Eating Well Cheaply |
| "Eating" and "Cheaply" are not necessarily two words which people who know me would figure I could use in the same sentence. Not my friends, and not those who read my other blog, An Obsession With Food. However, the technology sector layoff axe has swung my way, and so I find myself trying to stretch my savings as far as possible. But I firmly believe that one can eat well on a tight budget. After all, many so-called gourmet foods had their roots in peasants trying to make their money stretch as far as possible. Of course, something like coq au vin is only peasant food when you're actually in Burgundy, and can more easily find cheap wine for the stew. It just takes more time and planning. But time has become much more available in the last couple of days. And even when I get hired again, I'll keep cooking this way since my girlfriend Melissa and I are thinking about buying a house once we both have income again. Plus, then I'll have more money to spend on the extravagant meals I occasionally describe on my other blog. |
Saturday, November 16, 2002
I really enjoyed the amount of food that I got off my last roast chicken. Three days of food, stock, demi-glace, and so forth is a lot
out of an $11 bird. So I decided to start another "chicken cycle."
And decided to kick it off with a nicer dinner than we've been enjoying on our budget. I made appetizers of cheese puffs, pate a choux with cheese mixed in. Very simple, and all I had to buy was the cheese (Beaufort, about $3). Our main course was a leg of roast chicken each, and since a friend of mine and I were discussing the joy that is roasted root vegetables, I made a side of those. Finally, some other friends gave us a grain dish they like to make, wherein 1/2 cup each of lentils, brown rice, rye berries, and wheat berries are simmered for an hour in some liquid (plain water in my case). Very cheap, and with a nice texture, but I think I need to tweak it a bit to make it a really flavorful side. Vegetable or chicken stock are the obvious things, replacing the water (they usually make it with vegetable stock since they're usually bringing it to a vegetarian potluck). Finally, I baked bread. All in all, a good meal, for not very much money. We drank the last of our 2000 Ridge Zinfandel Sonoma Station, which is a fantastic wine (though saturated with alcohol at 14.7%) for the modest price of $20/bottle. Something we'll be repurchasing once we can.
Costs (items purchased just for this dinner; pantry items not included): Thursday, November 14, 2002
Yesterday we had a simple dinner, but fairly good. It was inspired by a platter which Judy Rodgers,
of Zuni Cafe, brought to a book event for her cookbook. I picked up a $5 slice of Capricious goat
cheese at the farmer's market (see
my post in my other blog about this cheese), and a $2 bag of dates.
I made little focaccia with my sourdough starter as well. Actually, I decided to call them "Rustic Plata Bread", a name I made up on the spot. They weren't shaped very well, didn't rise as much as I'd have liked, and were more like peasant bread. So I concocted an Italian-sounding name. And then blew the illusion by telling Melissa the truth. I also hard-boiled eggs to go with it. So each of us had a platter of shaved cheese, dates, and a hard-boiled egg, plus my patented Plata breads to go with it. We again dug into our "cellar" for some wine. We're beginning to hit the bottom of the supply we built up when I was employed, so eventually I'm going to start reviewing super-cheap wines from Trader Joe's. The wine we did have, the 2001 Altos Las Hormigas Malbec from Mendoza in Argentina is not exactly expensive. K & L wines lists it at $10. My original tasting notes (from the tasting where we bought it), lists lots of fruitiness. Raspberries, candy, and so forth. I got a little smoke as well, which I didn't get in the nose this time but in the finish. It's got low tannins, low acidity, and a not-very-pronounced alcohol. The bottle says 13% but given that that can be off by up to 1.5% if it's below 14%, I'm inclined to think it's lower. A very drinkable wine, if not a terribly astounding one.
Total cost (before wine): $7 for 2 people, plus pantry ingredients. Wednesday, November 13, 2002
I recently bought chestnuts, which are showing up at more farmer's markets now. I had never had them
before, and so thought it might be useful to figure out how to prepare them. Aside from the obvious, that is
(we don't have an open fire in the apartment). The most common suggestion seems to be boiling them.
Don't believe anything you read about this being straightforward. Peeling the boiled chestnuts is one
of the most aggravating things I've ever done. Maybe I'll try roasting some in the oven. Judy Rodgers
of Zuni Cafe lists an alternate strategy for coping with boiled chestnuts in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Maybe
I'll try her strategy as well. Flavorwise, they're quite good. But unless I figure out an easier way
to deal with them, my ideas for a chestnut stuffing at Thanksgiving are going out the window.
I put them into a salad I got from Bon Appetit. Some issue older than 5 years now (after 5 years, I strip the articles I care about and throw away the rest of the magazine). It's a radicchio, endive, stilton and chestnut salad. This was, unfortunately, a pretty expensive dinner, and while the flavors worked relatively well together, I did find myself wishing for more textural variety.
Costs: |
