Pork Roast Marsala

This recipe is so easy it's barely a recipe at all. Tasty though.

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs pork roast
• 8 oz mushrooms, chopped
• 2 onions, halved and sliced
• 1/2 cup Marsala wine
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp ground pepper

Directions:

• Put everything in a slow cooker
  
• Cook on medium ("auto shift" on mine)
• When pork falls apart with a fork, stop cooking
• Pour through a sieve, collecting liquid in bowl
• Reduce liquid in a saucepan over high heat, whisking in 1 tbsp. flour until thickened
• Cut meat into bite-sized pieces
• Mix everything back together and serve.

Frugal Factor: Sorry, I lost my receipt so this is a guestimate. The pork was about $3.50, the mushrooms were too. Add $1 for all the other stuff. That's $8. I got 6 portions out of this. That's $1.33/portion. Serve it over rice for a more filling meal if you want.

Mexican Bean Bake with Cheesy Corn Souffle (Vegetarian)

This recipe has a lot of steps, but it’s a tasty, vegetarian, protein-packed meal that costs almost nothing to make.

Ingredients

For the beans:

• 1 lbs dry pinto beans (or some such bean) or 4 cans
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 onion
• 2 cups (16oz) of tomato salsa (whatever’s on sale)
• 3 tbs cumin
• 2 tbs cayenne pepper (I used chipotle powder though)
• 1 tbs. oregano (Mexican if you have it)
• 2 tbs. garlic powder
• Salt and additional seasoning to taste.
• Some sliced green olives if you want them. I did, but they work better with meat.

Topping:

• 1 cup frozen corn, pulverized in food processor
• 2 cups milk
• 4 tbsp. butter
• 4 tbsp flour (Wondra works best)
• 8 oz shredded cheese (colby, muenster or jack)
• 6 egg whites
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. If you are using dried beans, cook them. I just put them right in the slow cooker, cover with water (plus 1”-2”and heat on high for several hours.
2. Cook the rice
3. Add all the bean ingredients together. You could sauté the onions first, or don’t. See if care.
4. Put it all in 2 9x13 baking dishes (or one really big one like I did).
5. Melt butter in saucepan
6. Stir in flour to make a paste
7. Whisk in milk and keep under medium heat until thickened.
8. Add cheese, corn and egg yolks and turn off heat
9. Whip egg yolks until soft peaks form
10. Fold yolks into cheese sauce slowly and carefully
11. Pour over beans and bake at 400 for 1 hour or so (until topping is set)
    

Frugal Factor: $2.50 for the cheese, $1.50 for the beans, $1.50 for the beans, $2 for the salsa, $2 for everything else. Serves 12. That’s $0.75/serving.

Vegetarian Lima Bean and Cabbage Cassoulet

I love the French dish cassoulet, but it requires finding just the right sausages, cooking a duck or goose (and reserving the rendered fat) and roasting some lamb. I made mine vegetarian out of laziness, especially because there we got two feet of snow and I didn’t feel like going out for any food not already in my house. Cooking the beans is probably a weekend thing unless you have a timer on your slow cooker and have tested it before. However, you can make the rest any time.

Looks-wise, this rather monochromatic dish, especially because I was out of carrots. You could probably use kale instead of cabbage and get a nicer color, but cabbage is what I had, so that's what I used. (I also overcooked the beans because I was out at the pub drinking beer.) No matter how it looks, it's a super-frugal winter meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs (aprox. 2 cups) dried lima beans (or any other white bean)
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 tbsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. rosemary
• 1 head cabbage
• 2 carrots
• 2 onions
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 tbs. garlic powder
• 1 stick of butter
• Salt to taste
  

Directions:

1. Rinse dried beans and place in slow cooker with 4 cups water and the dried herbs and one diced onion
2. Cook on high for about six hours (really depends on your make, model, age of beans, etc), until beans are soft but still firm to the tooth (al dente). Add water if needed. Drain and reserve cooking liquid
3. Dice up a head of cabbage and carrots; steam until al dente, set aside
4. Dice remaining onion into half-inch pieces, toss with some herbs and olive oil, and roast at 400 for 20 minutes or so
5. Melt butter in saucepan and add bread crumbs, garlic powder and salt to taste. Mix until all crumbs are coated
6. Toss cabbage, roasted onions and beans. Add cooking liquid until mixture is very loose (like a thick stew)
7. Salt/pepper/season to taste
8. Coat a 9x13 baking dish with half the bread crumbs.
9. Add the bean mixture
10. Top with remaining bread crumbs, spreading evenly and as flat as possible
11. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Frugal factor: Off the charts. Dry beans and cabbage are two of the cheapest forms of nutrition. This made eight portions. Figure $1.50 for the beans, $2 for the cabbage, $1 for the bread crumbs, $0.50 for the butter, and $1.50 for everything else. That's about $0.82/portion.

Carmelized Pot Roast w/ Gorgonzola Cauliflower

It’s not every day I discover a better way to cook meat, but that’s exactly what happened this weekend. I set out to make a slow-cooker pot roast. In the past, the meat ended up swimming in its juices, so I propped it up on top of potatoes. In this manner, the potatoes cooked long before the meat was fork-tender, so I drained the juices for gravy, removed the vegetables, and placed the meat in the dry crock and set the temp to high. Hours later, an amazing thing happened. As the fat and connective tissue cooked away, the beef was now slow-frying in its own fat. The entire outside of the roast browned like Carnitas, yet as I broke apart the roast with two forks, the meat was hardly dry at all. Once I tossed the chunks of meat in the gravy, I had a perfect freezer entrée.

Served here with a baked cauliflower casserole consisting of a steamed and mashed cauliflower mashed with 1 cup of béchamel w/ 1/4 lbs gorgonzola and baked at 450 until browned. Yum.

Frugal Factor: 2 lbs. bottom round roast, $4, cauliflower, $2, potatoes, $1, mushrooms $2, milk and butter, $1. $10 for 5 portions is $2/portion.

Chicken Marsala w/ Escarole and Potatoes

Chicken Marsala may be a staple of catering hall buffets, but it’s one of my favorites. Marsala is a sweet fortified wine with a long shelf life, so I always have it in the pantry. On the side, I chopped and sautéed one head of escarole in garlic with a dash of chicken stock.I also nuked a couple russet potatoes, removed the skin, chopped into chuncks and sauteed in olive oil and herbs. Easy.

Ingredients:

• 8 Chicken Thighs, skinned, de-boned and pounded flatFlour seasoned with salt, pepper and dried herbs – Wondra works best.


• 1/4 cup olive oil


• 8 oz chopped mushrooms1 finely diced onion


• 6 cloves garlic


• 1 cup marsala wine


• 1-2 cups chicken stock


• 2 tablespoons butter
  

Directions:

1. Dredge the chicken in the flour.


2. Pour olive oil in 12” skillet and add whole garlic cloves and chicken, then turn on medium heat (trust me)


3. Brown chicken on both sides and set aside.


4. Stir about two tablespoons of the dredging flour into the olive oil to create a loose paste (roux).


5. Add mushrooms and onion and stir until cooked through.


6. Add marsala and scrape and fond off pan.


7. Crush up those garlic cloves.


8. Add chicken and enough stock to half cover the other ingredients.


9. Continue cooking until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through, adding more stock or flour to get the desired gravy consistency.


10. After turning off heat, stir in a few tablespoons of butter to enrich the sauce.
    

Frugal Factor: 2lbs chicken at $1.89/lbs, $3.78. Mushrooms, $2, onion, garlic, wine, stock, oil, butter: $1.50 (est.). I made four servings, so that’s $1.82/serving not counting the sides, which would probably add $0.75/serving, for a total of $2.47/serving.

Balsamic Chicken with Eggplant and Roasted Vegetables over Polenta

As the local growing season ends, I’m back to getting my veggies at the supermarket. One way to make supermarket produce shine is roasting, which concentrates the flavors and brings out the sweetness. This recipe also uses canned roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes and capers – essential pantry items for the winter. This recipe has a few make-ahead steps, but is well worth the effort. The chicken is optional, but as always, dark meat is best if you plan to freeze and reheat.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant



• 1 red onion



• 6 portabella mushrooms



• 1/2 cup sliced sundried tomatoes, soaked in hot water until soft and drained



• 2 cans roasted red peppers



• 1 bulb garlic (preferably North American)



• 1 lbs chicken thighs, sliced



• 2 tbsp capers



• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes



• 1 tbsp. dried Italian herb mixture (fresh works too, but it’s winter)



• Parmesan cheese – to taste



• 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette (see below)



• 1 6x9 dish of polenta (see below)

1. Marinate chicken strips in half the balsamic vinaigrette for one hour or overnight.



2. Peel eggplant and slice into quarters and the slice into ½ inch pieces.



3. Lightly salt eggplant and layer on paper towels for 1 hour or overnight (rinse and pat dry



4. Slice onion in half and then into slices



5. Rinse the mushrooms and cut out the black gills and discard.



6. Slice the mushrooms into bite sized pieces. If stems were included, chop off the duty end and discard, and slice the stem into thin pieces.



7. Toss each vegetable separately in some olive oil, herbs and pepper flakes and put on roasting pans (keep veggies separate in case their cooking times are different.
   Place veggies, as well as whole bulb of garlic, in a 450 degree oven until browned but not burned. 20-30 minutes on average.



8. Open cans of peppers. Drain the first can and and slice into bite sized pieces, set aside. Run the other can, liquid and all, in a blender until smooth.



9. Pat dry the marinated chicken and sauté under high heat.



10. Add all the veggies



11. Squeeze roasted garlic cloves into mixture.



12. Add a dash of the vinaigrette, the pureed peppers, and the capers



13. Serve over warmed polenta squares with grated cheese. Fresh parsley might be nice too.

For the balsamic vinaigrette: 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 2/3 cup olive oil, 1 tsp prepared mustard, 2 tbsp lemon juice, salt and Tabasco to taste. Put it all in a blender and blend until opaque and emulsified..

For the polenta: Bring two cups water/stock to a boil, lower heat to simmer, whisk in 1 c cup cornmeal and stir slowly for 30 minutes, until mixture pulls away from pan (add water if it gets too thick to stir). Pour into greased casserole, cool, and cut into squares.

Frugal Factor: This makes six servings. $2 for the eggplant, $4 for the mushroom, $1 for the onion, $4 for the chicken, $1 for everything else. That’s $2/serving. A little high – darn those mushrooms.

Mexi-Mac

A ridiculously easy recipe. I made two batches, one with ground beef and one with texturized vegetable protein. Like many things in life, it is better with meat, but it’s a great way to use TVP too. This is the kind of Middle American recipe you see on those little booklets in the supermarket checkout line. But it's mighty tasty. I only had penne but it should really be made with elbow macaroni.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs ground beef (or 2 cups of TVP, rehydrated)
• 2 packets of taco seasoning (or bulk from Penzey’s)
• 1 lbs macaroni, cooked
• 2 jars mild salsa
• 2 cans pinto beans
• 1 8 oz block of cheddar or jack cheese, ½ shredded, ½ in quarter-inch cubes
• 1 cup sliced green Spanish olives
  

1. Cook the ground beef or TVP according to the taco seasoning directions
2. Add everything but the shredded cheese, mix together.
3. Top with cheese.
4. That was easy.

Frugal Factor: Made with beef, $5 for supermarket beef. $2 for cheap macaroni, $5 for two jars of salsa, $1 for the seasoning mix. Thats $14 for 9 portions, or $1.55/portion