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

Swedish Meatballs over Kluski Noodles

	The Jan/Feb issue Cook's Illustrated had a recipe for Swedish Meatballs. I always like getting them at Ikea, so I gave it a try. The recipe called for heavy cream in both the meatballs and the sauce. I used evaporated milk - it's cheaper, lower in fat and won't separate when reheating like cream often does. The recipe called for half a pound each of ground pork and ground beef. I doubled the recipe so I could use the whole package of each. I meant to add some fresh dill or thyme - that would have made it better. And I needed lingonberry sauce. Doh!
	In my mixer bowl, I made a panade of 4 crustless slices white bread soaked in ½ cup evaporated milk, two eggs plus a half tsp. each of allspice and nutmeg, 2 tsp.each of baking powder, salt and brown sugar plus two grated onions. I gave it a quick mix to form a paste, added the meat, and mixed on medium for 45 seconds until everything was incorporated. Forming 55 little meatballs took forever. I wonder if Swedish Salisbury Steak would be just as good.
	The recipe called for pan-frying, but I split the batch between the frying pan and the broiler. Frying takes a lot more attention, stinks up the kitchen and adds extra fat. The fried meatballs were a bit more crispy and fluffy but they also tended to fall apart. With the sauce it was hard to tell the difference. Broil. Just remember to put some water in the bottom of the broiler pan so the drippings don't smoke and stick to the bottom.
	The sauce is pretty basic - two cups of broth thickened with flour and enriched with 1/4 cup evaporated milk. The recipe called for chicken broth but I used Better Than Bouillon beef base. It tasted like that was a mistake at first, but once I added the tbsp. of brown sugar 2 tbsp. of lemon juice, the sauce had a bright sweet and sour flavor. I added a little allspice and white pepper too. I tossed the meatballs right in the finished sauce to keep warm while I boiled some Kluski noodles and finished cooking some squash for the side dish.
	Frugal Factor: I used the last of my ground pork from the 1/4 pig I bought which worked out to about $4/lb. The ground beef from Shop Rite was $2.19/lb. 12 oz bag of kluski noodles, $1.79; evaporated milk, 12 ox can, $0.89. That's $8.87. Let's round that up to $10 to cover the pantry items (bread, onion, spices, sugar, etc.) Yielded 55 meatballs - 8 portions plus the ones I sneaked while finishing the sauce and such. That's $1.50/portion. (the side dish was a butternut squash I bought for $2.50 - so add $0.42 for that for the meal)

Italian Meatballs

I hate nasty factory meatballs, with their spongy rubber ball texture. I know I said in my last recipe not to worry about making everything as authentic as an ethnic grandmother. When it comes to meatballs, I take it back a little. There is an art to meatballs that you shouldn't mess with too much, and it took me many failed attempts to arrive at this technique.

In image of meat in the bowl below, I photographed the meat mixture with the garlic and onion on top so you could see the consistency of all three but usually I would mix all together at the same time.

Ingredients: 1 lbs ground beef, 1 lbs ground pork, 2/3 cup bread crumbs, 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 2 tbsp Italian seasoning, 5 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp. salt coarse/kosher salt, 2 beaten eggs, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, 1 red onion or a few shallots.

• In a small bowl, combine bread crumbs and milk and let rest (this is called a panade)
• Wrap garlic in foil and roast at 350 for 30 minutes. Squeeze garlic from cloves and make a paste with the salt and olive oil (the coarseness of the salt helps grind up the garlic) - I use a mortar and pestle but a bowl and a wooden spoon would work too.
• Grate onion on a cheese grater - the one you would use to grate cheddar. Place in bowl and soak in vinegar and water for 15 minutes to reduce the onion burp factor and then rinse in strainer
• Wash your hands
• Combine everything in bowl and work it gently into a uniform texture with your hands (see, aren't you glad you washed them?). Don't overwork these or they will become bouncy balls
• Get out your broiler pan and spray the top insert. Put a little water in the bottom part - this keeps the grease from burning and the steam helps the meatballs cook on the bottom faster so they lose their shape less. Preheat your broiler.
• Make meatballs. I like them medium size, which is 2 tbsp of meat mixture, or 36 meatballs in this recipe.
• Place pan on a rack one up from the middle and broil 15 minutes (as always, broilers vary so keep an eye on them)
• Remove and flip over to brown other side.
• Break one open and see if it's done. If it's fully cooked, go ahead and eat it.

To freeze these, put them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper so they don't touch and pre-freeze, then put in bags. This way, they don't stick together and you can grab just a few for soup, spaghetti dinner, sandwiches, etc. To reheat, just toss in sauce and cook on the stovetop.


Note: Frying meatballs in olive oil is mighty tasty but it's a pain and not worth the effort and extra fat in my book. If you do choose to fry, lightly coat the meatballs in flour first. These are great not only in tomato sauce (aka gravy) but in my favorite food in the world, Italian Wedding Soup, which is basically a chicken soup to which you add escarole (found w/ the lettuce in some supermarkets), little meatballs (these are a little big but that's okay), cooked rice and plenty of grated Parmesan on top.

Frugal Factor: I spent $4.50/lb for the local grass-fed ground beef. I am not buying factory pork due to the horrendous cruelty and environmental impact, so I would pay $4.50/lb for that too if I hadn't had some pork chops from an Omaha Steaks box I got for Christmas and a meat grinder. Shoprite sells 85% lean ground beef for $2.59/lb and ground pork for $1.62/lbs. The cheese is probably $1/worth, and figure $1 for everything else. So that's $6.21 w/supermarket meat or $11 for local pastured meat. I think 4 meatballs is a nice portion (a little light for some), so that works out to 9 portions @ $0.69 - $1.22/portion.

Meat Loaf Muffins

Meatloaf is delicious, but mine always falls apart when I try to cook it, whether I use a loaf pan not. Cooks Illustrated claims to have the perfect solution, involving gelatin and a panade of fresh bread crumbs and milk. Sounds like a pain. Instead, I solved the problem by making meatloaf muffins. Easy to portion, fun to eat. However, halfway through they were bobbing in watery grease so I had to take them out of the tins and finish on a cookie sheet, which was good because then I could fully glaze them in BBQ sauce instead of just doing the tops. Next time I'll try just molding them w/ my hands or these little silicon prep bowls I have and bake them on a broiler pan.

Thanks again to Marquita for sending Rudy's Original BBQ Sause from San Antonio - a light-bodied sauce rather than the thick sludge sold in supermarkets seemed to be a good fit in this recipe. The best thing about using a really tasty bbq sauce is that it provides all the needed seasoning, but feel free to add stuff too.

Meat Loaf Muffins

1 1/2 lbs ground venison (or other lean meat), 1/4 lbs pork breakfast sausage, 1 cup BBQ sauce plus 1/4 cup set aside for glazing, 1 cup dried bread crumbs, one finely diced onion, 1 tbsp thyme, 1 egg

• Mix everything together.
• Scoop into muffin tins. Mine filled 10 of the 12.
• Bake at 400 for 15 minutes
• Transfer meatloaf muffins from muffin tin to a foil-lined cookie sheet and brush them liberally with BBQ sauce.
• Put cookie sheet on middle rack and switch to broil. Keep an eye on them - in five minutes they should done, with just a few tiny burn marks on them. But gas broilers vary and I've never used an electric, so your results may vary.

serves 5 (two muffins each)

Serve with mashed potatoes. Really, that's the only acceptable way to enjoy them. Or maybe mac n' cheese. I made my mashed potatoes with buttermilk, which cuts down on the fat. But that's hardly a recipe, so I'll leave it to you to figure out. The only vegetable I ghas was a block of frozen chopped broccoli I was saving for a casserole, but sauted over incredible high heat in garlic and olive oil, it tasted okay.

Notes: I made these with venison and pork sausage, but you could substitute any ground meat- lean meat with sausage or fatty meat with no sausage (or fatty meat and fatty sausage - go nuts). Different meats may yield different results but all will be delicious. Definitely don't stress about equal parts veal, beef and pork or whatever - those pre-packed meat loaf mixes at the supermarket are often overpriced and tend to stick around on the shelves past their prime.
If nobody sent you any Rudy's BBQ Sause, the closest thing widely available in supermarkets is Stubbs. You could try using Kraft or something, but the liquid smoke might be overpowering. Or make your own: equal parts vinegar, molasses and tomato paste (one can) w/ a pinch or two of , paprika, cayanne, thyme, salt, pepper, garlic powder, mustard powder, celery seed and allspice would work great. Ketchup

Frugal Factor: Again, the venison was a gift, but for comparison, ground buffalo is $5/lb so this is $7.50 worth of meat. BBQ sauce also a gift, but Stubbs brand is $4/bottle and I used 1/3 so $1.35 . Onion and bread crumbs, $0.50. Total, $10.25 for 5 servings or $1.87 per portion (two muffins). Not really all that frugal, especially since the mashed potatoes and frozen veggie add another $0.75 per portion for a total of $2.62/portion.

Greek Moussaka w/ Ground Lamb and Eggplant

When I made last week's lamb stew, I ground some of the trimmings and extra meat to make moussaka, the custard-topped mixture of spiced meat and eggplant that I loved as a child, when my parents would take me to one of the Greek restaurants on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore (my favorite one closed decades ago but Ikaros is still open - the link is worth following for the intro alone).

The recipe I followed (although halved) did not quite give me the results I wanted. I was able to salvage the meat filling by adding more allspice and cinnamon, plus lemon juice and oregano, but the real problem was the tomatoes. Upon further research I have found that more authentic recipes call for the tomato paste but not the fresh or canned tomatoes. I have written a revised recipe below.

Note: Moussaka has four steps and, from start to finish, will take you several hours and dirty 4 pots or pans. Luckily, you can either do the first three at the same time or each can be done separately and refrigerated prior to assembling and baking the final product.

Moussaka:

Ingredients: 2 eggplant, 1 pound ground lamb or beef, 2 onions, 4 tbsp. tomato paste, 1/2 cup red wine (I actually like marsala for this), 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 cup grated cheese, olive oil, 4 cloves garlic
2 Cups Bechemel: 1/4 stick butter, 4 tbsp gravy flour, 2 cups whole milk, 1/4 tsp nutmeg (if grating fresh, use only 1/8), dash Worcestershire.

Equipment: 1 saucepan, 1 frying pan or dutch oven, 1 whisk, 1 spoon, 1 casserole dish, 1 cookie sheet

Step 1:

• Peal eggplant and slice into 1/4 inch slices.
• Salt eggplant slices, wait an hour, rinse
• Toss eggplant in olive oil and roast under broiler until browned (15 min or so)

(meanwhile...)

Step 2:

• Warm 4 tbsp olive oil in 12" pan on med. heat and add all spices and herbs (borrowing from Indian cooking here)
• When spices become fragrant, add meat and brown, then break up as much as you can
• Add wine and tomato paste and lower hear, stirring and continuing to break up meat.
• Preheat oven to 350 and keep stirring occaisionally while you continue to the next step ( Eventually, you want a relatively dry with meat broken up almost to a paste.)

(meanwhile)

Step 3:

• In heavy saucepan on low heat, melt butter.
• Whisk in flour and nutmeg and stir until flour mixture pulls away from the pan (or starts to burn)
• Add milk, whisk furiously and crank up the heat, continuing to whisk ever minute until mixture begins to summer (many recipes want you to warm the milk first and slowly whisk it in a 1/4 cup at a time. It takes longer and dirties another pot, but otherwise has no noticeable effect)
• When thick enough to coat edge of a spoon, take off heat and wait a minute
• Then, whisk in three egg yolks and a dash of Worcestershire.
• If it gets too thick, whisk in a little bit of milk but don't put it back on the heat after yolks are added
• Add grated cheese
  

Step 4: Assembly

• Oil casserole dish
• Layer half the eggplant slices on the bottom (some recipes call for bread crumbs to line the pan first but I would rather have more sauce than pasty bread crumbs in my food)
• Spread meat evenly
• Layer the rest of the eggplant
• Spread bechemel over top
• Place in oven on 350 for 45 minutes or until browned. You may need to rotate
• Allow to cool - when no longer warm but still hot, cut into squares and serve.
• (an arugula salad tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, pepper and feta cheese would be nice)

Frugal Factor: Good thing this recipe is easy to freeze because it takes forever to make it. As for money, It was 1/4 of the leg of lamb I bought for $19. Let's just say $5. Tomato paste, $0.50; 1/2 cup wine, $1; eggplant, $2 at discount produce place, $4 at supermarket; milk, $0.50, butter, $0.25. Flour and spices are pantry items; let's say $0.50. This recipe made 8 portions so that's $1.22-$1.46 per portion.

Buffalo Chili n' Waffles, Taco Night

Every now and then, I like to regress and have a good 'l fashioned middle American taco night. No fresh corn tortilla, braised tongue, lime and cilantro (although now I'm craving just that from Taqueria Michocana - scenic Norristown here I come). No, I'm talking about ground beef with pre-mixed spice packet, crunchy taco shelves, grated jack cheese, iceberg lettuce, etc.

The other night I had a pound of ground buffalo meat I wanted to stretch in to a base for chili. Instead of just cooking the meat with the spice packet, I sauteed it with two onions, then added half a can of refried beans. (For the vegetarians out there, this method is a great way to use TVP, which will benefit from being mized with stuff.) It was just as good, and I had lots of leftover meat mixture.

CHILI TIME! And what could be better with chili than cornbread? How's about cornbread WAFFLES? Waffles are great with savory meals because they catch all the sauce/gravy.

The Chili:

I use my 70's "Crock Watcher" for this but if you only have a pot on a stove, cook it on low for an hour.

Into the crock pot goes: The leftover taco meat mixture, a big 28 oz can of tomatoes, the rest of the refried beans and two 16 oz cans of beans (I like black beans. Your taco meat mix provides the seasoning, although I also add a tablespoon of cocoa and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Cook on high 2 hours or low 8 hours.

For the cornbread waffles, I used this recipe, found online at random. I used milk instead of buttermilk, subbing 1/2 cup of sour cream. I wasn't so crazy about it, so after the first batch, I added a quarter cup of honey to the batter. That helped a lot, as did waiting 10 minutes for the batter to set. I still think I'll try another recipe next time though.

The finished product looks great on a plate (above) with a dab of sour cream and some freeze-dried chives. Just don't reach for the syrup (or who knows...?) For the freezer portions, I filled my containers halfway and froze them solid. Then I wrapped the waffles, put one on top of each portion and put the lid on. That way, I can grab a portion and go, and toast the waffle while nuking the chili.


Frugal Factor: For the chili and waffles, I got 10 portions. The half of the meat left over from taco night was $2.50, $0.50 for half a spice packet, $0.25 for the onion, $1.50 for the refried beans, $2 for the tomatoes, $1.50 for the canned black beans. Let's say $1 for the waffles. Maybe $1.50. That's $9.50, or $0.95/portion. Use TVP or cheaper meat in place of the buffalo, mix your own spices and cook your own beans, I bet you could cut that in half.