- Budget meals for bae.
(sizzling)
(buzz)
- (scoffs) Lost a mushroom.
You ain't gotta tell nobody that happened,
didn't nobody see that.
What's up everybody, I'm David, and I love cooking,
whether it be for my friends,
or especially for my girlfriend, Amanda.
So today, I'm gonna try to make a steak dinner for two
for only $14.
It's gonna be a little tough.
I'm not always the best bargain shopper,
but we'll see if she can guess how much I actually spent.
Let's get shopping.
(cheerful music)
Well, that was a little bit tough.
I mean, shopping on a budget isn't always easy,
but I tried to make sure that I could find some items
on sale so we could stay within our budget.
We came out to just a little bit over, $14.33.
That's not too bad for a steak dinner for two.
Along with these items,
today we're gonna be using some things
that we always keep in a tasty pantry.
We recommend that you keep these as well.
They can often be found in a lot of different recipes.
That way, your shopping list can be that much shorter.
Today, we'll be using olive oil, salt, pepper, and butter.
All right, let's start getting some of this stuff out,
so I can start on our first recipe.
All right, so first, we're gonna make
a double-baked creamed spinach potato.
Creamed spinach, baked potato,
they both give me a steakhouse vibe.
Why not just marry 'em together, best of both worlds.
(ding)
So we're gonna split the potato,
and then you wanna put it flesh side down
on your parchment paper.
Make sure that you pierce the skin.
This will help the heat to escape as it's baking.
Now, we're gonna put it in the oven,
at about 400 degrees, for about 45 minutes or so,
until it's easily pierced with a fork.
(ticking)
All right, so our potatoes are ready to go.
I waited about 15 minutes, until the pan is cool
to the touch, so that we can work with these bad boys.
Now what you wanna do is grab a paring knife maybe,
or a spoon, and flesh out the inside of the potato,
leaving about a quarter-inch of space.
My girlfriend's a little bit better
of a bargain shopper than me,
so I know when she sees all of this stuff,
she's gonna think I spent like $50.
That's the best part, you can have a really nice meal
for a great price point.
Now we're gonna scoop the insides into this bowl.
And stuffed potatoes are always something that I love,
because you can grab a bunch of different ingredients,
like the creamed spinach, or if you want
to throw some cheddar cheese, or some mushrooms,
or something like that, if you wanna make it
a little fancier, and have a really delicious side.
They look kinda elegant, while still on a budget.
You can dress it up with a lot of different ingredients,
season it however you want, and they're pretty quick
and easy to make.
Now, before I continue with the mixture,
you're gonna wanna put a little bit of butter
on the inside of your potato skin.
When we put 'em back in the oven,
this will make sure it gets a nice golden brown.
It's really rich and crispy,
and a little bit too much butter
never hurt anybody's recipe.
Now that we've got these guys ready,
I'm gonna mince a little garlic.
We wanna make sure that we cut this really finely.
If you actually have your date already there,
this is when you can show off your knife skills.
Just put your hand across the top,
look into their eyes, and let 'em know how you makin'
a nice little dinner for two.
Make sure you throw it off like that,
when you go ahead and slide it off.
You can use some gloves or somethin' if you need to,
but you wanna make sure you put a whole lotta love
into the meal.
I'm gonna add this to my mixture.
(scraping)
Now typically you might use some heavy cream,
we decided to go with half and half,
because it's a little bit cheaper,
and again, helped us hit that $14 price point.
And now, we're gonna add about three tablespoons of butter.
And again, if you put a little bit extra,
ain't nothin' to worry about.
Put three and a half.
(clattering)
Start to kinda mix that up as we go.
We got our Parmesan cheese.
That is gonna go amazing with the garlic.
Just a little, just a little,
little pinch of salt right there.
And now, we have some frozen spinach,
which is a lot cheaper than fresh spinach,
but still gives you the great flavor
that you're lookin' for.
You do wanna make sure, since we're gonna be baking this,
that you strain out any of the excess water
that you might've gotten while you defrosted it.
So we'll just put it into a little strainer here.
You can use the back of a spatula, a spoon,
or whatever works.
Just to make sure you get all that moisture out
as much as you can.
Now we'll add this into our mixture.
Kinda mash it up a little more with this fork,
so we can get a nice, creamy filling.
It smells really good, that minced garlic
is gonna be perfect.
That butter will give it a nice, rich flavor.
She ain't gonna be gettin' mad at me
for at least two weeks after this.
I'm gonna go ahead and spoon this mixture into my potatoes.
You wanna make a little mound.
Get all the way in there, spread it evenly.
Now we wanna sprinkle just a little bit more Parmesan
on top, so we can have a nice little crust.
Just, ah, and you can be a little generous with him,
just let it fall like that.
Just, don't be afraid of it now, just let it fall, okay.
Now we'll pop these back into the oven
for about 15 minutes or so,
or until it's nice and golden brown on the top.
So keep an eye on these, because you don't want 'em
to get too crispy, but you know,
we wanna just warm 'em up a little bit,
let that butter and cream really heat up and get rich,
so we can mix with that potato shell.
All right, we'll be right back.
All right guys, now it's time for my favorite park.
We're gonna make the steak, the main course.
I did a little bit of research
since we were shopping on a budget,
and in some local ads at my local grocery store,
I saw that they had a nice tri-tip loin
for only $3.99 a pound.
That's about 50% off than the usual retail price.
So we really scored here.
I'm gonna wanna make sure to heat up my pan properly,
'cause you really want this to be super hot.
(pops)
You're gonna put about a tablespoon of oil in here,
just enough to kinda evenly cover the bottom.
Another reason that we chose this cut
is because it's tender.
It doesn't require any marinating,
like a lot of tougher cuts of meat.
And plus, we ain't got no money for no marinade,
this is dollar dish.
So we're gonna go ahead and just throw a little bit of salt,
and a little bit of pepper.
But you wanna make sure that you're generous,
because since we're only going to be seasoning it right now,
this is the only chance you have to add those flavors.
Once we put it into this hot pan,
it's gonna sear up really nicely,
and we wanna make sure those flavors soak through
this piece of meat.
All right, so now I'm gonna grab these gloves,
so I can move this steak a little bit,
and make sure that I get a nice, even coating of seasoning.
Again, you wanna make sure that you kinda overly salt this,
just a bit.
Now we got some freshly cracked black pepper.
So that we let the pepper and the salt dance together
a little bit, you know what I'm sayin'?
Now we're gonna cook this for about two to three minutes
on each side.
(sizzling)
And that's a good sound.
That smells great.
Now you wanna make sure not to disturb it too much,
so that we can make sure it gets that nice, even brown color
on each side.
So for a piece of meat this thick,
we're probably lookin' at about nine to 10 minutes.
Let's go ahead and check on this color a little bit.
All right, it's lookin' really good.
Just about ready for a turn.
So my girlfriend loves baked potatoes,
so I know she's gonna love this meal.
I mean, the creamed spinach filling, again,
is gonna give it just a nice, rich flavor,
and I think the extra butter
that I put it in's gonna provide the love we're lookin' for.
Now we're gonna turn this guy on that last side,
and again, just leave it there.
Let it get nice and brown.
That color is beautiful.
We're makin' this about a medium rare to medium well.
But again, you can leave it for a few more minutes,
depending on your taste.
This is lookin' pretty good, so now that was our last side,
all taken care of, we're gonna turn down the heat
just a little bit.
We're gonna baste this with butter to again,
just give it more of a rich flavor,
make this steak taste even more amazing.
Just kinda run that butter through the pan,
let it catch all the rest of the flavor
from that nice pan sear.
We just wanna cover this steak in some nice melted butter.
Now the butter's starting to get brown,
so you wanna take it out after that.
All right, now we're gonna go ahead and let this rest
for about 15 minutes, so that we can lock
all those juices in, and it won't dry out
when we slice the tri-tip and plate it
in just a little bit.
Now, I wanted to make this a little bit more fancy,
so I'm gonna whip up a little mushroom sauce
that we can drizzle over it when we plate.
I'm gonna go grab these ingredients,
and I'll be right back.
Show you how we turn this from a two-star
to a four-star meal.
All right everybody, now that I've got
all my ingredients laid out, we can make
this fire mushroom sauce.
It's really gonna step it up a little bit,
and again, just give you a little somethin'
to drizzle on there, make it look real fancy.
So what I'ma do, is set this pan to about a medium heat,
and I went ahead and scooped out all of the oil,
except for about one tablespoon.
You're not gonna need too much.
You wanna go ahead and throw your mushrooms in there.
We're gonna cook these about five to seven minutes,
until they're nice and soft.
So you can just get a little bit of oil on those.
All right, now while that's going,
I'm gonna mince up a little bit of garlic.
Two or three cloves for this one,
'cause I like garlic, you know that's up to you.
Again, I'm gonna go in a nice, fine chop here.
That should just about do it.
I'm gonna wait until my mushrooms get a little softer,
and then we'll throw in there.
These will get a nice brown color.
Saute really nicely, soften up,
and they'll look perfect with that steak that we got.
'Bout to make me a little cookbook,
"Budget Meals for Bae".
Now this is gonna take about five to seven minutes,
so you definitely wanna take your time here,
and make sure that you're puttin' the love into the meal.
You don't wanna rush that, just take your time,
let the mushrooms get happy.
Let the oil soak on in there,
and let that steam come together
to make a nice, lovely little steak dinner for two.
These are lookin' perfect, nice and soft.
We've got a nice golden brown color on 'em,
so we're gonna go ahead and add in this garlic.
(scraping)
A little bit of salt, pai-yow, pai-yow, pai-yow,
that's all you need right there,
just about three pai-yows, you gonna be good to go.
We're gonna add this beef stock,
and we only spent half a dollar.
So you're gonna pour that on in there,
and just continue to mix it lightly,
and let that reduce by about half.
Now, these were pre-sliced and the manager's special,
so not only did I save money, I saved time,
which is definitely gonna be the name of the game,
when you're tryin' to make a dinner for two.
Makes it easier.
Maybe you had work that day, you can still come home,
and make this delicious meal without takin' up
too much time.
Now it's reduced down by about 50%,
we got nice thin layer of that beef stock,
cookin' up with that garlic and those mushrooms.
So what I'm gonna do, is reduce the heat to low,
and slowly mix in this half and half.
Now again, this is an ingredient we had in our other recipe,
we're going to be able to use it for both.
And stir it as you pour, so it can thicken up.
Now you wanna go ahead and let this thicken up
for about five to seven minutes.
Stir it every so often, kinda let
all those flavors come together.
Sauce is ready, so I'm gonna turn that off.
Now we're gonna go ahead and slice this beautiful steak,
and you wanna try to make sure to keep those slices
about a half-inch apart, and always cut against the grain.
See that beautiful color we got in there
from that pan sear.
All those juices locked in,
because we gave it that proper rest time.
See if I can make something Pinterest worthy.
Now, I wasn't necessarily able to make every cut beautiful,
so you can just go ahead and sample them pieces
before your date arrives, you know what I'm sayin'.
So for plating, we're gonna go ahead
and try to take two to three slices of this, right here.
And then, gonna put some of this nice mushroom sauce on top.
Now we've got that twice-baked creamed spinach potato.
Amanda's almost here, I'm gonna go ahead and plate mine.
And now it's time to go grab Amanda and see what she thinks.
Hopefully I was able to pull this off
and make it taste like a professional steak dinner.
(upbeat music)
All right, open your eyes, what do you think?
- Wow, babe, that looks good.
- You know, I tried to do my thang,
you know what I'm sayin'.
So what we have here for you is a tri-tip loin,
covered in a mushroom cream sauce,
and I went ahead and threw in
a twice-baked creamed spinach potato.
At this point, all I can do is let you taste it.
So, see what you think.
- Okay.
(laughs) You nervous?
- No.
You see her face, I did my thang.
- That's good.
(laughs) This is definitely like
really great restaurant quality.
- You heard what she said?
Michelin star on the way.
I'ma go ahead and see what you think
about this creamed spinach twice-baked potato.
- This looks so good.
- Creamed for you, there you go.
Okay, you see what I did, what I was doin'
when I did it in there?
- I see you, I see you.
- Yeah, you know, I tried to make sure,
I just drizzled him on there.
You remember that pai-yow pow, ya'll remember that?
That was on purpose, now we got that nice, even color.
We got a nice crisp over it,
and we got a satisfied girlfriend.
- And the bottom's crispy, the top's crispy,
and it's like a warm.
- You know, I brushed the butter on there,
I wasn't gonna just put 'em in the oven.
You know, I had to mix it real good.
- It's really good.
- How much you think I spent on all of these ingredients?
- I would say you spent $30-ish.
- For the first time in quite a long time,
she's wrong and I'm right.
- Oh, wow!
- So, indeed, I only spent $14.33.
- Wow!
- On everything.
I don't know if I'll always be able
to stay within the budget like I should,
but we'll see if I can try to take after you,
and find some deals from now on.
- I mean as long as it tastes like that,
I'd be happy with however much you spent,
to be honest.
- I mean, hey, you know I'ma do my thing regardless,
but at this point I think it's time
for me and you to go ahead and finish this meal.
- Thank you, baby.
- Of course, you're welcome.
That's it, and I'll catch you guys later.
Now come on, let's go eat.
(bright music)
(snaps)