshly squeezed lemon juice and add some fresh black pepper.  After everything is totally cooked, throw in your cup of couscous.  Toss it around and maybe even add a splash of white wine to the mix.  Why not…it’s Monday! 

Consider pairing this kaleidoscope of flavors with a couple of kaleidoscope wines.

For a white wine – consider a box of Big House White Wine.  It’s a potpourri of different grapes blended together to produce a crisp wine with floral notes ($20 for a 3L Box).  Try to avoid drinking the entire box though – it’s only Monday!

For a red wine, consider a Cotes Du Rhone like the 2008 Kermit Lynch Cotes Du Rhone ($12 US).  This rouge is blended to perfection to make just about any “thrown together” supper seem extra special.

Bon Appétit.  There’s only 4 more days to go until the weekend…Woo-Hoo!

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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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You don’t need to spend a ton of money at a restaurant to have a sumptuous dinner for two – you just need to be creative!

While cooking, treat yourself by starting with a glass of the bubbly stuff like Freixenet Brut Nature (Approx. $9) from Spain.  The Spanish call their bubbly “Cava” not Champagne.  It tastes really good and your date or dinner guest will never realize that you paid less than $10 for it.

Next is the salad.  If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, consider yourself a lucky Poor Man’s Chef because these guys nearly give away lettuce and salad stuff for free.  Here’s the salad stuff that you’ll need:

• Sorrento- Fancy bag of lettuce that is a mixture of Baby Arugula, Baby Spinach, and Baby Lettuces. Cost for a bag $1.99
• Butter Lettuce & Radicchio – Cost for a bag $1.99
• Romaine Hearts – 3 hearts for $2.29

Grab a nice salad bowl and mix a little less than a half a bag of each lettuce and cut up 1 Romaine Heart.  The rest of the lettuce can be for tomorrow night’s magical creation.  Next, grab yourself some fresh asparagus and green beans and chop them up.  Fire up a pan, melt some butter in it and add the fresh chopped up asparagus and green beans.  Drizzle some balsamic vinegar and soy sauce over the vegetables in the pan.  When the vegetables are done cooking, sprinkle them over your salad greens.  Season the salad with some salt and pepper.  Lastly, top each salad with some Brianna’s Home style Chipotle Cheddar Dressing.  One warning:  This dressing ain’t cheap at around $4 a bottle.  But it’s worth the splurge for this salad and you’ll have lots of dressing leftover for another time.  Pair this salad with the 2007 Goats Do Roam White wine from South Africa.  At only $7.99, it’s a steal of a white wine and goes really well with this salad creation.

Up next is Supper.  I’m pleased to say that no leftovers went to waste in the creation of this tasty chicken dish.

Grab a big skillet.  Warm it up and coat it with some olive oil.  Next, melt two pieces of butter. Now add some chopped garlic (chopped garlic is typically found in a jar in the produce section).  Throw in a handful of grape tomatoes into your skillet.  Squash the tomatoes into the garlic butter.  Add some chopped up onions – any kind of onions will do.  Add a can of chopped tomatoes.  Lastly, add the seasonings – salt, pepper, cilantro leaves, paprika, ground cayenne pepper, chipotle chile pepper, and ground coriander seed.  A generous sprinkle of each spice based on your liking.  It’s now time to add tonight’s meat to our skillet medley.  I cut up 2 chicken cutlets and 2 pieces of turkey sausage and added it to the skillet mixture (Add whatever meat you have whether its beef, chicken, or pork).  Cook it all up together and add some water as needed so you don’t burn your fancy creation.

On another burner, cook up 1 cup of white rice.  After the rice is cooked and you’ve strained the excess water, mix the rice in with the stuff in your skillet.  Pair this homemade Jambalaya with the 2007 Lo Tengo Torrontes from Argentina (Price: $7.99).  Or if  you prefer a red wine, give this “fancy dish” a go with the 2007 Sebeka Cabernet/Pinotage (Price $7.50). 

End this meal with a couple of mini cannolis from your local bakery. $1 buck a piece.

Bon Appétit fellow Poor Chefs!

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As the “Poor Man’s Chef” of our household, there are a few dinner saving ingredients that I like to have around to offer me inspiration in the most bleak of evenings.

1.)    Make sure you have more than just salt and pepper in your spice cabinet.  This will allow you to discover how great spices, like coriander and fennel, can pair with a wide variety of foods from luncheon meats to grilled salmon and tuna.  With a decent spice cabinet, you can turn anything into a gourmet masterpiece.  Trust me. 

2.)    Canned chick peas (i.e., garbanzo beans).  I’ve made countless poor recipes with this lifesaver bean.  Garbanzo beans are very cheap and versatile. 

3.)    Canned tomatoes.  Like the garbanzo bean, a can of diced tomatoes offers up a lot of interesting possibilities for just pennies. 

4.)    Brown or white Rice.  Rice is cheap and it can be used in a variety of different meals. 

5.)    A bag of frozen mixed vegetables, frozen peppers, or frozen spinach.  If you’ve got more than just salt and pepper in your spice cabinet, then you have a good chance of making something terrific with a little bit of these frozen vegetables. 

6.)    Jar of chopped garlic.  I don’t have the time or the money for whole garlic cloves.  So I always keep a jar of chopped garlic in the fridge.  

7.)    Some sort of meat or fish is always helpful, but not essential.  It doesn’t matter if its lunchmeat, breakfast sausage, or frozen fish sticks. If you’ve got some sort of protein in the house, then consider yourself a lucky Poor Man’s Chef, my friend.  

8.)    Salted Butter.  Why?  Because sweet salted butter can make anything taste good.  

9.)    Olive Oil.  Unlike butter, a little bit of olive oil goes a long way in adding and enhancing flavor.

10.) A bottle of wine.  Why you ask?  Because a bottle of wine can make any imaginative meal seem more special than it actually is.

There you have it!  10 Dinner Saving Ingredients to help you to become the most creative Poor Man’s Chef that you can be!  Best of luck! 

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