Skip to main content

Budget cooking: slight variations

So one thing about budget cooking is that you are quite limited on ingredients, which also means you can be pretty limited on variety. There are plenty of things you can do to add some variety to your diet, the simplest of which is to just add a little something extra to something else you already like.

So we've already done chicken legs with the bones removed, seasoned with salt, pepper, and paprika, then pan fried in butter and olive oil. Simple, tasty, always a favorite.

We've sautéed veggies in a deglazed pan plenty of times. This time was diced yellow bell pepper, diced radish, sliced mushroom, and spinach. I deglazed the pan with a little white wine and added them all in together with a little butter.

After they'd cooked down, I added some spinach, let it get pretty wilted, seasoned it all with some salt, then added cream. After the cream got mixed in, I added a lot of black pepper and mixed it again. I added some pasta (already boiled in a quick chicken broth made from the bones from the chicken legs), and tossed it all together.

So what's new? In between the two, I threw in some broccoli. When it was about halfway cooked (seen above), I tossed in some sliced garlic, chopped green onion, and quartered cherry tomatoes, then let those all finish together with a dash or two of salt. See? Fucking simple.

Of course, the presentation took me a minute. I managed to actually stand the pasta up (I twirled it with my tongs and didn't just slop it all over the fucking place), and I grated a little asiago on top. Then I just spooned some of the broccoli/tomato/garlic mix to the side and filled the empty space with sliced chicken leg. Nothing particularly new; instead, it was simple, tasty, fairly healthy-ish, and quick, and still something I haven't cooked in the last month and a half. Variety doesn't have to be a pain in the ass; it often just requires taking a slightly different path.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I don't understand food

Part 1 the morning after, while eating a sausage, egg, and cheese everything bagel from Bergen Bagels Last night, I had the pleasure, privilege, and audacity to eat at a Brooklyn restaurant named Aska . I know it's cliche to refer to a fancy restaurant meal as a life-changing experience, but this was straight up paradigm-shattering. I've written before about food being a medium of communication, about how I strive to reduce food waste as much as I can, about sharing our cultures and stories with each other through the meals we create, but seeing how Chef Fredrik Berselius is able to do this at such an intricate, elegant, and elevated level is both humbling and inspiring. The experience started before the first bite. I walked into the 10 table restaurant, and they knew me by name. I was shown to my table (right in the middle of the place, looking directly into the open kitchen), and they even pulled my chair out for me and pushed it up under me. I was a little uncomfortable with...
Post a Comment
Read more

Perspective

 I used to drive a 1986 pickup truck that was a heap of trouble on wheels. Mind you, I learned to drive in 2002. That piece of shit loved to just, you know, die. In the middle of intersections. While turning onto side streets. While accelerating from a stop sign. While braking for a stop sign. While cranking. It just died whenever it felt like it. It had AM radio and hand crank windows. That's literally it. No FM, no AC or heat. There were seatbelts for 2 of the 3 seats. I fucking hated that truck. On the other hand, it was my truck. I drove it to church, to work, and to the library; that was as far as I was allowed to take it, and I took it all of those places. I remember the first time I got it to idle while parked. I remember singing "The Prayer" over its dying engine multiple times. I think my younger brother probably has some flashbacks of some of those moments. But, as old, beaten up, shitty, annoying, and objectively terrible as it was, it sure was nice to have it ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why not give a shit?

About a month ago, I cooked up a big pot of a miso vegan stew. It was a Sunday evening, so I knew I needed to cook enough for Sunday night dinner and Monday's lunch. A vendor was taking us out for dinner on Monday, so I needed enough to cover Tuesday's lunch, too. I had plans with a friend on Tuesday night, so I wouldn't have time to cook, so I needed enough for Tuesday dinner and Wednesday lunch, too, so I said, and I quote, "Fuck it. I'll just cook enough for the week." Unfortunately, as I packed away my leftovers that night, I realized that I cooked enough for a week and a half. Normally, that wouldn't be a huge issue, except that I was leaving town Friday morning and wouldn't be back until Monday evening and did not have room in my freezer to store more than a bowl. Luckily, I was able to pawn a few bowls off on coworkers, so it all worked out alright. However, when I told this story to someone close to me, they said I should think about donating t...
1 comment
Read more