Cheating and Fish Shoes

Please don't mistake me--I love fresh food. I'll do the work. I can grate and peel and core and whatever else may be necessary. However, there are circumstances that call for cheating.

I will admit to reaching for the herbs-in-a-plastic-box and scoffing at the equivalent of herb squeeze cheese I noticed adjacent to the organic thyme and rosemary at Kroger. Of course if I had examined my motives and personal  hypocrisy, I would have noted that if I were truly keeping it  real, I would have grown my own herbs in favor of discarding them into recipes from plastic containers.

Upon observation that all the "fresh" ginger at Kroger this week were mildewed (this is the first time I've seen this at Kroger) I reluctantly grabbed the ginger goo in a tube.

This is the magnificent creation of Gourmet Garden. I say "magnificent" mainly because it totally is:

1. You don't have to grate ginger--an awkward root that is not easy to grate.

2. It's grown without pesticides.

3. It's in a tube--there is no need use to your last sandwich baggy.

4. It has no artificial flavors or colors.

5. It's easy, convenient, and you don't have to feel guilty for not using the ginger that will mildew in your own refrigerator.

Moving on to fish.

Kroger does not have the frozen kind.

Therefore, you have to buy it "fresh." Fresh fish at a supermarket equals lies. We are not near an ocean. They are frozen when they get here and thawed in a glass case on ice, perhaps with a leafy garnish. But I bought it, took it home and then, upon freeing it from the white paper wrapper (that kind of did make me feel  markety fresh and fabulous) realized how cussing hard it is to peel salmon skin away from the flesh. Sometimes when I'm caught in these situations, it helps if I imagine that I am a the type of person who can actually do these things. For instance, when I had to drive to New Jersey by myself to visit my cousin on vacation, I encountered mind numbing traffic for the first time in my life. I pretended I was someone else to survive. Therefore, in shaving the skin from sticky and difficult fish, I was wearing an imaginary chef coat and hat and I explained to my studio audience the best way to remove fish skin.

Then I noted how pretty fish skin is.

"Wow," I said to a jovial audience,"These fish skins sure would make lovely shoes--but I bet that would smell after a while wouldn't it?" The laugh track resounded through the air as I smiled and kicked up a heel, revealing my own Christian Louboutin shoes.

It's truly wonderful that I can enjoy these moments long before the company has brought over a bottle of wine.

It's great to have single friends. They can usually come over with little notice and they always want to do something fun. This particular evening, Caren brought over a huge bottle of Chardonnay (she wanted to bring red wine but I said,"Um, yeah--no. Fish..." and then she was all like,"Oh ok, fine then." And I was all like,"Yeah. You'd better recognize."

This recipe is Asian themed. We had all the ingredients except the fish, ginger, cucumber, and radishes. I bought the radishes at my favorite local market. This meal comes out to around $2.45 a serving.

ingredients

1/4 cup(s) rice vinegar

1 tablespoon(s) finely grated ginger

2 tablespoon(s) honey

Kosher salt and pepper

1 seedless cucumber, thinly sliced

1/4 sweet onion (such as Vidalia), thinly sliced

4 radishes, thinly sliced

3 tablespoon(s) low-sodium soy sauce

1 1/4 pound(s) skinless salmon fillet, cut into 4 pieces

directions

Heat the broiler. In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, ginger, 1 Tbsp honey, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Add the cucumber, onion and radishes, and let sit, tossing occasionally, for at least 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce and the remaining Tbsp honey.

Line a broiler proof baking sheet with foil. Place the salmon on the baking sheet and season with 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper. Broil for 5 minutes. Spoon the soy sauce mixture over the salmon and broil until the salmon is opaque throughout, 2 to 5 minutes more. Serve the salmon with any pan drippings and the cucumber salad.

Leeky Sausage

I am a carnivore but I would definitely say I am not a meat fan.

Cold cuts are great. I will even order a double portion of turkey on my Cold Cut Combo at Subway at times. Any meat that aids sleep equals fantastic.

Chicken? I'm also a fan. I'm a Southerner, so fried is fine and cold on a sandwich or made into a salad with some ungodly high-calorie dressing, better.

It's when we get into ham and cooked meats I start making that uncomfortable face and making the "I'll pass" gesture.

Cold ham is fine. Cold country ham on a biscuit--I can handle. Then we start inching toward the hot ham and cooked sausage category and, while I can eat it without being repulsed, I'm not excited about it as if it were, say, goat cheese on a Triscuit. Goat cheese on a Triscuit will make me shove a small child out of the way. If it's paired with wine I may trample the child as well but he shouldn't have been drinking in the first place.

So when I saw the roasted sausage recipe, I wasn't thrilled. Adventurous me, however, had to make it work.

Preparing in advance has it's advantages. I was able to find a Johnsonville sausage coupon for exactly what I needed--4 chicken sausage links. Chicken links have %50 less fat and Johnsonville makes several varieties including Chipotle Montery Jack, Three Cheese Italian Style, and Chicken Sausage Apple. Seeing as I'm a cheese fan, I selected the Three Cheese Italian Style.

I would love to shop at our local meat market--Bedford Avenue Meat Shop--but by the time I get home from work, they are closed and it's difficult to buy an entire weeks worth of meat all at once. My second choice is our local Kroger since they often have fantastic Manager's Specials on meat and fish.

I buy my produce at Davis Farm Fresh Market. They have a lot of local produce and it's affordable. You have to be flexible when your values lie in buying local. I needed leeks for this recipe, but sweet onion is close enough and it was available.

In case you needed to know this is what a leek looks like. It's kind of like a sweet onion married a scallion and had a baby:

This dish is approximately $1.92 per serving. We were able to get the thyme for free, since the girl at the check out counter didn't feel like price checking the package. Thank you generous and equally lax check-out girl.

ingredients

2 small crisp red apples (such as Empire or Braeburn), quartered

2 leeks (white and light green parts only), halved crosswise and lengthwise

2 (about 1/2 lb total) yellow potatoes,  cut into 1/2-in.-thick wedges

8 sprig(s) fresh thyme

2 tablespoon(s) olive oil 

8 small (about 1 1/2lb total) chicken sausage links

kosher salt and pepper

directions

1. Heat oven to 425ºF. In a large roasting pan, toss the apples, leeks, potatoes, thyme, oil, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Roast for 15 minutes.

2.Stir the vegetables and add the sausages to the pan, nestling them among the vegetables. Roast until the sausage is cooked through and the vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes more.

I personally thought the sausage was delicious. I saved a link for breakfast the next morning. 

The best part about preparing these meals is that you have breakfast or lunch the next day. If you factor that into the cost you're looking at $1.28 per serving. 

If only I could take pictures that reflected the success of slowly morphing a cheese fan into a meat fan.

What the Crust?!

They say that when life hands you lemons, you should make lemonade. My more lengthy version of that adage would be, when life hands you molded, store-bought crust at midnight before Thanksgiving, make your own damn crust or hear your family whine about no Tarheel Pie.

Second to that adage would be, when life tries to hand you store-bought crusts for pizza, say a hearty "no thanks" while keeping the Thanksgiving adage in mind.

My Thanksgiving pie crust was so good a teenage boy took the time out to send me a message on Facebook asking me how I made it. It was also so cheap I thought to myself,"How hard could a pizza crust be?"

Folks, not hard and pennies cheap.

If you forgo a store bought crust which--in my experience--is tasteless and difficult to roll out, you're looking at an investment of about $0.50 a crust. I had to buy a 5 pound bag of flour for around $2.50 and (because I didn't check the cabinet first--always do that before shopping) a packet of yeast for $1.19.

You're looking at about $0.81 a crust. You'll invest a little over an hour.

Our toppings for this pizza were purchased at our local produce stand. I bought 2 potatoes, a hearty portion of kale, and a red onion for $1.70. When you buy local, per pound the produce may be more, but the portions are often smaller (do you really need that huge baking potato?) and higher quality. I didn't have to buy 2 huge potatoes. I bought to smaller potatoes, a smaller onion, and fresh kale. It's on the way home from work and it is well worth it.

You're looking at a meal that is $1.46 per serving and, because there are only two in the household, lasts for 2 meals, a dinner and lunch.

I was astounded at how easy this crust was to make and even more astounded at it's appearance and texture.

I know that potato, kale, and onion pizza sounds weird, but I have recently learned about kale's amazing properties:

1. Kale helps lower the risk of high cholesterol and heart disease when it is cooked.

2. Kale is high in Vitamin K--a cancer fighter.

3. Kale makes a great garnish in lieu of parsley, for those of you who couldn't care less about health.

ingredients

Cornmeal, for the baking sheet

1 pound(s) pizza dough, thawed if frozen

2 medium (about 8 ounces) Yukon gold or white potatoes, thinly sliced

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 bunch(es) kale, thick stems discarded, leaves torn into 2-inch pieces

3 tablespoon(s) olive oil 

Kosher salt

Pepper

6 ounce(s) thinly sliced provolone cheese

Directio

ns

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Dust a baking sheet with cornmeal. Shape the dough into a 16-inch oval or circle and place on the prepared baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes, onion, kale, oil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Scatter the vegetables and cheese over the dough and bake until the potatoes are tender and the crust is golden brown and crisp, 20 to 25 minutes.

tips & techniques

Flavor Boost: For meat lovers, scatter 4 ounces thinly sliced ham (torn into pieces) onto the pizza along with the cheese.
Tip: To quickly separate kale leaves from the stem, hold the kale in one hand by the stem end, and remove the leaf by pulling it downward.
Use Up the Kale: Make crispy kale chips: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Tear 1/2 bunch kale leaves into large pieces. Toss with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 15 minutes.

I used Sargento cheese and I had everything else already so this pizza cost me a whopping $1.46 per serving. 

We had our pizza with 

Château Morrisette which probably should have been completely reserved for the sausage and apple dinner, but wasn't terrible by any means.

If you look closely you'll see kale adorning the massive apples. My meals always arrive at full circle.