Recipes for when your bank account is literally begging you for a break
It's an Aldi week and one way or another, we'll make her delicious.
Hello, chefs.
Yes, I blasted through my grocery budget in 5 days this month. What of it?
The thing about me is if I have money, imma spend it. And that’s just going to be that. I’ve never been a saver and I’ve never been good about denying myself little (or big) joys just because it’s the prudent thing to do. My sister got the frugal gene and her future billionaire great-great-great-grandchildren will thank her for it. Me, though? Catch me in a Mallorcan cabana I paid for with the very last cent of my paycheck. And when I’m 95, I’ll be glad I did.
But! Just because I like to spend my money doesn’t mean I like to spend future me’s money. That’s a dumb way of saying that I don’t mess with debt. So to keep this train on the tracks, I’m an obsessive budgeter. For the last five years, I’ve written down every single purchase I’ve made, categorized it, and used that historic data to determine my annual budgets for things like travel, restaurants, more chickens, etc. I’m not a millionaire yet, but I do feel pretty good about my finances, which is much better than where I was at 25. (Also, if you want to start budgeting, I made my budget spreadsheet available here.)
For the months that I really want to dial my spending back, I’ve found that the easiest category on my budget to save on is food. Those grocery and restaurant bills stack up in a way that makes me believe in black magic.
So in February, my goals are to:
Spend $0 at restaurants (except a cute little Valentine’s day dinner)
Spend <$150 per week at the grocery (which means Aldi is about to be my btch)
The hardest part about a no-restaurant month is just planning your meals in advance so you’re not running to the grocery store every day. That gets real exhausting real fast. Having a pantry full of your go-to starches, cans, and root vegetables and a freezer full of meats and fish makes it way easier. My main girl Aldi is great for this.
This week’s recipes are ones that are easy to throw together with affordable and easy-to-find ingredients, which can be incorporated into a full week of meals (extra celery and carrot from the ribollita? Make a chicken salad! A simple braised pork loin! A crudite platter! The world is your oyster!). The trick is: just don’t throw anything away.
-Faith
Mark’s no-knead bread
One trick for making your food budget stretch: serving saucy meals with a big hunk of bread. Is making homemade bread obnoxious? Maybe. But is it cheap and delicious? Absolutely. Homemade or store bought, you’ll definitely want a loaf for this week’s meals.
This is an absolute classic and one I assume most of you had made before, but JUST IN CASE, here’s Mark Bittman’s version of a no-knead loaf:
The night before you want to eat it, mix in a large mixing bowl:
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour
a heaping 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups water
Mix until you have a shaggy, wetish dough. You might need a bit more water to get there; add it sprinkle by sprinkle. Cover with plastic wrap and put it in the warmest spot in your house.
After about 18 hours, sprinkle flour on a clean work surface and turn out your dough onto it. Sprinkle the dough with a bit more flour, fold it over itself once or twice, and loosely cover again with the plastic wrap (just leave it on your counter) for about 15 minutes.
Generously coat a cotton towel with flour. Gently shape your dough into a ball and place it on the towel, sprinkle with a bit more flour, and cover with another towel. Let sit for 2 hours.
30 minutes before your rest time is up, preheat your oven to 450. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats.
Place your dough ball seam side up in the hot pot, cover, and bake for 30 minutes. Then, uncover and bake for another 15 or until the top is golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack.
Steamed cod in garlic sauce
I am obsessed with steaming (or poaching) white, flaky fish in various sauces. Spicy tomatoes, ginger curry, you name it. This is a very simple favorite that I haven’t made in ages. Serve with bread for dipping and a big heap of some kind of roasted or steamed green—broccoli, asparagus, you get it.
Thaw your cod pieces, pat them dry, and season on both sides with salt and pepper.
Finely dice a whole head of garlic (or just use 2 heaping spoonfuls of minced) and a large shallot or any kind of onion, really. In a shallow pan (with a lid!), cook the garlic and onion in a generous drizzle of olive oil over medium until soft and fragrant. If you’re not opposed (I’m certainly not), a pad or two of butter is a great addition here.
Add 2 cups of chicken broth or white wine (or more, depending on how much sauce you want), the juice of 1 lemon, and season generously with salt and pepper. Let it simmer for 15.
Lay your fish over your sauce, cover, and steam until opaque and flakey, about 5 minutes. Serve with some chopped fresh parsley on top if you have it.
Ribollita
I made this for my boyfriend and he said it “wasn’t his favorite,” but he also doesn’t like beans, so I’ll let it slide. I also forgot to toast bread on top like a dummy (see photo). But here’s what to do to serve 4ish:
Finely dice one large carrot, one celery stalk, one onion, and 3 garlic cloves (or just use minced!). Add to a large pot with a few drizzles of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat until soft.
Dump a 28 oz can of whole tomatoes into a bowl and break up the tomatoes with your hands. Add the tomatoes and 1 can of drained chickpeas (or other white beans) to your pot of vegetables. Give it a stir and season with salt and pepper.
Add 4 cups of chicken broth and bring it all to a simmer. If you have a parmesan rind, throw it in. Season to taste - feel free to add some spice here.
Preheat your oven to 500 (yowza)
Slice up some bread and rub it with oil and garlic. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat under your soup and stir in a bunch of chopped kale and a squeeze of lemon. Top the soup with your bread slices and grate a whole bunch of parmesan over the whole thing. Pop in the oven until crisp, about 10 minutes.