Street Meat a La Phineas

As your regular Blue Plate contributor was on the DL recovering from a bout of exhaustion nephewitis, tonight's special will be brought to you by me! Me! Me!

Street Meat a la Phineas

The roots of this blue plate dinner comes from my weekend supermarket run, taking advantage of pre-Father's Day specials. Sunday's dinner was Surf and Turf for Clio's gang: grilled beef tenderloin with chimichurri and a side of grilled Maine mudbugs aka lobsters! I usually butcher a whole tenderloin myself, so in addition to the roast, steaks were cut for my folks, brother and sister-in-law. The remaining scraps were cut up into chunks suitable for this entree - beef souvlaki/gyro/kebab (whatever you want to call it!) wrapped in a pita with tomato, lettuce, cucumber, lemon yogurt sauce ("white sauce" for you street meat aficionados) and red sauce (sriracha hot sauce).

All the components, ready to go.

First, season the chunks of meat with an assortment of herbs (dried thyme, rosemary) and spices - curry powder, paprika, pepper, salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander is what I used but feel free to choose whatever you like or, more importantly, have! Next, dice up some cucumber and tomato ( the grape tomatoes seem best out of season), shred some lettuce and make the yogurt. For the yogurt, I used Greek style but any plain yogurt will do. Season to your liking-I used lemon zest, lemon juice (used for flavor and to thin out the consistency), salt, pepper and a little chopped scallion for bite and color.

Next up, saute the beef quickly in a little oil to get a nice brown crust.


Now make your pita. Take one of those large, soft pillow-type pitas and layer your stuff, as little or as much as you like. No need to be shy-no one can see how much stuff you put in it after it's wrapped up!


Wrap it up and don't forget the extra napkins ( See! I have some manners after all!) Enjoy. Next week will be back to your regular scheduled kitchen tour guide.

PS: Whats everyone cooking for Father's Day?
PPS: Lest the food police come down on us, a side of crisp sauteed green beans accompanied the stuffed pita :)
PPPS: Sriracha is really spicy and good especially when you have a fresh bottle! Look for the rooster label. Additional information for addicts or addicts to be can be found here and here.