Garlic Home Fries

I don't suppose I'll ever forget the garlic fries at Gordon Biersch restaurant or SF Giants baseball park, they're amazing. The key to garlic fried or in this case garlic home fries is that you don't cook the garlic with the potatoes. You prepare the olive oil, garlic and chopped Italian parsley sauce and pour directly on the home fries, toss and you're done. Here's how I garlic home fries.

Ingredients:
3 large russet potato's
2 tablespoons olive oil
12 garlic cloves
1/8 cup chopped Italian parsley
Salt & pepper

Peel and cut the potato's no larger and 1/2 cubes. Take your largest sauté pan and add a tablespoon of olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the potato's and fry until all sides are brown and crispy. Because the pieces are small the potato's will cook fairly quickly.

Peel and chop the garlic and add to a small microwave proof bowl. A small glass bowl works well for this step. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the garlic and microwave until the olive oil and garlic start to bubble.

When the potato's are done, add the garlic, olive oil and parsley to the potato's. Toss until well mixed and serve. 

Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Horseradish Cream Sauce

This is my go to steak dinner. Flat Iron steak is very similar to Flank steak. It's a large cut of meat that you grill whole and serve sliced. I like to serve with a cream horseradish and lite sour cream mixed together. The combination of the rich beef flavor, hot horseradish and cool sour cream is awesome.

Ingredients:

1 Flat Iron steak

1/2 cup lite sour cream

2 tablespoons cream horseradish, Beaver brand

1 teaspoon dried chives

Preparation: Horseradish Cream Sauce

Combine the sour cream, horse radish and chive and place into individual serving ramekins and set on the plate.

Preparation: Flat Iron Steak

Rub a little olive oil on the steak and liberally coat both sides with salt and pepper. Grill the flat iron steak over hot grill about 5 minutes each side to 120 degrees, perfect medium rare. Remove from the grill to the cutting board and loosely cover with tin foil and let rest 5 minutes then slice and serve.

Serve with my creamed spinach and roasted garlic mashed potato's for an awesome meal!
Garlic Creamed Spinach
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Pork Fried Rice

Whenever I make grilled pork chops I always make enough so that the next night I can make pork fried rice. I would never call this dish leftovers though....When you make pork fried rice yourself you can back off the soy sauce and really taste the  other ingredients. The key is not to over cook any of the vegetables. The green onion, yellow onion, bell pepper and peas should be cooked just for a few minutes and retain a bit of crunch. The key to this dish is the toppings; green onion, cilantro and chopped nuts, wow so good!
 

Ingredients: Pork Fried Rice

Pork loin chops, grilled cut into bit size pieces

3 extra large garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 small yellow onion, medium dice

4 green onions, diced

1/3 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup frozen peas

Hand full of fresh chopped cilantro

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3 tablespoons lite soy sauce

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 cup white basmati rice, cooked and cooled

Preparation:

Pre-heat a 12" sauté pan. Add the canola oil, garlic, ginger, green onion, yellow onions, bell pepper, peas, cilantro and cook for 2 minutes. Add the pork, sesame oil, soy sauce to the saute pan. Mix in the rice and heat for 3 minutes, salt and pepper to taste. Top with chopped cilantro, diced green onion, crushed nuts, sesame seeds and serve.

Garlic & Ginger Marinated Grilled Pork Chops with Sesame Noodles

I love grilled pork chops marinated in crushed garlic and ginger. The problem is what to serve with the chops. I always tend to lean toward Asian flavors with pork because potatoes or rice with pork just seems a little mid west bland. With the sesame noodles I can carry the same theme of the ginger and garlic. I also pick up flavor from the soy sauce and sesame oil and the heat from the onion and red pepper flakes. A lovely dish to satisfy you Asian craving.

Ingredients: Pork Chops
8 Pork Loin Chops

8 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

Ingredients: Sesame Noodles

Japanese wheat noodles

1/2 yellow onion, sliced

1 bunch green onions, chopped into 1/2" pieces

1/2 red bell pepper, slice into 1/4" x 1/2" pieces

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1/2 tablespoon canola oil

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon lite soy sauce

pinch red pepper flakes

Preparation: Pork Chops

Mix the garlic and ginger together and rub onto both side of the pork loin chops and marinate for a few hours or over night. To cook, salt and pepper the chops and grill over very hot grill 3 minutes each side. Let rest 5 minutes before service.

Preparation: Japanese Wheat Noodles

Boil water in a large pot and cook noodles according to directions, about 5 minutes. When cooked, drain, rinse with cold water and set a side.

Preparation: Sesame Noodles
Pre-heat a 12" sauté pan and add the canola oil, yellow onions, green onions, red bell pepper, garlic, ginger and pinch of red pepper flakes. Cook over high heat for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add the sesame oil, soy sauce, noodles and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for an additional 5 minutes and serve.

Shrimp, Chicken, Spinach, Peas and Sautéed Garlic Served on White Pepper Grits

WOW, you just died and went to comfort food heaven, you just didn't know this was the ticket to get there. I telling you, this is so much better than it looks.

Seriously though, if you've been to New Orleans then you may have noticed that grits are served for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it's all fantastic. For me, I like this combination of shrimp, chicken, spinach, peas and sautéed garlic served over grits. The key to this dish is to get the right consistency to the grits, not too thick, not too runny, right in the middle.

Ingredients: Shrimp

1lb medium large shrimp

1 grilled chicken breast

4 - 5 sliced garlic

1/4 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup cooked spinach

1 tablespoon olive oil

Ingredients: Grits

1/2 cup uncooked grits

1 cup water
1 cup 1% milk

1 tablespoon butter
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper

Preparation: Chicken and Shrimp

For this dish I used cooked grilled chicken and cooked shrimp because that is what I had on hand, however you can quickly sauté up some chicken and shrimp for this dish.

Heat a 12" sauté pan to medium and add a little olive oil. Add the sliced garlic and sauté for a few minutes making sure not to burn the garlic. Add the cooked spinach and frozen peas and cook until the spinach is wilted and the peas are hot. Lastly, add the cooked chicken and shrimp and toss until hot. Be sure to check for proper seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation: Grits

Make the grits according to the package which is 1 cup water, 1 cup milk and some salt to taste. When cooked add 1 tablespoon butter and the white pepper.

To plate, place a generous amount of grits on a plate and top chicken, shrimp, spinach and peas. Finish the dish by drizzling a little olive oil over the top of the dish and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.

Tandoori Chicken, Cucumber Raita & Turmeric Rice

This dish is a good example of a work in progress. I have the spices right and I like the flavors and I really like the cucumber yogurt sauce. However, I think I need to switch from bone in chicken thighs to boneless chicken thighs. I find that most of my chicken dishes turn out better with boneless chicken thighs.

Ingredients: Marinade

Coriander, Cumin, Turmeric, Garam Masala, Paprika

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon turmeric

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon garam masala

1 tablespoon paprika

1 cup plain low fat yogurt

1 tablespoons lemon juice

4 -5 garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon salt

Chicken thighs

Preparation: Marinade

In a small sauté pan heat the oil, coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, garam masala and paprika and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes and let cool completely.

Combine the spice oil mixture with the yogurt then mix in the lemon juice, garlic, salt and ginger.

Take the chicken thighs and cut two deep slashes though the skin (to the bone) to allow the marinade to penetrate. Place the chicken thighs in a large zip lock bag and add the marinade and 6 - 8 hours, no more.

Cook the chicken either on the grill or in the oven. To cook in the oven, set the oven to 400 degrees and cook on a broiler pan for 20 minutes. For the final minute ot two, turn on the broiler which will char the top of the chicken thighs.

Ingredients: Cucumber Raita

1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated

1 tablespoon rough chop cilantro

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

pinch cayenne

salt and pepper

Preparation: Cucumber Raita

Grate the cucumber and take a paper towel and squeeze out any moisture. Combine yogurt, cucumber and spices and chill until ready to use.

Preparation: Turmeric Rice

cook 1 cup basmati rice with 2 cups water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon turmeric.

Braised Beef and Linguini

This is a killer dish and just screams comfort food. The key to this dish is to cook the meat the day before. The meat just ends up so much more tender and flavorful. Second, make a lot of sauce so you can toss the linguini and then top with the meat and more sauce.

Ingredients:

1 lb. beef stew meat cubed 1-1/2" size

1 - 18oz can beef stock

6  1-1/2" crimimi mushrooms, quartered
4 cloves minced garlic

1 cup 1% milk

3 tablespoons Wondra brand flour

1 lb. linguini

Chopped Italian parsley
Parmesan cheese
Fresh ground black pepper

Preparation the day before:

I just make this a one pot dish by using an 10" square sided sauté pan with lid. Heat the sauté pan to medium high heat. Add a tablespoon avocado oil and then the meat. Sauté the beef on all sides until browned. Add the beef broth, bring to a boil, cover and place into a 350 degree oven for 2 hours. After 2 hours remove from the oven and set on the stove until the sauté pan cools to room temp, about another hour. Place in the refrigerator over night.

Preparation:
Cook the linguini per package instructions and when done drain and toss in some olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking together.

Heat braised beef to high simmer. Take an 8" sauté pan and add a little olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add the quartered mushrooms and minced garlic and sauté until the mushrooms are cooked down, about 5 - 7 minutes. Take the mushrooms and garlic and add to the braised beef. 

Mix the milk with the flour, pour into the sauce and bring to a boil. The sauce should be pretty thick at this point which is what you want. Reduce the heat to low and prepare to serve.

Take a 10" sauté pan and heat to medium  heat. Add a cup of sauce from the braised beef. Add 2 portions of linguini to the sauté pan, toss and bring to serving temp. Add more sauce if needed.

To plate, place the linguini on a serving plate. Top the linguini with the braised beef and some more sauce. Finish the dish with parmesan cheese, chopped Italian parsley and fresh ground pepper.