Quiche

I made a quiche for the first time, with no crust, and it worked out really well.  It was easy and tasty.  Eggs are all on sale for Easter, and I had some spinach on its way out.

5 eggs - 350 calories - $0.50
1.5 cups milk - 120 calories - $0.56 (I got organic milk)
8 oz pepperjack cheese - 720 calories - $2
.5 cup flour - 200 calories - $0.10 ish
1 onion - 50 calories - $0.30 ish
9 oz baby spinach - 50 calories - $1 (on sale)
1 tsp bacon fat - 30 calories - free

Chop the onion and caramelize it in a skillet with bacon fat.  Set the onion aside, chop the spinach, and wilt it in the skillet.  Chop the cheese.  Mix everything together in a casserole dish.  Bake at 375 F for 50 minutes.  Check on it, and take it out when the top is browning.  It may be worthwhile to put aluminum foil around the edges so the crust forms evenly.

As I made it, it cost about $4.50 and had around 1500 calories.  Many people would also add a half pound of bacon or some diced ham, which adds around $2 and 500 calories.  I got nine portions out of this, 160 calorie blocks for $0.50 each.

Fettuccine with Gorgonzola Sauce and Scallops

I went a little fancy last night, but still without breaking the bank.  I made some fettuccine while making other pasta, and Trader Joe's continues to be a good source for Gorgonzola at $5.79/lb.  The local supermarket had sea scallops for $8/lb, which is a special treat for me, and asparagus for $2/lb.  I won't pay for heavy cream, and I turned all my milk into yogurt, so I used yogurt in the sauce and it worked just fine.

Whole Wheat Fettuccine:
1 cup flour, 1 egg, 2 Tbsp milk
$0.50, 500 calories

Gorgonzola Sauce:
1/3 lb Gorgonzola cheese - $2 - 500 calories
2 Tbsp butter - $0.19 - 200 calories
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp flour - $0.02 - 50 calories
1 cup plain yogurt - $0.37 (organic, homemade) - 80 calories
splash of lemon juice
splash of sake (or whatever white wine is lying around, optional)

Scallops:
8 sea scallops, 1/2 lb - $4 - 200 calories
1 Tbsp butter - $0.10 - 100 calories (not all consumed)
pepper

Asparagus:
1/2 lb asparagus - $1 - 30 calories
1 Tbsp olive oil - $0.05 - 100 calories (not all consumed)
pepper

Read all this first.  You'll be juggling around the stove.  Start cooking the pasta, frying the asparagus in oil with pepper in a skillet, and frying the garlic in butter in a small pot.  When the garlic is browned, whisk in the flour to make a garlicky roux.  When the roux is foamy, whisk in the yogurt (cream, milk, whatever) and bring to a simmer.

Remember to drain the noodles when they're done, and set aside.  Also set aside the asparagus when it is done.  Toss a tablespoon of butter on the skillet when the asparagus is off, turn up the heat, and sear the scallops for about 2 minutes on each side.  Crumble up the Gorgonzola and whisk it into the sauce until it melts.  The scallops will have slightly crisp golden ends, and be so tender in the middle.  I used Alton Brown's method, but I may go for longer time at a lower heat in the future.  Do not use a non-stick skillet.

The pasta and sauce alone run under $3.50 and about 1400 calories.  This whole decadent meal ran $8.50 and 1800 calories, or $4.50 and 900 calories per stuffed person.  Even after breakfast, a hearty PB&J, and an apple in the afternoon, we come in comfortably at the average daily budget for someone receiving supplementary nutritional assistance.

A Real American

This has been a great year for gastronomical innovation.  KFC really threw the gloves down when it came out with the Double Down, a sandwich that uses fried chicken for the bun, with bacon, cheese, and sauce inside.  Though initially subjected to ridicule, the DD has endured well by being tasty and healthier than much of its competition (unless evaluated per calorie).  Eventually, more sandwich innovation appeared.  Friendly's introduced a hamburger with grilled cheese sandwiches for buns, the Grilled Cheese BurgerMelt.  Denny's now has a Fried Cheese Melt, a grilled cheese sandwich with fried Mozzarella sticks in it.  At some fairgrounds you might find a cheeseburger topped with chocolate-covered bacon in a Krispy Kreme donut bun.  Inspired by all this inventiveness, I decided to build an homage to the American spirit of sandwich creation.  I give you the Real American:

What you see here is a burger with cheeseburgers for buns, and each cheeseburger has bacon for buns.  Yes.  Go ahead and read that sentence again.


Step 1: Construct the buns
I cut Tyson hardwood smoked thick-cut bacon in half (use any kind you like, I just got what was on sale for under $3.50/lb and looked meatiest), then wove the halves together.

Step 2: Cook the buns
I microwaved the buns between paper towels for 6 minutes, two buns per plate.  I have experimented with many ways of cooking bacon, and microwaving is fast and easy to clean up while producing evenly-cooked, flat, crisp bacon.  These buns held together great, were nice and crisp, and not too greasy on the hands.

Step 3: Make burger patties
I used Laura's 92% lean ground beef because it was marked down for sale before expiration.  Of course, use whatever you want.  I mixed in garlic powder, pepper flakes, and Worcestershire sauce, then hand packed the patties to be thin and fit the buns after cooking shrinkage.  The Worcestershire sauce added a really great flavor.  These patties are about 3 oz each and some change.

Step 4: Cook the burger patties
They cooked up great in my cast iron skillet, and I thought I took a picture, but it looks like I forgot.

Step 5: Assembly
Assembly was a piece of cake.  First sub-bun:

Bottom "bun" (Colby-jack cheese):

The burger, topped with sautéed mushrooms, caramelized onions, and chevre:

Top "bun":

Step 6: Eat that mammer:

This was absolutely delicious, and I will make it again.  Worcestershire sauce, caramelized onions, and goat cheese rocked out on this sandwich.  The Real American was dinner for two people.

Broken down:
6 slices of bacon - about 240 calories - about $2
10 oz of lean beef - about 400 calories - about $3
1 oz Colby-jack - about 110 calories - about $0.25
a mushroom - negligible
some onion - negligible
.5 oz goat cheese - 35 calories - $0.25
seasoning - negligible - about $0.10
7 paper towels - about $0.10

Total: about 800 calories, about $5.70 not including utilities or equipment.

Gorgonzola Sauce

I found some reasonably priced Gorgonzola cheese, more expensive than my regular cheese threshold, but fine for a rare treat at $6/lb.  I've had good Gorgonzola sauce in a restaurant, so I decided to try to make my own.  My default source for recipes is allrecipes.com.  This means I tend to end up with a half dozen highly reviewed and widely different recipes.  Which is best?  I won't know because I am not going to try them all.  I just take a loose average adjusted to my taste.  I ended up with a good (and rich) dinner for two for about $3.50.

Gorgonzola cheese, 1/4 lb @ $6/lb = $1.50 (~400 calories)
Milk, skim, 1 cup @ $3.45/gal = $0.22 (80 cal)
Butter, 3 tbsp @ $2/lb = $0.19 (300 cal)
Flour, 1/2 cup = $0.08 (200 cal)
White wine, 1/4 cup, optional = $0.20-0.50 (45 cal)
Nutmeg, pinch, optional = ~$0.05
Spaghetti, whole wheat, 1/4 lb dry @ $1.29/lb = $0.32 (420 cal)

Served with 1/2 lb frozen green vegetables on the side @ ~$1.50/lb = $0.75 (50 cal)

Start boiling your water for the pasta.  Melt the butter in a quart pot on low.  Stir in the flour until it's foamy.  Add the pasta to the water when it starts boiling.  Stir in the milk to the butter-flour mixture (like a roux) and turn the heat up to low-medium.  Keep stirring the sauce as it gets warmer and thicker.  Add the wine if you are using it.  Crumble up your Gorgonzola and stir it gradually into the sauce the minute before your pasta is done.  Drain your pasta, put it on plates, and pour the sauce on top.

The Gorgonzola should melt quickly, and also thicken quickly as it cools, so be ready to eat when the pasta is done.  I honestly did not notice the nutmeg flavor, nor the bottom shelf chardonnay that I used, but recipe comments suggested that the wine is added to keep the Gorgonzola from forming a bad texture, and lemon juice (something acidic) would also work.

About $1.75 and 750 calories for each person.  Takes less than 15 minutes start to finish.  Serves two Americans.

Pizza

I make a lot of great pizzas which easily each feed two hungry adults.  Use the bread dough recipe I posted earlier, which makes 3 pizza crusts and keeps well in the fridge for two weeks (I am sure it freezes for longer, but I have never done that). A plain cheese pizza costs about $1.75 and has about 1060 calories ($0.88 and 530 calories per person).

Dough - $0.45; 533 cal
4 oz Mozzarella, shredded - @ $4/lb = $1, 320 cal
1 tbsp olive oil - @ $10/101floz = $0.05, 100 cal
1 tbsp ketchup (Heinz) -  @ $3/32oz = ~$0.05, 15 cal
3 tbsp corn meal - @ $3/75tbsp tube = $0.12, 90 cal
1/2 tsp garlic powder - ~$0.03
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes - ~$0.03
pinch of black pepper

I don't have a pizza peel, so I just use one of those flexible smooth plastic cutting boards that come in a pack.  I recommend the ones from Bed Bath and Beyond way over Walmart.  The extra thickness and durability is worth the additional couple of dollars per pack.  I have not tried others.  Dust your surface with flour, plop on your dough, flour the top of the dough and roll it out.  I use a wine bottle because I won't pay for a rolling pin.  My pizzas are constrained to the 11" width of my cutting board, but I don't make perfect circles, so they're often longer ovals.  When it's all rolled out, I put the whole thing with the cutting board into my freezer.  I never time it, but about 8 minutes in the freezer is probably good.  Set your oven to the highest non-broiler temperature setting (e.g.: 550 F) with your pizza pan or stone inside.

When you take your crust out of the freezer, it should be a bit stiff.  This helps you lift it up off of the cutting board without deforming it so you can spread corn meal underneath the crust.  The corn meal acts as ball bearings so the pizza will slide easily off of the cutting board.  Spread olive oil over the surface of the crust.  The oil prevents water from the ketchup and topings from making the crust mushy.  Sprinkle the spices on top of the oil.

The ketchup is next.  I am sure some of you may be appalled that I would use ketchup instead of tomato sauce or paste.  I did buy some tomato sauce once when the smallest cans were on sale.  I found, though, that even the smallest can had enough sauce for 4 pizzas, and the sauce would not keep well enough for the amount of time it would take me to put that many pizzas on our menu.  Ketchup is cheaper, keeps nearly forever, and works well enough at the small quantities used.  Spread the ketchup over the crust, but leave the edge bare for a half-inch to an inch.  I firmly state that Heinz is the best brand of ketchup, and is worth the extra pennies over the competition.  Heinz does not pay me.

Put on your toppings.  Sprinkle the mozzarella on top, and avoid the outer edge.  Any cheese on the outer edge will burn, and a clear edge makes a good place to grip slices for eating.

Now your pizza is getting softer.  Shake your cutting board or peel gently to make sure that the pizza slides smoothly on it.  If it sticks anywhere, try to carefully lift that area and put corn meal under it.  When your oven is preheated, slide your pizza on to the pan or stone.  Your pizza will be done when the cheese on top starts to turn brown in a few spots.  This may take 8-10 minutes, depending on what toppings you used.  Keep an eye on your pizza to make sure you don't burn too much cheese, especially if you are just making a cheese pizza.

I recommend letting the pizza cool for a bit, then transferring it to a plate or cutting board to slice.