Savory Bread Pudding w/ Ham, Spinach and Cheese

So I baked some whole wheat oatmeal bread from a '70s cookbook that called for far too much yeast. What to do? Savory bread pudding, one of the original frugal foods back before mass-market bread. This is potentially a pantry dish too and substitutions abound.

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf stale bread, cut into 3/4" cubes (no, don't measure)
• 6-8 eggs (start with 6)
• 2 120z cans evaporated milk (have some reg. milk in the fridge just in case)
• 10oz shredded cheese (I used Havarti, because it was on special at Aldi, plus a leftover hunk of Gruyere)
• 1 lbs ham, diced 1/4" or so (you could also use cooked bacon, sausage, or no meat at all)
• 2 boxes chopped frozen spinach
• 3 leeks, white parts only, chopped and cleaned thoroughly (substitute yellow onions to save $)
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Saute leeks in olive oil until golden, add garlic and cook 1 more minute
• Cook spinach and drain of all water (I nuked it and then squeezed it in a clean kitchen towel)
• In large bowl, combine the milk, eggs and seasoning and whisk thoroughly to combine
• Add all the other ingredients except the bread and combine
• Toss the bread in until all liquid is absorbed. Test a couple bread pieces. If not soaked through, whisk together some more eggs and milk from the fridge and add (sorry, bread varies too much to be exact)
• Place in a large, oiled casserole dish. I used a 9x13 plus two individual-sized ones to take over to Sharon's place. The mixture should fill to about the 2" mark in whatever dish you use.
• Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes. It should rise a little and brown in spots on the top, but careful not to burn the bottom.

Frugal Factor: Bread, aprox. $2 worth of ingredients. Ham, $3.50 at Aldi, spinach $2, leeks, $3, cheese, $3.50 at Aldi, milk and eggs, $2 (est.). That's $16. I made 8 generous portions, so that's $2/portion. Still frugal. As much as I love them, the leeks really do some damage. And of course, truly leftover bread has already been bought or left at your house by party guests or something.

Sauerkraut, Ham and Kasha (slow cooker)

This isn't a complicated recipe, but it was delicious. Buckwheat groats, a.k.a. Kasha, are one of the healthiest and filling things you can eat, loaded with protein. Only this is, while I have had wonderful Kasha at Russian restaurants in the Far Northeast, mine always tastes like socks. However, toss it with sauerkraut and the flavor is much better (assuming you like sauerkraut).

Ingredients:

• 1 Bag Fresh Sauerkraut, rinsed
• 1.5 lbs. smoked meat (I used the remannts of a ham and three smoked turkey drumsticks)
• 1 tsp. caraway seeds and
• tsp. thyme
• 1.5 cups buckwheat groats
• 2 cups stock
• 2 tbs. butter
  
  

Directions:

1. Toss the first four ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on low until meat is falling off bone. Remove bones.
2. Put the groats, stock and butter in a saucepan, cover, bring to a boil and simmer 20 minutes
3. Add cooked groats to kraut and meat slowly (until it's about 1/3 kasha and 2/3 kraut.
4. Season to taste.
5. Eat.

Frugal Factor: Ridiculously cheap. $1 for the groats, $1.50 for the kraut, $2.75 for the turkey legs. That's $5.20 for four portions, or $1.31/portion.

Liberty Cabbage (Ham n' Sauerkraut)

When I was a kid, my dad used to get a whole bunch of wursts and pork from the German butcher and cook them with sauerkraut in a Romertopf - a semi-porous clay roasting pan and lid. Today, I use my slow cooker. It's pretty much the same idea.

Any collection of pork products will do, particularly the large or fatty pieces that need slow cooking like shoulder, hock, etc. Cured sausages and franks are great too (uncured ones will dry out). In this case, I used some ham that's been in the freezer since Thanksgiving (to make way for a new ham) and some German-style franks that were getting a little freezer burned.

I also added potatoes and a few herbs and spices which really add to the flavor, mainly coarse mustard, caraway seeds and savory. The latter two are rumored to reduce the social liabilities of cabbage. I don't know if that's an issue with a fermented product like sauerkraut, especially after six hours of cooking, but they are mighty tasty.

I'm not much for these raw food people, but raw sauerkraut is loaded with vitamin C. Canned sauerkraut is not, so I suspect cooking reduces the vitamin. That is why I reserve 1/4 of the kraut to stir in after slow cooking the rest with the pork. At minimum, it adds a little crunch that is lost in the cooking. If it wards off colds and improves your digestion, even better.

Ingredients: 1 32 oz. bag sauerkraut, 2 lbs diced potatoes, 1 sliced yellow onion, 1-3 lbs of pork, 1/4 tsp. caraway, 1/2 tsp savory, 1 tbsp coarse grain prepared mustard.

• Put potatoes and onions in bottom of slow cooker
• Drain sauerkraut and put 1/4 aside for later
• Layer kraut with the meat and herbs and spices
• Cook on medium (autoshift) for 8 hours or so
• Stir in reserved raw kraut.
  

Serves 6

Frugal Factor: Hard to say. The kraut was on sale for $1 (that's why I bought it) but usually it's $1.50. I went lighter on the meat - 3 franks and 1 lbs ham. That's $5 or so. The mustard, savory and caraway would probably be about $0.50. Potatoes about $1.60. So you're looking at about $8.60 for 6 servings. That's $1.43/serving. You could do it for less or more.

Note: One nice variation if you have more time is to make buttery mashed potatoes separately instead of cooking the potatoes w/ everything else. If you really want to go nuts, fry up some crispy diced bacon and sprinkle on top. That's how you change this from a weeknight meal to Das Sonntags-Abendessen. And hey, if you have a Romertopf, break it out (just remember to soak it in water and put it in a cold oven).

Red Beans and Rice

First thing I ate in New Orleans after a 20-hour drive w/ Gene during spring break of 1998. Went to some place Adrienne took us to by Tulane where they didn't card me for the Turbo Dog. Nothing tastes as good a spicey food and cold beer after a 20-hour drive. This actually tastes pretty close to the real thing. It's not a hard dish to make and it's pretty forgiving as to the specific ingredients, as long as the beans are red and the cayenne pepper pours freely. I might just have to go to the distributor for a case of Dog and listen to Tom Waits*

Ingredients: 1 lbs dried kidney beans, 1/2 lbs diced smoked sausage , 1/4 lbs diced ham, approx. 3 cups stock (ham is good), 1 diced onion, 4 diced celery stalks, 5 diced or pressed cloves garlic, 2 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp thyme, 1 tbsp cumin, 1 tbsp sugar, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste (I like lots), 2 cups rice (cook separately), 1/2 bunch scallions

• Soak beans and cook until soft (I put them on high in the slow cooker for a couple hours)
• Drain beans, place back in slow cooker or pot
• Add all the other ingredients (except the rice and green onions), pouring in stock to cover about an inch over the beans (more if cooking on stove)
• Cook on medium (auto shift on mine) overnight in slow cooker or for a couple hours on stove, stirring often.
• Blend 1/3, either in a blender or by just lightly using an immersion blender.
• Taste, season if needed. Add stock if it gets too thick.
• Serve with cooked rice and garnish with green onions.

Serves 6 (not 5 for once)

Notes: I like to do the presentation shown above with the beans in a shallow bowl w/ a 1/2 cup mould of rice on top, but when I freeze portions I just throw them together because you end up just mixing it all up anyway. If you don't want to deal with the blender, another method is to season a little more heavily and use a little more stock and add a can of unseasoned refried beans to get the right consistency.
I used your basic smoked sausage or kielbasa at the supermarket because I had some in the freezer, but to do this right use andouille would be authentic and Niman Ranch has one but the only price I could find online was $10/lb - maybe cheaper in Whole Paycheck store or something at TJ's. For the ham, tasso is authentic but I don't like it. Dry hot Capicola sliced extra thick from a deli would actually be great.
This can also be a good vegan dish too, but that's a completely different recipe I'll offer later on. If you want to try and let me know, I would think you would want to use a chipotle pepper for the smokey flavor, double the onion and celery and slow-cook it, maybe with some red peppers for texture, and use some extra spice

Frugal Factor: Beans, $1.50; Sausage, $1.50 as prepared but maybe $4 to get good stuff; Ham, $1 as prepared but $2 if using capicola from Shop Rite or something; Rice, $0.50; onion, celery, scallions and spices, $1.00. So, $5.50 as prepared or $9.00 as recommended. That's $0.92-$1.50/serving.

*I'll drink you under the table, be red-nosed, go for walks,
The old haunts what I wants is red beans and rice
And wear the dress I like so well, and meet me at the old saloon,
Make sure that there's a Dixie moon, New Orleans, I'll be there

Ham and White Bean Soup

When I divided up a spiral ham into portions to freeze a while back, I wasn't too stressed about getting all the meat of the bone. I froze that too. Used it today in this super-simple soup. Sorry, this is more eyeball than recipe. ALERT: TWO DAY RECIPE (as written - if you are a better fat skimmer than I, maybe not)

Ingredients: 1 ham bone w/ lots of meat on it, 1 32 oz can diced tomatoes, drained, 1 halved onion, 1 diced onion, 2 spears celery, 1 lbs dried white beans (cooked separately to a slightly al dente state), 1 shredded cabbage, 2 russet potatoes, 1/2 tbsp. each of rosemary, sage, thyme, and savory (savory is optional but helps in the digestion of beans and cabbage, which is helpful if you don't live alone in the woods)

• Put ham bone in a pot and submerge in water with the halved onion
• Cook on medium low until meat has fallen off the bone
• Pour into another container through sieve. This is your stock
• Separate bones from meat and refrigerate meat (throw bones away)
• Refrigerate stock overnight, remove fat from top and discard (or save it it that's your thing)
• In pot, pour defatted stock over all the other ingredients (if you have more stock than you need, save some for something else... like red beans and rice)
  
• Cook until everything is tender. Add more salt, a hit of better than bouillon or whatever to taste. You can scoop out some of the beans and potatoes and mash them up for a richer texture.
  

Serves 12

Frugal Factor: Off the charts but here's my best estimate: $4 for the ham bone (prorated from the whole 3.99/lb ham); $1.50 for the beans; $1 tomatoes; $1 cabbage; $1 for everything else. $8.50 total, 12 servings $0.71/serving.

Dried Lima Bean Casserole w/ Ham and Potato

This is a winter meal if I ever had one, and beans are the most frugal of foods. It doesn't look like much and at first, I wasn't even going to blog about it, because it was too dry and bland. However, I thinned the leftovers out with some water and portioned them for freezing and, when I ran out of most everything else, I ate some. It was good. It just needed some more time, water, and reheating. Stewed things are like that sometimes. Borrowing a little from a French cassoulet, I made the beans in a crock pot, microwaved a potato to slice up and stir in, and baked in a skilled w/ some torn-up bread tossed in butter. I used a bouquet garni of leek, fresh thyme, fresh rosemary and whole peppercorns but the directions below just call for throwing in the herbs and grinding in the pepper at the end.

Serves 5.

Ingredients: 1 lbs dried Lima beans (or any white bean), 1 leek, 1 onion, 1 spear celery, one carrot, 1/4 lbs ham, 1 12 oz can chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp. fresh thyme (or 1/2 dried), 1 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp dried and crumbled if whole), Add salt and pepper and olive oil to taste after beans are cooked and one baked/microwaved potato, sliced w/ skin removed.

• Pick through beans in case of rocks (I really did find a rock once), rinse and place in a pot.
• Pour in enough water to that there are two inches above the beans (if possible, use filtered water - the minerals and such in tap water can make the beans harder)
• Bring to a boil, turn off heat and rest one hour.
• Drain beans, rinse and return to the pot (or transfer to a slow cooker)
• Dice all the other ingredients and add to pot (except salt, pepper and potato)
• Add 1 cup filtered water to pot
• Cook on medium heat until beans are soft, stirring when neccesary and adding a little more water if needed*
• Add potato
• If desired, top with fresh bread chopped finely or pulsed in food processor and tossed with melted butter and/or olive oil. If you used a dutch oven or a shallow slow cooker insert to cook your beans, you can transfer it right to oven. Otherwise, use an ovensafe skillet, pie plate or casserole.

*Beans may soak up more or less water depending on exact heat, the tightness of the lid, humidity and age of the beans.

Note: Slow cookers have apparently come a long way and have all sorts of settings and timers. Mine is from the 70's, however (I found it its original unopened box in a South Philly Goodwill years ago) and has three settings: low, high, and "autoshift". The latter gets to the highest temp than cycles to low so you don't have to stir. The low setting does not work for dried beans.

Frugal Factor: $1.50 for the beans, $1.25 for the ham (I bought a whole spiral sliced bone-in ham for $3.99/pound at Thanksgiving and froze individual portions of ham), $1 for the leek, $1 for all the other vegetables. The herbs I grow, but dried would be about $0.25. That's $1/serving. Yup, beans are cheap. I like beans.