Poutine Fusion

Poutine. Fries, cheese curds, gravy.

What if you want to make this dish, but need to submit to the ingredients on hand, incorporate vegetables and still make the gravy rich and delicious? Fusion. Mixing different flavors to create one amazing end result.... Hey Nut liked it!!

The gravy:

• 1/2c onion, chopped
• 1/4c celery chopped
• 1c mushrooms, chopped
• 2T teriaki sauce
• 2 pinches red pepper flakes (or according to taste. 2 pinches does add a bit of heat)
  
• 1T butter
• 1T vegetable oil
• 2t sesame oil
• flour about 1/2c
• beef broth 1/2 box
• 1t malt vinegar (any type will do, this is just what I used)
• 1t brown sugar

The gravy is the element of this dish which takes the longest...chopping the veggies mostly, but it's still not so bad. I like to make the gravy early in the day (a perfect weekend meal). The reason being, it makes the gravy even better if it sits for a couple hours after finished.

Here's how it was done:

Heat the two oils with butter, then add the four vegetables and the teriaki sauce. Saute until caramelized. Add flour. Yes, it's going to look crumbly. Don't worry. Once the flour has been incorporated, add broth. Stir and stir, watch it thicken. If it seems too thick to your liking, simply add more broth and continue to simmer. Add vinegar and brown sugar. Continue to simmer, about 15 minutes. Taste and adjust for salt and pepper. Take off heat and set aside until you're ready to assemble the final meal. Important: Heat back up before final assembly.

• mozzarella cheese cut in long thick strips
• cheddar cheese (I used shredded sharp)
• tater tots

Bake tater tots according to package directions. Portion into bowls. Scatter mozzarella strips atop the hot tots, then your steaming, reheated gravy over all. Let sit a minute or two to let the heat from the tater tots and gravy melt the cheese.

Now chow down! This is a very filling dish. Unless you have quite a few mouths to feed there will be leftovers. I didn't get a pic of the assembled plate... just picture a hot, warm, brown plate of comforting messy goodness....looking very similar to this pic of yummy leftovers.

Taste Tester Results: I made it a bit spicy for Nut's taste, but he said he would like to try a more savory version. Will do, honey!

I think this could turn into a very versatile dish. Just change out types of potato, sauce and cheese, and you'll have a different, but still inexpensive dish.

They don't tell you on the box

On the verge of last night's meat fest on the grill, I wanted to mention about sides. Traditional steak house sides (I learn from Travel Channel or Food Channel) is creamed spinach and a baked potato.

For our potato side Nut likes a julienne potato box product. It's very tasty, but here's our dilemma. It's usually a baked or stovetop product. Since our indoor cooking, and heat are propane, we wanted to preserve our propane and fix this in the microwave... no directions on the box. So my hero Nut adapted the recipe to where the potatoes are creamy and perfectly done.

This is the adaption from the oven recipe for microwave cooking:
2 cups water preheated 10 mintues on high in microwave
Then adapt the following measurements to:
1/3c milk
2/3 stick butter melted

Mix above ingredients and box contents in microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 15 minutes (this is with a 700 watt microwave so if you have stronger watts, decrease your cooking time to 10 minutes... that's a guess, but I don't have a high watt microwave to test with so let me know you're findings for different watts.) Note: I would like to think this could be applicable to other box potato products... again let me and everyone else know!

So after you remove your potatoes from microwave, cover and let sit for 5 minutes and it will thicken upon standing. Then serve.

The spinach side, usually creamed... we didn't have cream, but no worries! We had fresh spinach leaves and just used them as a salad, wilting naturally with the heat of the meat and the potatoes. It was quite good, but this coming from a girl who eats spinach leaves like chips! Taste Tester Results: Spinach needed a dressing. To your taste, a squeeze of lemon, to a dollop of blue cheese...up to you.

The combination of potato, spinach and grilled beef was a great dinner last night. Thank you Nut for our meat and potatoes... I'm still doing yummy noises this morning!

Next grilling post... I might get into the action... can we say... Yorkshire Pudding on the grill? Stay tuned!! I have a plan!!