I'm not sure if they have these in every grocery store or not but we have these pre-marinated pork tenderloins that are vacuum sealed with some sort of wonderfulness. They are fantastic. Especially, if you add a little sumthin' sumthin' to it while grilling!
My maid of honor and her husband (my fiance's best friend) came over for an impromptu dinner tonight. Impromptu only because I worked all day and then when I stopped at the store, decided to have a brain-fart and only buy what sounded good at the time: wine, fresh mozzarella, a red onion, a couple red skin potatoes, and greek salad dressing. Random, much???
So I get home and just start pulling out whatever meat and veggies I had in the fridge. And since I have been honeymoon planning for Santorini the last 3 days, I had Greece on my mind.
Chicken + pork + veggies + BBQ Bible = Greek goodness!
And the best part: James had given me a little patio garden for my birthday this year, which I fully took advantage of my fresh herbs this evening and used fresh oregano in everything! (Can you hear me salivating???)
I found another BBQ Bible gem: the Greek Baste! If you haven't already bought this book, do it. Seriously, it's life changing.
Cheesy Factory (0 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 0 Sorry!
Time Factor (0 shortest, 10 longest): 5 (It shouldn't take this long, but it did for me. No idea why.)
Dummy Factor (0 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Greek-ish Pre-Marinated Pork Tenderloin With Extras!
1 pre-packaged, pre-marinated pork tenderloin (for this recipe, get the Lemon Garlic flavor)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh oregano (or 2 teaspoons dried oregano)
2-3 garlic gloves, minced
Mix all ingredients together with a whisk (except pork, of course). Grill the pork tenderloin while continually basting with "baste", but be careful not to let too much drip off, as it will set on fire, and cause a soot taste. Grill tenderloin until center is 145 deg (just use a meat thermometer, I don't have any eye-ball tricks for this). Let pork then rest inside for 5 minutes or so before slicing, to let juices set in.
This is really mouth watering. And I don't care what your meat thermometer says is a good temperature for pork. Don't go below or above 145 deg. If you let it sit after taking off the grill, for just a couple of minutes, it will be the absolute perfect taste. Not dry, not dangerous. Trust me. Or trust your thermometer, however you want to look at it.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Pizza: Warmed-up in Microwave
I usually love LOVE love the build-up to Christmas. But the last week has been brutal. We have not one, but two, pipes burst (one in unit behind us, one in out unit), which caused significant flooding. Our house is a half-construction zone right now. Work has been nuts trying to tie up loose ends for the end of the year. And I am pretty sure I look like a dirty homeless person right now.
On a positive note: we have been busy buying and wrapping gifts for the family we adopted from a shelter for Xmas and I am taking the gifts to them tomorrow. I love it!
Needless to say, I haven't cooked in what feels like a week. I have managed to eat Pizza Hut leftovers for about 4 different meals and I am becoming a master of warming up pizza in the microwave. I don't think I will be eating pizza for a while, needless to say.
I'll be taking a blogging-hiatus until after the holidays, but I am sure to come up with some good ideas over the next week or so. Considering I usually eat about 5-6 times a day the week after Christmas, I should be fat and happy and ready to share some food tricks.
Happy Holidays!
On a positive note: we have been busy buying and wrapping gifts for the family we adopted from a shelter for Xmas and I am taking the gifts to them tomorrow. I love it!
Needless to say, I haven't cooked in what feels like a week. I have managed to eat Pizza Hut leftovers for about 4 different meals and I am becoming a master of warming up pizza in the microwave. I don't think I will be eating pizza for a while, needless to say.
I'll be taking a blogging-hiatus until after the holidays, but I am sure to come up with some good ideas over the next week or so. Considering I usually eat about 5-6 times a day the week after Christmas, I should be fat and happy and ready to share some food tricks.
Happy Holidays!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
A Little Thing I Like to Call "Special Eggs"
I can't remember how much I have talked about eggs already. So, forgive me if I am being repetitive. But I love eggs. I eat them all the time. Like I easily go through a dozen a week. I am trying my best to switch over to a combo of eggs and egg whites to keep my cholesterol down, and it seems to be an easy transition. I love eggs for breakfast, eggs for lunch, eggs for dinner, eggs as a snack....you get the idea.
Anyway, as the "Queen of the Leftovers", I am often putting random ingredients into my eggs based on whatever I have floating around in the fridge. A couple of weeks ago, I added some random assortment of veggies and cheeses and meats into my eggs and lo and behold, PRESTO, a magical addicting creation was made. I started making them then over and over (yes, sometimes twice in one day) when my husband jokingly asked me, "Let me guess, you are making your special eggs today?". Hence, the new name for them.
They are special. Oh, and p.s. this recipe is for one person as that is how I am usually making them. But you can double, triple, etc for more people.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 4 *note: I put more cheese than the average person into my eggs, however, this recipe is just not the same without the cheese, so don't even bother trying them without.
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 3
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Special Eggs
1 egg
1 egg white
Green Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Red Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Yellow Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Sweet Onion (1 thin slice)- finely chopped
1/2 of a white button or brown mushroom- finely chopped
2-3 slices of jarred jalapenos- finely chopped
1 slice of Pepper Jack Cheese
1 slice of deli turkey
1 potato- diced
Olive Oil
Butter
Salt/Pepper
Optional: salsa, sour cream, and Chalula hot sauce
Heat less than 1 Tbl olive oil in small fry pan. Add diced potatoes, season with salt and pepper (and that Parmesan seasoning I told you about before if you have it). Mix and cook over low heat. While potatoes are cooking, dice up your peppers, onions, mushroom, and jalapenos. Dice up the turkey as well and 1/4 of the slice of pepper jack cheese. In another small skillet, preferably nonstick, melt about a 1/2 tsp of butter. Add the peppers, onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos to the butter, and saute for 1-2 minutes, or until softened. While veggies are sauteing, mix/beat/whisk egg and egg white in a bowl. Add turkey and the diced cheese. Continue to stir and cook potatoes. Add the egg mixture to the veggies, and scramble your eggs. Potatoes should be about done. Put potatoes on a plate, top with the scrambled eggs. Then dice the remaining cheese and place on top of eggs while they are still hot, so cheese melts slightly. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with salsa, sour cream, and Chalula (all 3 are optional, but I highly recommend).
So special.
Anyway, as the "Queen of the Leftovers", I am often putting random ingredients into my eggs based on whatever I have floating around in the fridge. A couple of weeks ago, I added some random assortment of veggies and cheeses and meats into my eggs and lo and behold, PRESTO, a magical addicting creation was made. I started making them then over and over (yes, sometimes twice in one day) when my husband jokingly asked me, "Let me guess, you are making your special eggs today?". Hence, the new name for them.
They are special. Oh, and p.s. this recipe is for one person as that is how I am usually making them. But you can double, triple, etc for more people.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 4 *note: I put more cheese than the average person into my eggs, however, this recipe is just not the same without the cheese, so don't even bother trying them without.
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 3
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 2
Special Eggs
1 egg
1 egg white
Green Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Red Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Yellow Bell Pepper (1 quarter inch thick slice)- finely chopped
Sweet Onion (1 thin slice)- finely chopped
1/2 of a white button or brown mushroom- finely chopped
2-3 slices of jarred jalapenos- finely chopped
1 slice of Pepper Jack Cheese
1 slice of deli turkey
1 potato- diced
Olive Oil
Butter
Salt/Pepper
Optional: salsa, sour cream, and Chalula hot sauce
Heat less than 1 Tbl olive oil in small fry pan. Add diced potatoes, season with salt and pepper (and that Parmesan seasoning I told you about before if you have it). Mix and cook over low heat. While potatoes are cooking, dice up your peppers, onions, mushroom, and jalapenos. Dice up the turkey as well and 1/4 of the slice of pepper jack cheese. In another small skillet, preferably nonstick, melt about a 1/2 tsp of butter. Add the peppers, onions, mushrooms, and jalapenos to the butter, and saute for 1-2 minutes, or until softened. While veggies are sauteing, mix/beat/whisk egg and egg white in a bowl. Add turkey and the diced cheese. Continue to stir and cook potatoes. Add the egg mixture to the veggies, and scramble your eggs. Potatoes should be about done. Put potatoes on a plate, top with the scrambled eggs. Then dice the remaining cheese and place on top of eggs while they are still hot, so cheese melts slightly. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with salsa, sour cream, and Chalula (all 3 are optional, but I highly recommend).
So special.
Pic of Fileto Di Manzo....Thanks, Andy!
Here is a picture from my friend Andy's phone when he was in town visiting last week and I made the the Fileto Di Manzo dinner. Hope it gives you an idea on the "presentation":
Notice the wine. The meal is not complete without the wine. But let's be honest: what in life is complete without the wine?! Nothing I can think of.
Notice the wine. The meal is not complete without the wine. But let's be honest: what in life is complete without the wine?! Nothing I can think of.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Eat Palio Anywhere!
First: my friend Spencer from U of Mich started a little side biz that has to do with food and cooking. Since those happen to be 2 of my 3 favorite things (wine), I thought I would share this info with you in case you wanted to check out some of his stuff:
www.chefsuspence.com
He is making some great things with local fresh ingredients. Not sure if he can ship anywhere at this point, but check back with him.
On to the important stuff: Palio. Palio is my favorite restaurant. Located in downtown Ann Arbor. I have traveled a lot, ate at some amazing restaurants, and Palio still ranks up there on my list (I didn't mean for that to sound like I am obnoxiously bragging. But I am :) Ha!) They have tons of fresh pasta dishes, Tuscan style entrees, Italian wines....it's great. (* Also note: if you took my advice and purchased the Main Street Ventures cookbook, you will find many great Palio recipes in it!)
They have this dish at Palio called the Fileto Di Manzo which is a filet of beef on top of goat cheese, on top of a slice of tomato, on top of a portobello mushroom! It's delicious. Then it has some fancy sides. But I wanted to recreate this dish, Abby style, to easily make at home. It is an awesome dish to do when having company over that you want to impress.
P.S.: there is no way to make this vegetarian so don't even as me. And it's not low-fat. So, you dieters can just wait until the next post for something magical. And for the lactose intolerant, I suppose you could take out the cheese. But I suppose you could eat garbage too.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 3
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 5
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 7
Abby's Fileto Di Manzo
4 6oz. beef tenderloins (filet)
4 small portobello mushrooms, stems removed
4 goat cheese slices (or package of softened goat cheese, plain flavor)
1 large tomato, sliced thickly
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
bag of yellow pearl onions (or 16 total if can buy individually)
8-10 yellow dutch creamer potatoes (or baby yukon golds), cut in half length wise
16 stalks of asparagus
Fresh Thyme, chopped
12 whole cloves of garlic
Preheat oven to 400 deg. On a sheet on tinfoil, put the potato halves, pearl onions, and garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, season heavily with salt and pepper, and sprinkled with chopped fresh thyme. Toss to coat. Fold tinfoil over ingredients to make a "packet" and seal. Put in oven for 50 min. While potatoes are cooking, preheat grill. Over cutting board, loosely snap a piece of asparagus. Where ever the asparagus breaks, cut all other asparagus stalks at that point. Then spread the top portion over a piece of tinfoil. Drizzle with olive oil, and heavy salt and pepper. Toss to coat, and set aside.
Rub the steaks with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill steaks to order (I use a meat thermometer or the finger test- will elaborate more later). While steaks are grilling, heat 2 Tbl olive oil and 2 Tbl Balsamic vinegar in large fry/saute pan over low heat. Season portobello mushrooms with salt/pepper and cook in pan until somewhat soft, but cooked through. If they finish soon, cover pan and remove from heat, but try to keep them warm.
When potatoes are soft (stick fork in them to make sure before taking out of oven completely), take out, keep sealed and set aside. Set oven to broil, and broil asparagus for 8 minutes (10 minutes if thick pieces). Take out immediately.
Arrangement on plate:
Middle of plate: place the portobella mushroom, top down, then spread thick layer of goat cheese on top of it. Place tomato slice on top of goat cheese, followed by filet on top of tomato.
Surrounding filet/mushroom: on the outside of the plate, place a potato half, pearl onion, and garlic clove, alternating them in the circle around the filet. Then place a piece of asparagus on each side of plate, making a square around everything. (So each plate should get 4 potato halves, 4 pearl onions, 3 garlic cloves, and 4 pieces of asparagus).
The key to this dish is timing everything out so that nothing is done super early and gets cold, and nothing is done super late so everything gets cold (especially if you don't have a separate oven and broiler). Plus, the presentation is awesome. But keep this in mind:
Potatoes: roughly an hour
Steaks: roughly 15-20 min
Mushrooms: roughly 10 minutes
Asparagus: less than 10 minutes
Assembly: 5 minutes
But other than the timing, it's an easy dish as far as the cooking goes. If you aren't a whiz in the kitchen yet, and you want to make this meal, I would write out a schedule with times next to the steps above so you can make sure to stay on track and don't get flustered.
For the steak finger test, here is a little trick: touch your thumb to your pinky finger. Then with your other hand, press down on large, lower portion of your thumb. That's what well-done steaks would feel like if you pressed down on them while they are on the grill. Thumb to ring finger would be medium-well, thumb to middle finger would be medium. Thumb to fore finger is medium-rare to rare.
I wish I had a picture of this dish as it is super impressive....hey, Gallas, can you post a pic on here from your phone???
www.chefsuspence.com
He is making some great things with local fresh ingredients. Not sure if he can ship anywhere at this point, but check back with him.
On to the important stuff: Palio. Palio is my favorite restaurant. Located in downtown Ann Arbor. I have traveled a lot, ate at some amazing restaurants, and Palio still ranks up there on my list (I didn't mean for that to sound like I am obnoxiously bragging. But I am :) Ha!) They have tons of fresh pasta dishes, Tuscan style entrees, Italian wines....it's great. (* Also note: if you took my advice and purchased the Main Street Ventures cookbook, you will find many great Palio recipes in it!)
They have this dish at Palio called the Fileto Di Manzo which is a filet of beef on top of goat cheese, on top of a slice of tomato, on top of a portobello mushroom! It's delicious. Then it has some fancy sides. But I wanted to recreate this dish, Abby style, to easily make at home. It is an awesome dish to do when having company over that you want to impress.
P.S.: there is no way to make this vegetarian so don't even as me. And it's not low-fat. So, you dieters can just wait until the next post for something magical. And for the lactose intolerant, I suppose you could take out the cheese. But I suppose you could eat garbage too.
Cheesy Factor (1 no cheese, 10 all cheese): 3
Time Factor (1 shortest, 10 longest): 5
Dummy Factor (1 easiest, 10 hardest): 7
Abby's Fileto Di Manzo
4 6oz. beef tenderloins (filet)
4 small portobello mushrooms, stems removed
4 goat cheese slices (or package of softened goat cheese, plain flavor)
1 large tomato, sliced thickly
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
bag of yellow pearl onions (or 16 total if can buy individually)
8-10 yellow dutch creamer potatoes (or baby yukon golds), cut in half length wise
16 stalks of asparagus
Fresh Thyme, chopped
12 whole cloves of garlic
Preheat oven to 400 deg. On a sheet on tinfoil, put the potato halves, pearl onions, and garlic cloves. Drizzle with olive oil, season heavily with salt and pepper, and sprinkled with chopped fresh thyme. Toss to coat. Fold tinfoil over ingredients to make a "packet" and seal. Put in oven for 50 min. While potatoes are cooking, preheat grill. Over cutting board, loosely snap a piece of asparagus. Where ever the asparagus breaks, cut all other asparagus stalks at that point. Then spread the top portion over a piece of tinfoil. Drizzle with olive oil, and heavy salt and pepper. Toss to coat, and set aside.
Rub the steaks with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Grill steaks to order (I use a meat thermometer or the finger test- will elaborate more later). While steaks are grilling, heat 2 Tbl olive oil and 2 Tbl Balsamic vinegar in large fry/saute pan over low heat. Season portobello mushrooms with salt/pepper and cook in pan until somewhat soft, but cooked through. If they finish soon, cover pan and remove from heat, but try to keep them warm.
When potatoes are soft (stick fork in them to make sure before taking out of oven completely), take out, keep sealed and set aside. Set oven to broil, and broil asparagus for 8 minutes (10 minutes if thick pieces). Take out immediately.
Arrangement on plate:
Middle of plate: place the portobella mushroom, top down, then spread thick layer of goat cheese on top of it. Place tomato slice on top of goat cheese, followed by filet on top of tomato.
Surrounding filet/mushroom: on the outside of the plate, place a potato half, pearl onion, and garlic clove, alternating them in the circle around the filet. Then place a piece of asparagus on each side of plate, making a square around everything. (So each plate should get 4 potato halves, 4 pearl onions, 3 garlic cloves, and 4 pieces of asparagus).
The key to this dish is timing everything out so that nothing is done super early and gets cold, and nothing is done super late so everything gets cold (especially if you don't have a separate oven and broiler). Plus, the presentation is awesome. But keep this in mind:
Potatoes: roughly an hour
Steaks: roughly 15-20 min
Mushrooms: roughly 10 minutes
Asparagus: less than 10 minutes
Assembly: 5 minutes
But other than the timing, it's an easy dish as far as the cooking goes. If you aren't a whiz in the kitchen yet, and you want to make this meal, I would write out a schedule with times next to the steps above so you can make sure to stay on track and don't get flustered.
For the steak finger test, here is a little trick: touch your thumb to your pinky finger. Then with your other hand, press down on large, lower portion of your thumb. That's what well-done steaks would feel like if you pressed down on them while they are on the grill. Thumb to ring finger would be medium-well, thumb to middle finger would be medium. Thumb to fore finger is medium-rare to rare.
I wish I had a picture of this dish as it is super impressive....hey, Gallas, can you post a pic on here from your phone???
Thanksgiving Casserole.....A Little Past Thanksgiving
I've been a bad blogger. BAD BLOGGER! I have no excuse other than work, a flooded house, holidays, etc.
The holidays were great, as usual. We went to my husband's dad's house this year and it was a full feast. When people tell me they had "so much food" at their Thanksgiving dinner, I want to laugh at them. They don't know what "so much food" means until they have had Thanksgiving with the Filipinos. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving foods, plus all the Filipinos foods (lumpia, BBQ, pancit, etc.) PLUS prime rib, crab legs, cheesy potatoes (courtesy of yours truly), and, of course, 9 millions lbs of rice. It was an impressive spread, let me tell you. The only problem is, I am the type of eater that has to try everything. So, naturally, after Thanksgiving I felt sick for a few days. Anorexia was not an option at that point, it was a necessity. (Kidding, kidding).
This recipe really does nothing for you right now, for the record, considering it is meant to make the day after Thanksgiving. I meant to put it up the day of Thanksgiving, but, of course, forgot. It's basically just taking all your Thanksgiving leftovers and throwing them into a trough. But not really.
I am not going to put a "recipe" up here for this because I don't know what your leftovers consist of. But you will need a casserole dish or dutch oven.
Preheat oven to 350 deg. In your dish, layer your leftovers (at least 2 layers of each is best), but making sure the top layer is mashed potatoes. Also, I HIGHLY recommend putting a very thin layer of gravy in between every layer, or at least every other layer.
So my casserole would go something like this:
Stuffing
Gravy
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Stuffing
Gravy
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Then you poke some holes in the top layer of potatoes with a fork, stick in the oven for 15-30 min (depending on how deep your casserole is and how many layers you have). And voila!
The holidays were great, as usual. We went to my husband's dad's house this year and it was a full feast. When people tell me they had "so much food" at their Thanksgiving dinner, I want to laugh at them. They don't know what "so much food" means until they have had Thanksgiving with the Filipinos. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving foods, plus all the Filipinos foods (lumpia, BBQ, pancit, etc.) PLUS prime rib, crab legs, cheesy potatoes (courtesy of yours truly), and, of course, 9 millions lbs of rice. It was an impressive spread, let me tell you. The only problem is, I am the type of eater that has to try everything. So, naturally, after Thanksgiving I felt sick for a few days. Anorexia was not an option at that point, it was a necessity. (Kidding, kidding).
This recipe really does nothing for you right now, for the record, considering it is meant to make the day after Thanksgiving. I meant to put it up the day of Thanksgiving, but, of course, forgot. It's basically just taking all your Thanksgiving leftovers and throwing them into a trough. But not really.
I am not going to put a "recipe" up here for this because I don't know what your leftovers consist of. But you will need a casserole dish or dutch oven.
Preheat oven to 350 deg. In your dish, layer your leftovers (at least 2 layers of each is best), but making sure the top layer is mashed potatoes. Also, I HIGHLY recommend putting a very thin layer of gravy in between every layer, or at least every other layer.
So my casserole would go something like this:
Stuffing
Gravy
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Green Bean Casserole
Stuffing
Gravy
Turkey
Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Then you poke some holes in the top layer of potatoes with a fork, stick in the oven for 15-30 min (depending on how deep your casserole is and how many layers you have). And voila!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)