A Low Budget Wonder!

Budget & Find Those Deals

This is what The Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen is all about! Eating well and not paying out the A-R-S doing it! I always get comments about the photo’s my wife and I post on all the top sharing sites. It seems that some think my recipes contradict the very idea I preach about; gourmet meals at a low budget wonder. But, I’m telling you folks it can be done very easily, and you don’t have to store up all of your coupons like all of those super moms that Groupon all the time.

Take these crab legs for example. These are called Santolla Reds, and most days they’re cheaper than Jumbo Shrimp. Here’s the really crazy thing… they are the size of King Crab legs! And, they look and taste just like them. To be completely honest, just a little bit saltier is all. So what… use unsalted butter and they are fantastic. I usually buy 4 to 5 lbs of these Santolla Red Crab Legs for under $40 bucks and it feeds my whole family, with left over’s. Try getting ½ a pound of King Crab Legs and a Baked Potato at any restaurant for under $26 dollars!

Budget those Threats

How about these Crawfish? Do you see the Budget price listed on the front of the carts in the pic above? It even got down to 99 cents a lbs shortly after I took this photo. Ironically, some guy on my Crawfish video freaked out on me, the other day, about it. He called me a liar and proclaimed in his well educated text, “no where is america its sold for 99 Cent per pound”. Shortly there after he threatened to come after me and get me evicted from my house when I proved to him they are. See for your self in the comment thread.

Budget and Save

Anyway, if you don’t budget and you’re paying top dollar for everything you are trying to cook at home, then you are either stuck on the wrong website or you are severely trying to learn. So if you haven’t closed out this blog yet and your still reading, and you truly want to know the trade secret to paying less, then whip out your note pad app and write this down: start talking to the chefs, start talking to the butchers, start talking to anybody and everyone that handles the service behind the refrigerated counters, AND(wait for it), MAKE NICE! Get in good with them; shit, flirt a little. It’s not going to hurt you. I’m telling you from experience and matter of factually, if you get in good with them, you’ll get in good with the prices and you will Budget and Save big!

My Hobbie My Headache!

I love to cook. I love to eat. I absolutely love food. But! I don’t eat drink and sleep recipes. I can’t stand all day in a kitchen preparing meals for others that I’m simply not going to be able to sit down and enjoy for myself. Though I love the critics, and I enjoy the compliments, if I’m going to endure a full day stand in the kitchen I’m going to inherit a headache.

Moderation is the key for good cooking I think; at least it is for me. I’ve got to resonate after I take in a good meal and process what I can do better next time. Putting it down on paper doesn’t seem to help. In fact it’s actually something I avoid wholeheartedly. Doing the blog, the facebook page and the Youtube channel weren’t even things that I originally wanted to do, like, at all. My brother talked me into it. And the problem I find myself repeating constantly is making the time to write down these recipes that I’m constantly perfecting on a daily basis.

As you can see here, I’m clearly cooking. There’s the evidence right in front of you. But, I ask myself, “Is this something others want to be cooking?”, “Are these secrets that I even want to be giving away?! It’s really tough to swallow sometimes. A ton of hard work goes into making a dish something that everyone wants and loves to eat, then just hand over the recipes.

Why do others do it? We see it all over the web these days right? What’s the payoff? Advertising! Commercials, product placement and pay per clicks. Guess what though. You’ve got to be getting hundreds if not thousands of ad clicks a day to see any results from that kind of gig before you even see a dime. I haven’t. not even one red cent. Not that I’m complaining, I just want you to recognize that some people just love what they do so much they feel like keeping things to themselves. That way our hobbies don’t become headaches and we don’t become slaves to the pills that stop the pain.

I don’t want that for me; headaches that kill the passion I have for my hobbies. As long as I can share the things that I’ve learned through my education and experimentation, I’ll keep cranking out recipes for Poor Mans Gourmet Kitchen. But like any true artist out there, sometimes you’ve got to wait for the release of a masterpiece!

On a lighter note, here are a few concoctions I’ve been thinking about writing about. If any of these recipes catch your attention I’d like to know about it. There’s a Lo mein noodle that is as good as any restaurant or fast food I’ve ever had; grilled Salmon smothered in a sweet and sour sauce with veggies; Nachos… baked; Ceviche Tilapia; fresh Chicken Tequitos; and last but not least, a Chicken Wrap with a Peanut Lime sauce!

Calzones- Saucey, Meaty, Golden Brown and Cheesy

Alrighty then; so here we have it, the infamous Calzones! Now, for me these are to pizza what Beer is to football; I just GOTTA have one! So if you’re anything like me, meaning you LOVE’s the football, how can you go wrong with packing an oven full of calzones on game day? Hell, they even look like little footballs, don’t even try to deny it! But I know the day of the game everyone is ordering their favorite pizza, but a lot of the regular fast action deliveries don’t have calzones on the menu. So… whatcha-gunna do now?? Well read on and I’ll tell you how to solve this little problem, because with this recipe and my step by step how to video it’s literally as easy as hut-hut-HIKE!

Combine the following and let it stand 10 min. to activate.
You’ll know it’s activated if it doubles in size.

1 tsp. dry yeast
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1/4 cup hot water 110 degrees f

Separate bowl Combine in the following order

1 cup hot water 110 degree (hot water out of your tap is fine)
3 cups BREAD flour (this is key, use bread flower)
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Italian Seasoning (Thyme, Rosemary, Marjoram etc.)
1/2 tsp garlic powder

To make the Calzone dough, add the activated yeast and mix all ingredients together in a mixer or knead it by hand. It’s designed to be a little sticky, so adding a few tbls. of flour here and there to get it to a desired pizza dough consistency is normal if you need to. Roll the dough into a ball and thinly coat 2 tbls of olive oil on the outside to prevent dryness and cracking. Now just let it rise for the next hour or so, or even refrigerate if you’re wanting it for later. Just be sure the dough gets to room temperature and practically doubles in size before you roll it out for Calzones. Roll it out thin; maybe an 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch, TOPS! Next, throw down your favorite sauce (spaghetti sauce will even work), meats, veggies, whatever. Most use Mozzarella cheese but if you can 50/50 with Provolone, that’s the way to go, trust me; even Ricotta cheese is fantastic, especially if you use prosciutto. At this point all you have to do is close the Calzone by folding the dough in half and pinch the sides all the way around the pocket(pie crust style), then cut a few slits in the top so the air can escape while it bakes. Preheat oven to 500 degrees and baste the calzone/Calzone’s with egg wash while the temperature rises. Egg wash is just a whipped egg and 1 Tbls of milk. At this point if you’d like, you can call it good or you can throw down some sesame seeds over the top before the final bake. A wooden slate or stone is best for baking but a pan works just fine. About 8 to 10 minutes is all it’s going to take for you to enjoy the final product. I like to keep my eye on it and bake it ‘till it’s a nice golden shiny brown! Either way, you’ll thank me!