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

Restaurant week: My new Mexican restaurant

 As I mentioned the other day, my Mexican restaurant closed down. Luckily, they opened up in a new space a couple of months later. Great new look, new name ("Lopez Grill"), they've got a bar, staff is expanded, and the place is always packed. Business seems to be going great. Now, this isn't just a rehash of my post about the 'Dolo. While the menu is largely the same, there have been a few changes, plus I'm going to share a few things I've learned eating there. On my first visit to the new location (which was opening day, right when the doors opened; yes, I was standing in line outside with the other faithful), Señor Lopez brought me a bowl of their new salsa. He called it "guacamole salsa," but it's a jalapeño-based sauce. It's got an almost creamy texture, but is dairy-free (I asked for my vegan friend). Being a jalapeño salsa, it's got some heat, but not nearly as overbearing as some capsaicin-phobes may fear. It is perfectly bala...
Post a Comment
Read more

Trying a new idea

I decided to try out a new concept: plain seasoning on my food with a bold sauce to kick it up a few notches. I was thinking that a pretty boring salmon fillet with a super flavorful sauce would be a fun way to put food on the plate. Sort of a "oh, this isn't that great, but wait! There's more!" kind of deal. I just salted the salmon and poached it in olive oil. Meanwhile, I also made some mashed potatoes with some sautéed green onion and orange bell pepper mixed in. A little butter, a little cream, yada yada. The potatoes were great. The salmon was boring. So how about that sauce? I made myself a roux (butter mixed with flour), then added in some white wine, and I let that simmer while I cooked the fish and potatoes. Unfortunately, it thickened up a bit much, so I added some more wine. With the extra wine, it was too watery, so I dropped in some creme fraiche, all while repeating my Randy Marsh impersonation of saying, "creme fraiche!" That gave it a great ...
Post a Comment
Read more