Splendid Cheap Eats

Hey Recession This! readers - one of my favorite NPR Podcasts is The Splendid Table hosted by Lynne Rossetto Kasper.

Lynn has an infectious love for food of all sorts. She starts each episode with a conversation with Jane and Michael Stern authors of Road Food (an essential book for any road trip). Lynn then has a few features with guest foodies or reporting from important food places & events and she finishes up by taking listeners calls with food and recipe questions.

Even if you don't listen to the show, The Splendid Table website is a great resource for recipe ideas and quick fixes.

And recently, The Splendid Table added a new feature called Splendid Cheap Eats, a collection of Lynn's recipes that use inexpensive ingredients.
The recipes are organized by category and then by main ingredient. Recipes run the gamut of familiar comfort food like Macaroni and Cheese to more adventurous fare like Turkish Braised Eggplant. There's even a recipe for Beer Can Chicken - a perfect summer cook-out recipe. No one can resist the chicken that sits up on the grill!

Happy cheap eating!

photo of The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper from The Splendid Table store

NPR Challenge: How Low Can you Go?

NPR's All Things Considered has been running a challenge for professional chefs and home amateurs alike: How Low Can you Go - Feed a group of four for less than $10.
I've heard several of the on-air features listening to the NPR Food Podcast.

So far, they have interviewed and featured recipes from 4 chefs:
Gina and Pat Neely do Mac & Cheese for $9.
Navy Chef Michael Edwards makes a skate dinner.
Chef Ming Tsai prepares Chicken and Corn-Fried Rice.
and (my favorite of the 4) Spanish Chef Jose Andres makes a Chickpea and spinach dish.

The links above take you to a transcript of each interview with the chef as well as the recipe and comments from listeners. The pages also have a link to listen to the story - I have to recommend that you give them a listen, especially the Jose Andreas segment.

AND you too can join the challenge! If you have a great recipe for a meal that can feed 4 people for $10 or less, submit it to All Things Considered here. Let us know if you have enter the challenge and we'll feature your recipe here on Recession This!
Bonus: at the $10 challenge page you can see all of the recipes submitted by listeners in the comments.

Good luck and happy recession cooking!
Image from NPR's How Low Can You Go challenge page

Sunday Night Cooking Challenge (on Wednesday)

One-Pot Rataouille, from Sunset Magazine

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans (14 1/2 oz. each) diced tomatoes
8 ounces eggplant, rinsed and diced
About 1/2 teaspoon salt
About 1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound bell peppers, diced
8 ounces zucchini, diced

I added:
Couscous, Quinoa, or pasta
Goat Cheese

The recipe also called for these ingredients but I didn’t use them and it turned out great:
8 ounces yellow summer squash, diced
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

1. In your biggest frying pan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and simmer for about a minute.
2. Add tomatoes (with juice), eggplant, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is soft when pierced, about 10 minutes.
3. Prepare couscous or grain of your choice according to package directions.
3. Stir in bell peppers, zucchini, and yellow squash. Return to a simmer, cover, and cook until squash is tender when pierced, 8 to 10 minutes longer.
4. (I skipped this step) Stir in basil and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve on top of the couscous and sprinkled with goat cheese. The goat cheese is key as it brings it to a new level of delish that will make you happy to eat it for lunch the next few days!

Recession Consumption: Brunch at Home

The Recession This! Girls love brunch, but sometimes $16 for a waffle can seem ridiculous. Inspired by my latest web obsession, Smitten Kitchen, and her deliciously simple recipe for huevos rancheros, I fed my Queens neighborhood posse for the price of one Manhattan brunch entree!

eggs $3.49
2 cans goya black beans $3.38
Sour cream $1.79
Shredded Cheese $5.29
Corn tortillas $1.29

Total: $15.24

It helped that I had a ton of gorgeous tomatoes to make fresh salsa with-- I can't wait to eat them again next weekend!

Sunday Night Cooking Challenge

A delicious summer dish that can replace those $10 midtown salads for a few days of lunches! Also great for picnics – or waiting in line for Shakespeare in the Park tickets.

This makes a TON— you could use half the pasta and make half the sauce if you get sick of leftovers quickly.

Peanut Noodles with Pears
(adapted from Real Simple)

1 box pasta (small shapes work best—you can use spaghetti but it tends to fuse into one giant peanut sauce lump)
1 cup smooth natural peanut butter (chunky will not work as well – I’ve tried it)
1 cup water, at room temperature
¼ cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil*
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 pears (even better if they aren’t ripe)
1 cucumber
5 scallions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup peanuts, roughly chopped (optional)

Chop up the pears & cucumbers & scallions while the pasta cooks. Drain the pasta, rinse with cold water & drain again. Combine PB, water, vinegar, oil & salt in a bowl and stir to make a smooth sauce (this will take a few minutes of stirring but eventually will combine). Toss the sauce with pasta and toppings, add peanuts on top for garnish if you like. Stick in the fridge and eat for days.

* Yes, this recipe does require the purchase of some specialty ingredients which Recession This! is generally opposed to—stay tuned for more recipes featuring sesame oil!

Recession Consumption: Eat What's in Your Pantry

Buy some parsley on the way home. That may be all you need to make a satisfying, stupidly easy & seriously authentic Italian dinner. Aio Oio (that’s Roman Slang for pasta with garlic & oil) is what Italians throw together instead of ordering pizza when they suddenly find themselves with some drunken and hungry friends over.

Stuff you probably already have:

(unless you are one of those Manhattanites that uses their oven for extra storage)

olive oil
a box of spaghetti
garlic
red pepper flakes

All you need is parsley! And about 15 minutes.

I realize this isn’t high on the nutritional value scale. Use the Barilla Plus pasta with Protein and Omega 3s instead if you want to feel less guilty.

Boil the spaghetti with extra salt (there's no salt in the sauce). Chop 2 tablespoons parsley. Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a pan on medium low with 2 teaspoons garlic (chopped very fine, or put through the garlic press) and red pepper flakes to taste (a little goes a long way-- 1/2 a teaspoon will do, add more if you like it hot!). Let the garlic turn pale gold but no darker. Drain the pasta, put it in a bowl, pour the entire contents of the pan over it and toss. Add parsley and toss again.

Dinner for under $3!!