Per Se Beef Poor Boys

T has been very busy this week clearing brush… lots of salmonberry and blackberry bushes that are up to eight feet tall, some a lot more than that.   With all the rain we get I am surprised they are not longer!  T says he wants to take back a couple of feet of ground around the entire yard… a real revelation to me because I know about his aversion to mowing the lawn!  Then in talk I find out he is thinking about buying a riding lawn mower.  Now… It is starting to make a little more sense to me.

He has put in long days with his machete and loppers.   Says once he gets it all down and cleaned up the mower will do the rest.  I can tell that it has been hard work… he is moving a little slower in the evening and sleeping really well at night.

I asked him what he wanted for dinner and his reply was something manly, a hardy meal… but quick and easy.  (I knew the reasoning behind this… I have been making lots of salads and light soups of late because we have been eating such heavy meals.)  That sounds good but what?  I remembered the last of the left over brisket (I was thinking about making a hominy soup with it… next time) in the freezer and decided to make poor boys.  He loves poor boys ever since he was introduced to them in New Orleans a few years ago.

Once I had the brisket thawed out I put it in the steam basket to heat.  I like doing this way because there is always some of the leftover grease that clings to the beef and the steam removes most of it in the heating process.  And two… it leaves it so moist!

I sliced and grilled several onions to top the brisket and while cooking I mixed together some mustard and horseradish for a nice topping with bite.   

I had the baguette nicely toasted in the broiler and then put the brisket on, then piled on lots of grilled onions and added the cheddar cheese and put the whole thing back into the broiler for a few minutes.  Watch it carefully…    now spread on some of the mustard-horseradish mix and the poor boy is ready to eat.

T ate almost the whole thing by himself, I had about a two-inch strip and we had side salads… I have to say the poor boy was really good.  He was happy with the ‘quick-manly-hardy meal,’ which was all that mattered….  

 

Kippered Salmon Potato Salad

With having a wonderful supply of Kippered Salmon we have made several dishes that are out of this world with flavor.  The Salmon Potahto (Frittata) was the first dish and was a winner.   This round we (T for now is doing most of the cooking! I direct without much notice!) decided to make a salad with the Kippered Salmon.  We love the combination of salmon, potatoes, onions and add to the mix some hard-boiled eggs.  We threw in some carrots sticks, there was a lone carrot that needed to be used and we knew it would give it some wonderful color.

                Ingredients:

•             Two Yukon Potatoes 
•             Small onion sliced thin
•             Two hard-boiled Eggs
•              1 Carrot cut into thick Julienne’s sticks
•             Kippered Salmon
•            Small onion sliced thin
•            Dressing of your choice
•            Feta Cheese      

T par-boiled the potatoes for about 5-7 minutes and then cut them in half and then into wedges, he then sliced the onion thin.  T put the potatoes and onions on a baking sheet (separately not mixed) and roasted them in a 400˚ oven just until they were done with color.  The onions are off the sheet first they get done a lot faster than the potatoes.   He then steamed the carrot for about 7 minutes and put in an ice bath.  Wanted the carrot sticks just a little crunchy and this adds color to the carrots.

Once we had all the different ingredients ready we put them together on plate.  You can arrange them however you feel.  We did ours in a circle starting with the outside and finishing with putting the kippered salmon in the middle.

T made up a dressing with sour cream and dill, some brown mustard and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.   T liked his with a light Russian dressing.  We will leave this up to you.

The potato wedges with a carrot stick, some salmon and grilled onion were a very good mix… the eggs seem to blend it all together and made this one flavorful salad, what a nice lunch.  We added some grapes and apple wedges on the side.  We really enjoyed this salad a lot….

T’s catch this past fall… female 10 pounds, male 9 pounds

One female – 10 pounds, One Male – 9 pounds (he has more of a hook)