mmmm Curry!

I've been wanting to make a curry dish for awhile now. Adam and I both love big bold flavors and it's those dishes that i tend to get the most excited about. Over the past couple weeks i've looked at a couple curry recipes and finally decided on one that didnt have a billion ingredients that would break my food budget and was simple to make.

I settled on one from How to Cook Everything, by Mark Bittman. I often fall back on this massive cookbook for when i have something that i'm not sure what to do with or i need a fairly basic recipe for something (like curry!). It's a similar style cookbook to The Joy of Cooking. Both are great resources to have in your kitchen.

The original recipe is Braised Cauliflower with Curry and Tomatoes (p.555 of his book) What i liked about this one in particular is that it used about 6 spices (common to most spice cabinets) to make your own curry spice mixture and that it used Cauliflower, something i've never tried cooking before. I made several changes to the original recipe based on what i remembered to buy from the grocery store and then i added a couple things to it to make it heartier. I made the mistake of not checking the recipe before buying my ingredients at the store, and sure enough, i forgot to buy tomatoes. Fortunately i already knew that i wanted to add eggplant to the curry and figured that the eggplant would take the place of the tomatoes and that i could add some tomato sauce that i had on hand to help substitute the flavor. I also added some chick peas, onion, chicken and chicken broth that were not in the original ingredient list.

So here's the adapted recipe i've come up with:

(for orginal recipe, see p.555 of How to Cook Everything)

Cauliflower, Eggplant and Chickpea Curry w/ Chicken

(Serves 4 plus some leftovers)

2 Tbs. Olive Oil

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp. peeled & minced ginger

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 head cauliflower (about 1 1/2 lbs. trimmed of green leaves, cut into florets)

1 large eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes

1-2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 cup tomato sauce (can substitute w/ canned diced tomatoes)

1 can chickpeas

prepared jasmine or brown rice (optional)

1 lbs. chicken pieces (tenderlions, breasts, or thighs - your choice) (optional)

If using chicken, season it w/ salt and pepper and cook till done, cover and set aside.

Heat oil in a large pan, add onion, ginger and garlic & saute a couple minutes.

Add salt and spices and cook stirring for 30 seconds to toast slightly and release their aromas.

Add cauliflower, eggplant, tomato sauce, chickpeas and broth. Stir to combine. Depending on the size of the pan your using, the eggplant will take up a lot of room at first, but don't worry, it will cook down considerably.

When eggplant has started to "wilt" and all ingredients seem well mixed together, cover and cook for at least 10-15 minutes, stirring every few minutes. The amount of cooking time is up to you based on desired doneness of your cauliflower and desired the thickness of your curry. I liked it better a little softer with a thicker consistency, so i believe i cooked it for 15ish minutes.

Serve with rice and top with chicken.

As always, taste as your cooking and adjust seasoning as you like it.

My Review

One of the main things i liked about this dish is that it's very adaptable and there's great depth of flavor. It has some nice heat without being so hot that you can barely taste anything else. (helps clear those sinuses too) I'd recommend definitely using the spice mixture listed rather than store bought curry powder, it was way more flavorful. It can be made purely as a vegetarian dish or you can cook up some chicken with it to make it heartier for more protein. I'd recommend serving it with some nice jasmine or brown rice to help give some relief from the spice. (But no rice for me this time, still doing the low carb thing)

This made a ton of food. It served Adam and me dinner twice this week, gave me a lunch portion for work, and there was still a little bit leftover. Eggplant is still ridiculously on sale for 79 cents a pound so i got a massive eggplant for only $1.30! (The cauliflower was more expensive at $2.50 a head) The total cost of the meal for me was probably less than $10, including have to buy turmeric. (i already had the chickpeas, broth and tomato sauce). I really love that i can create delicious, hearty, healthy, rememberable meals while still remaining easily on my small food budget.

A few tips:

• When using fresh ginger, go ahead and buy a large piece of it even if you only need a little. It's generally pretty cheap so why not, and then you can always have it on hand when needed. The trick is to freeze it, but make sure you peel the whole thing first. Then when you want to use it, take it out and grate it on a microplane. (i thank Rachel Ray for that tip) Since i grated the ginger that way i went ahead and did the same for the garlic.

• Fresh cauliflower is kind of a pain in the butt to prep (at least to me it is). I would assume that frozen cauliflower would work fine in this dish but you may have to adjust the cooking time based on how well done you want it.

• Red wine does not help cool your mouth down when eating spicey foods

Who needs taco seasoning?

Taco Seasoning - i'll never buy it again. It's not worth the money, even if it is cheap. You can make much better tacos without it, and without all extra stuff like preservatives and mystery added ingredients.

OLD EL PASO TACO SEASONING INGREDIENTS:
Maltodextrin, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, spice, monosodium glutamate, corn starch, yellow corn flour, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, silicon dioxide (anticaking agent), natural flavor, ethoxyquin (preservative).

Recently i've been making a concerted effort to use more in season vegetables. This not only makes dinner healthier, but bulks up the meal with more food while still remaining very cheap. Eggplant, summer squash and green peppers are constantly on sale right now at the markets. Generally i find them for less than a dollar a pound. This week eggplants were $0.79 a pound, you can't pass that up. Ground turkey was also $1.99 a pound so i decided on making tacos for dinner. I figured that i could chop up the eggplant into a small 1/2 inch dice, cook it down a bit and season it well where you almost wouldn't even realize it was there. It mingled nicely with the meat and was delicious. I bet this would also taste great with some zucchini. When i made this last night, Adam said it made his list of "top ten dinners" that i've ever made.

I wanted to experiment with making my own taco seasoning since i find that when the store bought mixes are used, it often doesnt make me feel so great - probably from all the unnecessary added ingredients listed above, along with a lot of sodium. I looked at a couple taco recipes online and came up with my own mixture.

TURKEY TACO'S (4-6 servings depending how hungry you are)

1.3 lbs. Ground Turkey

1 Eggplant

1 onion

1 green pepper

1 can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, drained

1 can of black beans, mostly drained (keep some liquid) + 1 tsp. Balsamic Vinegar

Shredded Cheese for topping the tacos

1 1/2 Tbs. Chili Powder (i used Ancho Chili Powder)

2 tsp. Cumin

1 1/2 tsp Oregano

1 tsp. Paprika

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Fresh ground Black Pepper

1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper

(all seasonings are estimates, i didnt measure exactly - adjust seasoning to taste as you're cooking)

In a large pan, brown meat then add vegetables and seasonings. Stir well to combine. The eggplant will decrease in size significantly. Add the diced tomatoes and cook vegetables, stirring often. While cooking meat and veggies, in a separate small pan cook down the beans with a splash of balsamic vinegar, plus some salt and pepper. (Balsamic vinegar is my not-so-secret ingredient in black beans). Add beans to pan with the rest of the ingredients, stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. My version is fairly mild in spiciness (but still full of flavor), so kick up the spice even more if you'd like!

Serve in whole wheat wraps, or taco shells with shredded cheese and other topping as desired. I'm doing a low carb diet so i just ate the meat and veggie mixture in bowl with some shredded cheese. i didnt miss the wrap or taco shell in the least bit!

Adam and I each had a healthy serving and there was plenty left for me to bring for lunch and for a 2nd dinner. Total cost was about $6 (i had the cheese and the whole wheat wraps already on hand). When people claim that you can't eat healthy on a budget, they're just not trying hard enough. Watch the sales, review the circulars and buy in season vegetables. You could stretch this meal even further by making some brown rice to go with it. It was 100x better than taco bell, much cheaper and way healthier!

A quick guide to what vegetables and fruits are in season

The one that started it all

Last year for Adam's birthday i decided to try out a new recipe. I had never made meatloaf before and honestly, most meatloafs don't excite me. But this one changed it all. It has chunks of fresh mozzarella in it and a ton of fresh basil and parsley. It's also made with ground turkey. We loved it, it was a huge success. What made Adam even happier is that i sent him home with basically half the loaf so that he could eat it for lunch during the week at work.

The next day i shared the recipe with some friends in our normal email chain. It sparked so much curiosity that a new found love of meatloaf was born. People talked for weeks about meatloaf, how to create the best one and what crazy ingredients should be added to make it the best. Soon we decided that we should have a meatloaf cook-off. Some of our friends baked a new meatloaf each week trying to perfect their recipe adding things like bacon, corn bread mix, different ground meats, different cheeses, and so on. It was talked about so much in the email chain that other people who were not interested in delicious loafs of ground meat asked that we talk about different things. It turns out that the competition never happened. It was set for the day after a large party and many, including myself, felt to hungover and tired to even think about making meatloaf. The date was never rescheduled, but maybe someday it will happen.

I've made this meatloaf about 4 times since then and i rarely ever change the original recipe. It's mostly perfect as is. Since the cold weather has been winding down i decided to make it as farewell to winter. The other week i also moved to my new apartment i have not tried out the oven. It's a little ancient looking doesn't even have a temperature gauge light or buzzer to tell you if the oven is hot enough. Turns out that it works great, but maybe get a little too hot based on what i set it at, so it was a learning experience. My side dishes were peas and brown rice to round out the dinner.

ITALIAN TURKEY MEATLOAF

2 lbs. ground turkey
1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
1/4 cup skim milk
3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
salt& pepper to taste
chopped basil to taste
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients, except the mozzarella, in a large bowl and mix well. Divide the mixture in half.

Lightly spray loaf pan w/Pam. Fill pan halfway w/turkey mixture and pat down firmly. Press 1/2 of the mozzarella chunks randomly into the meat. Top w/remaining meat and press firmly. Top w/remaining mozzarella cheese, pressing pieces into the meat.

Bake for approx. 1 1/2 hrs. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.

My Review

Like i said above, i rarely ever change this recipe. I use either 93% fat free or 97% ground turkey or sometimes i use one container of each. This time i used all 93% because the other one was a dollar more! (this annoys me greatly when the healthier options are more expensive). The only way i see ground turkey is in pre-packaged containers of 1.3 pounds, so i use two of those and keep the amount of the other ingredients the same even though its a little more meat. I use fresh mozzarella and fresh herbs. I know this makes it more expensive but i feel it just wouldn't be as good with a more processed mozzarella and dried herbs. A new discovery i've found is whole wheat bread crumbs, so i always use those now in place of regular ones.

It's a good idea to use an instant read meat thermometer for this. Unlike beef where you can get away with eating it less done, i wouldnt gamble it with turkey. You also don't want to over cook it so that it's too dry. Your meatloaf is done when it has reached 160 degrees. Take it out and let it rest for 5 more minutes. (it will continue cooking slightly) Test the temperature a couple times towards the end of the cooking time. Since i was using an oven i've never used before i was very happy that i checked my meatloaf 20 minutes early. It was already at 180... So it turned out a bit dryer and crispier around the edges than normal, but it was still good.

I recommend the best way to mix all your ingredients together is by hand. I know, yuck. At least that's what i say in my head when i have to do it. Up until halfway through college i had really not even touched raw chicken, let alone any other types of raw meat. It's still a contention at my parents house that i've yet to come anywhere near the uncooked turkey at Thanksgiving. They're convinced i'm on the 12-step program and will someday (hopefully soon) make Thanksgiving dinner instead of my mom doing most of it. I've overcome dealing with most boneless, skinless raw meat and have mostly come to terms with ground meats. It's still not pleasant for me but i deal with it to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated with the turkey. You'll also get a feel if the mix is too dry or liquidy. If too dry add a little milk and if too moist add more bread crumbs, then remix.

I've thought about making a sauce to go with the meatloaf. Maybe a marinara sauce or even a reduced balsamic glaze. I've yet to do it, but maybe some day i will. Variations that you could also try is adding a couple cloves of minced garlic, some finely chopped onion, or even adding more herbs like thyme or herb de provence. One of my friends tried out this recipe and added bacon.

As you can probably guess, 2+ pounds of turkey meatloaf is a lot food. That plus 2 sides for dinner is very filling. It has fed Adam and I all week. So even with the fresh herbs, mozzarella cheese and ground turkey making it more expensive than a regular meatloaf, if it feeds us all week that's still a very cheap meal per serving. My total cost was about $13. I already had the parmesan cheese, the bread crumbs, milk and eggs. Most people have these on hand as part of keeping a well stocked kitchen so hopefully making this won't cost you too much. Even if you have to buy all the ingredients need to make this, i highly recommend it. It's one of our favorites and hopefully will soon become one of yours. Enjoy!

Hold the Spam

From time to time there are a few dishes i crave from childhood. All of them are made by my mother. Spaghetti Carbonara, Pot Roast, Angel Food Cake with Coolwhip as icing, Lime-Pear Salad, and Mac'n'Cheese. Most of these used to be requested by me on my birthday when i had the choice of what we had for dinner. To me they're the ultimate comfort food. Unhealthy, but hearty and filling.

Recently i have been craving Mac'n'Cheese. This is not your standard box mix by Kraft or Annie's Mac or god forbid, Velveta (yuck). It's completely homemade from scratch and well worth the time and calories to make it. For Christmas i also received a food processor and have been dying to try it out to grate all that cheese. (and let me tell you, that thing is amazing! 2 seconds, bam! done!)

Now, the original recipe calls for Spam. My dad is the only one who requests it this way and thinks it better. The rest of us prefer to leave it out. But just incase you're one of those people love Spam, i'm including it in the recipe. Apparently there are lots of new varieties of Spam, including a bacon and a lite version. So take your pick if you chose to use it.

This recipe is basically perfect in my opinion and i didnt want to change it much from how my mom makes it make. It's simple, uncomplicated, and so cheesy. I gorged myself on it, i'm surprised my stomach didnt hurt afterwards. I only made slight changes but i'll get to that in the review.

Macaroni Spam Casserole

12 oz. Can of Spam
3 cups Macaroni
6 Tablespoons Butter
6 Tablespoons Flour
¾ teaspoon Salt
¾ teaspoon Dry mustard
3 cups Milk
¾ lb. (or up to a pound) sharp chedder cheese, shredded
Parsley (opt.)

Prepare macaroni, drain. Cube Spam, reserve a few for top of casserole. Mix Spam & macaroni in 3 quart casserole, set aside.

Cheese sauce:
Combine flour, salt & mustard. Melt butter in large pot, stir in flour mixture & cook until bubbly, don’t brown. (This step is making a roux) Gradually stir in milk (note: heat the milk for about 2 minutes in microwave to make this step go faster). Cook over medium heat until thickened, then add shredded cheese off the heat.

Pour cheese sauce over macaroni & Spam. Add reserved Spam cubes & top with parsley. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

My Review:

To try to make it somewhat healthier, i used whole wheat macaroni. You can't tell the difference at all since the sauce is so rich. I used a full pound of cheese since i had to buy two 8oz. cubes anyway. One of them i used low fat sharp white chedder, and the other was regular sharp yellow chedder. To also help cut some of the fat i used 1% milk. I'm sure it would be even richer and creamier with full fat cheese and a higher fat milk, but it's super tasty this way and nobody will notice the difference if you don't say anything.

The only changes to the seasoning was using a full teaspoon of dry mustard, and i added a pinch of nutmeg and a pinch a paprika when making the roux. As said before, i omitted the spam, but added whole wheat seasoned bread crumbs plus a little more paprika to top for a little crunch.

The result? I had a massive serving of it. There's a whole 3 quart casserole, it's gotta be eaten some how... I microwaved some frozen peas with it so i could get in a serving a veggies. They taste great with the cheese and mix in easily on your plate if you so chose to do so :) Geoff came home from class and was super psyched to have it for dinner and had a healthy portion for himself. There's still tons of leftovers for the week... i may gain five pounds from this.

When making the roux and then adding the milk i kept wondering how much it would thicken. Give it time, and keep stirring the milk/flour/butter mixture. It will thicken quite a bit and you'll know when it's time to add the cheese. Make sure to add the milk slowly and keep stirring the whole time making sure to mix in the flour well. When adding the cheese do a little at a time to make it easier for yourself.

I'll also make a side note that food processors are amazing! I've wanted one for a long time and have wasted so much time chopping and grating things. My arms and knife skills are better from it, but man, what a time saver. That cheese was gone in 2 seconds! It took about 5 times as long to clean the parts than it was to grate the cheese. I'm looking forward to making pesto, hummus, and possibly even dough in the future with this thing. Stay tuned for those recipes.

This recipe makes a massive amount of food. It's easily to make, and really cheap too. The whole cost of the meal was about $13, which included buying dry mustard, the pasta, the milk, and the cheese.

(A photo will posted this afternoon)

Go easy on me

So, here we go. First post.

By no means am I great writer and by no means am I a great cook. I probably don't have great grammar, I'm a terrible speller, and I often forget to capitalize words, like i. Regardless, I'll try my best and i hope you'll go easy on me.

I will admit though that over the past few years of learning to cook that I have found some great recipes on either the web or in various cook books. Generally most that I try come out great and my roommates, friends and boyfriend have enjoyed them a lot. So the point and vision of this blog is to share recipes that i've found and given a try. I'll post the original recipe, my review of it including successes or pitfalls, any additions or alterations, and hopefully a photo of the result. I'll also try to give an approximate cost, if i don't throw out the receipt before posting.

I'll disclose that while i love to cook, i'm often lazy. On a weeknight i don't want to spend time on recipe that says it takes much over a half hour or an hour max. Recipe times often don't take into account chopping time, me searching for my spices that i thought i had, re-reading the recipe, other distractions, etc. So there will rarely ever be a recipe here that takes 3 hours, unless maybe it's done in a crock-pot. (though i've yet to explore much crock-pot cooking). Disclaimer: A goal of mine is to occasionally spend time cooking a great sunday meal. You know, those great things like pot roast and those of that nature that just need to stew for many hours on the stove. My boyfriend will appreciate this, and maybe you will too. So okay, sometimes there may be more labor/time recipes.

I also have a tight budget for food. I try my best to cook cheaply, but it sometimes doesn't happen. Sometimes the recipe just calls for too many ingredients, or sometimes an expensive item that you just can't leave out. They say the key to cooking cheaply is to always keep a well stocked pantry. I tend to not do this. I buy what's needed for the recipe that i don't have. But recently when i scan through recipes trying to figure out what to make for dinner, i skip over the ones that have 10 ingredients or more (not including spices, unless i don't have that one). If i remember (as said above) i'll try to post the approximate cost of the meal.

So without further ado, here's what i made last night:

Halibut Puttanesca

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup stuffed green olives, chopped
• 3 tablespoons drained capers
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
• 4 (5-ounce) halibut fillets
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Directions

Add tomato sauce to a saucepan. Add garlic, olives, capers, wine and anchovy paste and bring mixture to a simmer for 5 minutes over medium heat. Meanwhile, season halibut on both sides with salt and black pepper. Add halibut fillets to sauce, cover and simmer 3 to 5 minutes, until fish is fork tender.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robin-miller/halibut-puttanesca-recipe/index.html

My Review

I'll start with the changes.

• I used talapia instead of halibut. I believe it's cheaper, and i also didnt see halibut at the fish counter.

Note: I always use fresh fish unless otherwise noted.

• I couldnt find any anchovy paste. I was gonna be adventurous and try it, but i got tired of looking for at the store. It probably also saved me a good couple bucks as well.

• Since i couldnt find the anchovy paste, i used bottle tomato sauce labeled Puttanesca. It essentially had all the ingredients that i was gonna add to it, with the addition of the anchovy. I know from experience that most tomato sauces labeled with a "flavor" arent too strong tasting, so i felt confident that adding all the called for ingredients would only enhance the sauce and not overwhelm it.

• I used good olives. A&P and most good supermarkets now have an "olive bar" The olives seemed like they would be prominent in the dish, so i spent my money there. $4 for about a half cup of great marinated olives.

• For the capers i used the slightly larger ones, Capote Capers. I've had them before and know that i like them. Personal preference though. I believe they're comparable in price to the regular ones.

• I omitted the fresh basil for cost reasons and sprinkled in some dried basil to the sauce.

• Added about a 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper to give a bit more kick.

Overall, i really liked this dish. I served it over whole wheat spaghetti to help soak up all the extra delicious sauce. The fish cooked perfectly and was tender and flaky. If you're prone to heartburn, you may want to take a pepcid with this one. It's got a nice kick to it from the garlic and red pepper flakes. It's also salty and briny from the olives and capers. Basically this dish tasted exactly like it should. I'd recommend using a full bodied wine for the half cup that's added to help balance the strong flavors in the sauce. And course, keep drinking the wine with the meal! I always follow the rule of cook with wine that you would drink at the table. If you wanted to bulk up the dinner even more, adding some veggies to sauce would work great too. If you're not a fish person, try it with chicken. It took no time at all to make and was a great monday night meal.

Sorry no photo this time since i thought of starting this blog this morning.

Approximate price (from memory): $14 for 4 servings, depending on how much fish you buy.