The Tired Chef

Being a chef I got used to the question: What do you cook for yourself, what do you eat at home? To be honest a lot of the times I’m exhausted, my body is sore and I’m tired of being in the kitchen dealing with food. So after a day of work I do whatever is fastest, simplest and cleanest as possible with the ingredients I have. What does it mean? First it has to be fast because if I got to the point that I’m considering cooking just for myself is because I probably haven't eaten all day and am starving. It has to be simple because being tired and hungry I don’t feel like thinking too much. It has to be easy and fast to clean up because I don’t want to spend much time washing utensils and hate to leave the kitchen dirty for the next day. So mixing all the stuff in the pan becomes a favorite. But, of course, everything starts with what’s available in my kitchen. Often that means eggs, some vegetables, some fruits, basic staples, flavoring ingredients like Worcestershire sauce and oyster sauce, spices and some herbs. Besides that I buy other sources of protein on a daily bases and sometimes special ingredients. In the end it’s not restaurant stuff but it’s pretty good. I was thinking that probably a lot of people feel like me, they just come home tired, wanting to do practical but decent meals. Right? So I decided to assume my tiredness and share my lazy meals in the section that I’m calling The Tired Chef. Hope you enjoy!

The Tired Chef´s Red Wine Steak:

Bought: a piece of filet mignon and 100g of mushrooms (shiitake).

Had: 1 garlic clove, 5 sprigs of thyme, ½ cup (opened in the refrigerator) red wine, 2 tbsp canola oil, 1 tbsp butter.

Did: Heated a saute pan and added a stream of canola oil. Seasoned the meat with salt and pepper and added to the pan. When browned I turned the meat and added the mushrooms (whole, just took the steams off), garlic (crushed) and thyme. When the meat was brown and almost done I added the wine, let the alcohol evaporate, turned the heat off and added the butter. Delicious!

Ate: With a salad because I was on a low carbohydrate diet!