Starving Artist Eats
A Smoky Bruschetta
Bruschetta is one of the first impress-your-friends-easy-party-dishes that I learned to make. The basic one I make is: diced tomatoes, basil, garlic, sometimes cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
This is a richer take on the basic recipe. I roasted some red peppers on the range: directly over the gas flame, charring the outside, then removing the skin under cold water. Dice.
I caramelized some onions: it takes a bit, but the flavor is worth the wait. Use a splash of olive oil in the pan, add sliced onions, a little salt, a little sugar (I used honey). Low flame, constant stirring, and eventually, you’ll end up with a much reduced (read: intensely concentrated yumminess) pile of brown bits.
Dice tomatoes. Chop up basil and garlic. Throw everything in a bowl. Add liberal amounts of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. I added a good pile of grated reggianito cheese. Mix well. Refrigerate overnight.
Serve on good crusty bread.
This mix gets more and more tasty as it marinates. If you end up with a lot of leftovers, which you probably won’t, you can toss it with pasta for a killer sauce.
BEETS & SWEETS
This is a my riff on the Roebling Tea Room’s Red Flannel Hash, which is delicious.
It’s vegetarian, colorful, fairly healthy, and you can totally impress your friends with this one. It’s great for a tapas and wine night — that’s what became of this — except we were so hungry, we forgot to take the final pictures. Guess, you’ll have to make it to find out. :)
Roasting Beets: Wrap beets in tin foil. Toss into a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about an hour. Remove, unwrap, and peel under cold running water. Chop into cubes.
While my beets were roasting, I boiled some diced sweet potatoes (skin on). If you have a steamer, you could steam them.
Put your pile of diced red and orange deliciousness in a big bowl. Add a whole log of crumbled goat cheese: I used four pepper cheese. For seasoning goodness, I used chopped parsley, basil, scallions, salt, pepper, and fennel seeds. I would omit the fennel seeds in the future: the crunchy texture just seemed weird.
Blend the ingredients until the cheese is well distributed. Overall, the mix should be chunky. This is best served at room temperature. You could spread it on bread too.
Yum.
Pig Butchery →
A really nice photo slideshow of a pig butchery workshop in New York. I wanted to go to one of these, but my vegetarian boyfriend wasn’t really feeling it. Oh well, guess I’ll have to save that for a girl’s night out.
I made trotter brawn. It’s a lengthy process, but not too terribly difficult. I used chicken feet to help boost the gelatin content. The internet is full of good recipes for brawn (also headcheese, jelly, souse, and the like). Here’s the basic breakdown: Boil trotters and chicken feet with some aromatics for a few hours — until the trotters are wobbly. After the trotters are cool enough to handle, remove all the bones, and chop the trotter up. Toss back into the stock. Simmer until the mixture is thick and reduced. You can stir in any number of seasonings that appeal to you. I used herbs, hot peppers, and capers. A good splash of vinegar is recommended. (The chicken feet, you can use for some other project.) Pour into a small nonstick loaf pan, let cool, cover tightly, and pop it into the fridge overnight. Use a hot water bath to help loosen the brawn. Invert the pan onto a plate, and voila! You now have a pretty loaf of brawn ready to be sliced up and enjoyed. It’s lovely on toast or crackers with a bit of mustard.
Taste The Rainbow!
The bargain produce bin yielded two slightly soft yellow peppers for $.99! Based on this colorful find, I opted for a veggie-laden pasta. I splurged on a bunch of mint - I thought the green would be pretty and yummy. I had gone on a cheese splurge earlier in the week, so I had some fancy cheese too! Fresh herbs and good cheese go a long way when bargain cooking. They lend wonderful flavor and really amp up a plain dish. Plus, it will impress your friends. I made a tasty side salad from fridge leftovers too.
Pretty Veggie Pasta
-Pasta, Sliced Yellow Peppers, Rough Chopped Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Minced Garlic, Torn Mint, Diced Zucchini, Sliced Celery Heart and Leaves. Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Salt, Pepper, Cheese (I used an Argentine Reggianito, but there’s a number of cheeses that would work well with this dish).
-Cook pasta. Heat oil, add garlic, then veggies, season with salt and pepper and a good splash of Balsamic. When it’s done to your liking, toss with the pasta, and grate some cheese on top.
Festive Salad
-Pomegranate Seeds (I had a pomegranate hanging out in the fridge with no place to go), Diced Green Apple, Diced Radish, Torn Mint. Balsamic, Pepper, Honey Mustard.
Make a quick dressing from balsamic, pepper, and honey mustard. Throw a splash on your pretty bowl of red and green produce. Toss to coat. I had a lovely lovely wedge of Rosemary Roccinante cheese, so I added a quick crumble to the salad. I think a Manchego would work well too.
There’s some onion garnish in the pics, fyi.
Eat your colors!
SCARY CREEPY CATCHY NOODLES!!!! The Japanese sauce this commercial is for is made from fish eggs — so singing hopping fish-children-babies make perfect sense…right. I’m as ??? as the zombie-girl at the table.
Say “No” to Ramen!
I was all boohoo. :’(
I had about 20 bucks for food and 20 days until payday. I went to the grocery, head all hangin’. I thought, maybe I’ll just eat every other day.
Nah.
That’s lame. I came back with 3 heavy grocery bags, enough food to last past 20 days, and little bit of change. Wha? Check what’s on sale, compare prices, and learn to plan meals in your head. Ramen need not be the answer — it’s terrible for you anyway, and you can make better meals for a similar price.
Here’s some cheap-cheap-cheap things I rely on:
Pasta — You can often get a pound for less than a buck.
Rice — I found a 5lb. bag for $2.50!
Potatoes — 5lb. bag for $1.50
Tomato Paste — pasta sauce, soup base, and less than a buck.
Canned beans — (dried are even cheaper, but more of a time investment) < $1.00
Frozen vegetables — < $1.00
Collard Greens — < $1.00 per lb
Chicken Backs — 25 cents a lb. and they make awesome stock.
Offal — strange wonderful cheap.
Bargain Produce — good soup ingredients — my grocery packages up sort of wilty assortments for .99!
Apples — keep a long time.
Canned Tuna — go team protein!
Garlic/Onions - cheap - and go a long way to adding flavor.
Combined in various ways, these staples can make for relatively healthy tasty meals. Shopping seasonly for produce is also a great way to save and eat fruits and veggies at their peak.
In which I eat for less than a $1.00 a serving.
EGGPLANT P’SKETI
1 box of P’sketi — that’s “Spaghetti” if you’re not 3 years old.
(4 for $3 at my grocery = .75)
1 can of Tomato Paste
(5 for $3 at my grocery = .60)
1 large Eggplant, cubed - salt, let sit, and then squoosh out the
liquid - this cuts down on the bitterness.
(a little less than a dollar - .99 a lb. sale!)
A few cloves of Garlic, minced
(roughly .15)
An Onion, minced
(roughly .40)
Random seasonings layin’ aboot
Olive Oil (this is a staple for me)
Boil zee pasta per zee instructions — with salt, no oil. Salt keeps the pasta from sticking. Adding oil to the boiling process keeps the sauce from sticking. You want the sauce to stick.
Meanwhile, heat a couple tablespoons of oil in skillet (medium heat). When it shimmers, toss in garlic. Stir. Give it a couple beats. Add the onion. Stir. Toss in some seasoning: I used lots of black pepper, red pepper, and lucky me, I had some fennel seeds and dried mint — I think Italian Seasoning would work too, but I didn’t have that. Keep stirring. Add the eggplant. Keep stirring. When the eggplant starts to get a translucent-ish, add the tomato paste and enough water to get a thin sauce consistency. Let it cook down to a thicker sauce.
Hopefully, you haven’t forgotten about the pasta. Drain, but leave a little wet. The starchy water helps the sauce. Combine the pasta and the sauce. Ta-da. If you had some cheese, that would be a tasty topping.
At 8 servings per box of pasta, this recipe is roughly 36 cents a serving. Plus, it tastes better with time as the flavors mingle and deepen.
Waitress: How about I just shove a pig down your throat?
(Homer looks excited)
Waitress: I was kidding.
Homer: Fine, but the bacon man lives in a bacon house!
Waitress: No he doesn’t!”
