Penny-pincher dinners with style
My neighborhood Carrefour grocery store has a permanent sign in the vegetable section that promises to offer 10 items every day under one euro, or about a buck when the exchange rate is decent.
It’s a great way to offer everyone fresh and affordable vegetables, and every time I stop in, I always grab inexpensive basics — a head of broccoli, a box of white mushrooms (champignons de Paris), a small sack of arugula, the equivalent of a pint of cherry tomatoes, a 2-pound sack of red potatoes — for 99 centimes each.
Carrefour isn’t my favorite grocery store, but it’s the closest one to my apartment (plus it doesn’t mind if my dog, Rose, comes with me and sits at the entrance near the cash registers while I shop), and knowing I can get my broccoli on for pennies each week keeps me going back, which is exactly what the store is aiming for.
Everybody wins, because as you might guess, while I’m picking up my cheapo veggies, I remember that I’m out of coffee, and carrot juice, and chocolate bars so I throw them in the basket, too.
Eating on the cheap isn’t always that easy, but wherever you live, it pays to watch for specials and know what’s in season, because seasonal produce will start high, flatten to affordable when it’s plentiful, and sometimes when there’s far too much of it, be priced next to nothing — and then you can stock up like crazy.
That’s step one, the easy part, shopping on a budget. The second step is slightly trickier, or seemingly so — how to turn inexpensive ingredients into fabulous-tasting meals that make you forget all about how little you spent to get them from the grocery store or market to the plate.
Not as hard as it sounds when you think about some of your favorite meals, which for me, are often inspired by street food or peasant cooking. Falafel I’ve eaten more often standing up, usually near the window where I gave the order, than sitting down — so I figured why not do a black bean version and pair it with a traditional tahini-yogurt sauce, spiked with the not-so-traditional go-to Mexican hot sauce, Valentina?
Flank steak, in my recipe below, cooked simply and served over asparagus and tomatoes, is one of the cheapest cuts of beef around — and it happens to be my favorite.
Plain Jane chicken breast, something I often avoid because it’s usually dry and tasteless, comes alive with an overnight marinade featuring lemon grass, ginger and soy — and happily works in my crazy Asian/Tex-Mex mashup tacos.
And fish — any mild, white fish will do, but I used Dover sole because it was on sale — is transformed into a fancy-ish light dinner that showcases new spring herbs.
Sure, you can go super-cheap with beans and rice and feel virtuous because you’ve saved yourself so much money.
Or you can make some of these recipes and feel completely satisfied, because you’ve just had a great-tasting meal — and not broken the bank.
Ellise Pierce is the Cowgirl Chef and author of “Cowgirl Chef: Texas Cooking With a French Accent” (Running Press, $25). www.cowgirlchef.com; @cowgirlchef.
Black bean falafel with Valentina-tahini sauce
Makes 12 patties
- 1 tablespoon flax meal
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup diced yellow onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño
- 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa (see Note)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 4 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons Greek or full-fat yogurt
- Salt to taste
- 1 to 2 teaspoons Valentina sauce (depending on how hot you like it)
- Chopped cilantro, for serving
1. Put the flax meal in a small bowl with 2 tablespoons of water. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes or so, or until it becomes viscous. This is known as a “flax egg” because it works much like an egg in that it acts as a binding ingredient.
2. Put the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until you can smell the onion and it starts to become translucent, about 10 minutes. Stir in the jalapeño, cilantro, black beans, quinoa and cumin. Cook for a minute or two and let cool.
3. Pour the mixture into a bowl, add the flax egg and combine. Make the falafel patties by scooping with a small scoop or a tablespoon and shaping mixture into patties with your hands. Put the falafels on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Slide the falafel into the oven to bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until browned on both sides, turning them once halfway through baking.
5. Whisk together the tahini, yogurt, salt to taste, Valentina sauce and enough water to thin out sauce. Serve falafel with sauce and cilantro.
Note: To cook quinoa, the formula is 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water. Boil water with a bit of salt, add quinoa, cover and reduce heat to a simmer and let cook until quinoa is soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Fluff.
Nutritional analysis per patty: 105 calories, 5 grams fat, 12 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams protein, trace cholesterol, 118 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber, 41 percent of calories from fat.
Lemongrass chicken tacos with ginger-cucumber salsa
Makes 8 tacos
- 3 stalks lemongrass (see Cowgirl tip)
- 2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 small handful fresh mint, chopped
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 8 corn tortillas
- 2 scallions, chopped
- 4 lime wedges
1. To make the marinade: Whisk together the first 6 ingredients, and pour 1/3 of the liquid into a separate container, like an old jam jar.
2. Put the chicken pieces into the marinade, stirring, and either cover the bowl with plastic wrap or pour all of it into a large plastic bag (my favorite way) and put into the fridge overnight.
3. Make ginger-cucumber salsa: Put the chopped cucumber into a bowl with the ginger, jalapeño, vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil and fresh mint, and mix.
4. When you’re ready to make the tacos, allow the chicken to come to room temperature. Pour canola oil into a wok or a large skillet. Turn the heat to medium-high. When the oil is hot, add chicken and stir-fry until browned on all sides. Remove chicken, pour off the oil and return chicken to wok. Toss cooked chicken with the reserved marinade.
5. Warm the tortillas one at a time in a cast-iron skillet over high heat or directly on the flame. Fill tortillas with chicken, salsa and chopped scallions. Serve tacos with lime wedges.
Cowgirl tip: Store extra lemongrass in a plastic bag in the freezer. It’ll keep for 4 to 6 months.
Nutritional analysis per taco: 217 calories, 6 grams fat, 19 grams carbohydrates, 22 grams protein, 50 milligrams cholesterol, 612 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber, 25 percent of calories from fat.
Flank steak with charred cherry tomatoes and asparagus
Makes 4 servings
- 1 bunch asparagus, ends trimmed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound flank steak
1. Preheat the oven to broil.
2. Toss the asparagus and cherry tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and salt and pepper and spread out on a large baking sheet. Slide into the oven and roast until the tomatoes blister and the asparagus browns, about 15 minutes.
3. While the asparagus and cherry tomatoes are roasting, cook steak. Rub the other 1 tablespoon of olive oil all over the steak and sprinkle with salt and pepper on both sides. Heat a grill pan or cast-iron skillet to high. When hot, put the steak in the skillet and let it cook on one side until the bottom no longer sticks to the pan, about 5 minutes. Turn (you’ll only do this once), and let it cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak. Remove the steak from the skillet and cover it with foil. Let it rest for 5 to 7 minutes, then slice against the grain. Serve with the cherry tomatoes and asparagus.
Nutritional analysis per serving: 307 calories, 22 grams fat, 4 grams carbohydrates, 23 grams protein, 58 milligrams cholesterol, 86 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber, 65 percent of calories from fat.
Herby fishcakes with chimichurri
Makes 8 fishcakes (or 4 servings)
- 2/3 pound sole, cod or halibut, chopped into 1/2 -inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño
- 2 scallions, finely chopped (white part only)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 (5-ounce) bag of mixed greens
Coating
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- Salt and pepper to taste
Chimichurri
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
- 1 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 teaspoon capers, chopped
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
1. Mix the chopped fish with the dill, basil, parsley, jalapeño, scallions, salt and pepper to taste, panko breadcrumbs and egg. Form 8 patties about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick and set aside.
2. For coating, put the 1/2 cup of panko in a small bowl and stir in a pinch of salt and pepper. Carefully put patties, one at a time, into the panko, covering both sides, and set on a plate. When all are done, put them in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours to firm up.
3. Make the chimichurri by combining all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Taste for seasonings. Set aside.
4. To cook the fish cakes, put the canola oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When the skillet’s hot, add the fishcakes and fry until crisp on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Serve over mixed greens with a spoonful of chimichurri on top.
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 fishcakes): 237 calories, 13 grams fat, 11 grams carbohydrates, 19 grams protein, 89 milligrams cholesterol, 145 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber, 49 percent of calories from fat.
This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Penny-pincher dinners with style."