Chard Frittata
Posted: June 30, 2009 Filed under: Phil Wrote It, Protein, Recipe, Veggies 7 CommentsHere’s the recipe for that chard frittata we made from the CSA haul last week.
Chard Frittata
1 bunch rainbow chard, stemmed and chiffonaded
1 medium onion, chopped
6 eggs
olive oil
salt and pepper1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a medium cast iron skilled sautee the onion and chopped chard stems in olive oil.
3. Once the onions and stems are softened, add the chiffonaded chard leaves and put a lid over the skillet. This will be a big pile of greens, so make sure to turn them periodically to make sure they get cooked all around.
4. Meanwhile, beat the eggs in a bowl with some salt and pepper.
5. When they chard is cooked down, dump the veggies into a collander and to let the excess liquid drain.
6. With the skillet reasonably dry, put a bit more oil in the pan and then layer in eggs and veggies.
7. Put the skillet in the oven and bake for half an hour, or until the top is totally solid. You might want to stick it under the broiler to brown the top.Enjoy!
If you want, you could top it with some shredded cheese. Or serve it in a sandwich like we did.
CSA Bounty Realized
Posted: June 29, 2009 Filed under: Photos 6 CommentsHere are some of the things we made with the CSA box before we went on vacation.
Swiss Chard Frittata Sandwich
Potato Escarole Soup
Spinach Ricotta Lasagne
Potato & Escarole Soup: Sadly, You’ll Have to Wait for Pictures
Posted: June 25, 2009 Filed under: Recipe, Soup, Tina Wrote It 3 CommentsLast night our little kitchen was a hive of busy activity. While we didn’t get around to the kimchi (we figured the cabbage would keep until Monday in one of our green bags), we did make an amazing frittata featuring a huge amount of Swiss chard, a big salad with the red-leaf lettuce, spinach/ricotta lasagne, and a potato and escarole soup that I am eating right now. This soup is fantastic and actually would work for summer. We doled out portions for our lunches today and froze the rest and I think this soup would be excellent hot or cold (I’m eating it semi-chilled). We were able to do all of that in about 45 minutes of prep time and now have good things to eat when we return. Thank you all for your suggestions! In the frenzy of cooking and packing, we took photos, but forgot to actually post them – get ready for those later.
In the meantime, here is the potato and escarole soup recipe.
Potato and Escarole Soup
Ingredients:
- 3-4 smashed cloves of garlic
- glug of olive oil
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 3 medium/large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
- water and freezer scraps (I’ll explain) or vegetable broth (optional)
- 1 large head of escarole, washed well and roughly chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
To Do:
- Sautee the garlic and the onion in a large soup pot with the olive oil until they are lightly browned and the kitchen smells good.
- Put potatoes in the pot and stir around a bit. Add enough water to cover the potatoes.
- If you have freezer vegetable scraps, wrap them in a cheese cloth and stick them in the pot too. Add more water to cover the freezer veggie bag and bring to a boil. If you don’t want to deal with the cheesecloth/freezer veggies, just throw in some regular stock. I have a hunch this will also work with plain ol’ water, but the addition of stock will make it richer. Cover with a lid and simmer for about a half hour or so. I think mine was on the stove for 45 minutes. Meh, I say. It’s just simmering.
- Take the pot off the heat and let cool for a while. Remove cheesecloth bag and use tongs to squeeze out excess broth (be careful its HOT).
- Throw in escarole and put lid back on the pot. Go pack things or do dishes or watch The X-Files. Give the escarole time to wilt. Add salt and pepper to your liking.
- Take out the solids and blend in a food processor or blender, adding liquid as necessary. Make your soup as thick or as thin as you like it. I like a medium-thick soup, so I had a quite a bit of broth leftover (which I strained and froze, waste not!).
- Soup can be served hot (winter, crusty bread, cheese sandwiches, etc.) or cold (salad, olives, cheese plate).
Possibilities Abound
Posted: June 24, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Ahh!, Tina Wrote It, Weekly Rundown 5 CommentsWe’re going to attempt some stuff tonight. Namely:
1. Spinach lasagne (freezing for later consumption)
2. Kimchi (ahhhh!)
3. Escarole and Potato Soup (freezing for later consumption)
That leaves us to eat the humongous head of lettuce and the chard. Maybe a frittata will be made from the chard and eaten tonight with a salad. I love the loose recipe that Anne left us in the comments (white beans, sauteed garlic scapes, wilted greens and Sriracha), but we are out of white beans.
Money Update:
- .99 – Yves Veggie “Meatballs”
- .99 – Yves Veggie Ground “Meat”
- 1.29 – Cheddar Cheese
- 1.49 – can of plum tomatoes
- 1.79 – eggs
- 2.99 – soy sauce
- 1.99 – lasagne noodles
- 2.79 – ricotta
- 1.00 – WW rolls (2)
- 1.20 – potatoes
Total: 14.32 + 8.07 = 24.39
Nature’s Amazing Bounty
Posted: June 23, 2009 Filed under: Food Lists, Phil Wrote It, Veggies 7 Comments
Like Tina said in the last post, a colleague of mine went out of down this week and donated her West Village CSA share to us. I went down to pick it up this afternoon and came away with the following items:
Bright Lights Swiss Chard: 1 bunch
Summer Spinach: 1 bunch
Napa Cabbage: 1 head
Red Leaf Lettuce: 1 head
Escarole: 1 head
Garlic Scapes: 6
Oregano: 1 bunch
Chives: 1 bunch
Needless to say, we are all set for produce this week, so we’re free to use our budget to stock up on some staples that are running low, like olive oil, soy sauce, salt, and maybe some Sriracha (which is honestly a staple for us).
The only thing is that we are going out of town this weekend for a wedding, so we need to use up these veggies stat, at least to make some food that we can freeze and eat when we get back. So far, we’re thinking we might try a spinach lasagna, and maybe some caldo verde. The cabbage, garlic scapes, and herbs will hopefully last until we get back.
If anybody has other suggestions for how to use this stuff in a hurry, let us know.
More food!
Posted: June 22, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Tina Wrote It, Weekly Rundown Leave a commentAdd another $2.71 to last week’s receipt (Brussels sprouts and lettuce purchase on Saturday evening). Our total came in at: $28.96.
This week we are lucking out (hopefully). A co-worker of Phil’s has offered their CSA box since they’re on vacation for the week and we’re heading to Cape May, NJ this Friday for a wedding. This is fortuitous timing as we are currently out of olive oil, soy sauce and salt. Started the week at Trader Joe’s where I bought:
- bag of carrots: .89
- extra virgin olive oil: 5.99
- mini baguette: 1.19
- TOTAL: 8.07
Let’s see where the week goes!
Food Purchase Update
Posted: June 20, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Photos, Tina Wrote It 5 CommentsSpent .99 on a loaf of bread from the Coop on Wednesday and just spend 3.50 on orange juice (on sale) and a dozen eggs. So our total for the week, so far (barring the infamous bourbon pour): $26.25
With some of those eggs, I made a lovely omelet for breakfast this morning. Garlic scapes are my new favorite thing.
Garlic Scapes and Goat Cheese Omelet w/Herbs from our window garden
Extreme Failures of Frugality
Posted: June 18, 2009 Filed under: Phil Wrote It 6 CommentsThis is a bit off-par for the usual 30/week subject matter, but was a truly memorable culinary experience, so I thought I’d share.
Tina and I have a friend from out of town staying with us for a night and decided it would be nice to take him out to a slightly fancy bar in Brooklyn that specializes in bourbon (a favorite of his and ours). Now, even though we don’t count booze in our core frugal budget, we do try not to break the bank when we go out for a cocktail. As such, the bourbon’s we enjoy tend to be of the mid- to low-range varieties. We enjoy a glass of Jim Beam or the basic Evan Williams. When we’re feeling a little fancier, we might splurge for some Bulleit or Woodford Reserve or Basil Hayden’s.
Anyway, the selection of dozens and dozens of bourbons spread out before us was a bit overwhelming, despite the very knowledgeable and helpful bartender. Amongst ourselves, we had a little conversation about whether the most expensive bourbon ($100/oz.) could really be twenty-five times more tasty than the cheapest ($4/oz). In any case, what happened was that I didn’t read the menu carefully enough and ended up ordering a bourbon that I thought was $10/glass (2oz), but discovered when it was set in front of me discovered that it was actually $34. What? Yeah. More than our entire weekly food budget for two ounces of liquid. Without the doubt the most expensive drink I’ve ever had.
However, this mistake did lead to us being able to find out whether the expensive stuff is really that much better. In this particular instance, boy was it. Parker’s Heritage bourbon whiskey might as well be a whole different beverage than the stuff we usually throw back. Frankly, I don’t know if have the language to offer an intelligent review of a bourbon, but this drink was just incredibly robust in flavor. When it first came out of the bottle, the smell of it was so sharp that I almost couldn’t put my mouth to the glass, but after a couple minutes it mellowed into a dark, rich odor of honey.
A truly epic budgeting failure (definitely couldn’t afford to buy a second drink) but through this happy accident I got to appreciate a drink that I never would have had the chutzpah to actually order for myself.
Homemade Veggie Burgers
Posted: June 17, 2009 Filed under: Beans, Recipe, Tina Wrote It 21 CommentsA lot of people want to know how to make their own veggie burgers from ingredients they can actually pronounce (I think you’re OK morningstar, but you have more than 10 ingredients in your grillers). For those of you who want something simpler, non-soy and tasty, I give you…The Bittman Bean Burger (scroll down, it’s the last recipe). Ever since this article came out in 2006 (wow), I have used it, recommended it to friends, modified it, etc. It is super simple and very tasty. I have made it with black beans, white beans, fava beans, kidney beans, lentils…whatever I have in the house. I have added egg or not (this week’s batch had no egg, just 1 tbsp flax seeds + 3 tbsp water = 1 egg), curry powder, cumin, paprika, scallions…whatever I have in the house. I have used rice, quinoa or couscous instead of the oats…whatever I have in the house. Are you sensing a pattern?
Since I’ve been making these for 3 years now, I usually wing the amounts and go by texture. I advise you to follow the recipe word-by-word for the first time. The key to is to let the mixture rest. Listen to Le Bittman. I also like to form the patties on wax paper, let them rest in the fridge for about 10 minutes or so and then cut around the wax paper – you can then just flip them into the pan while holding a piece of the wax paper.
You can cook them a bit over the stove top and transfer them to the oven if you want (around 350F). If you’re making a whole batch, bake them all and don’t forget to flip. You can wrap individually and freeze them for later too. If you make them with chickpeas, form them into balls and bake for faux falafel. Add lots of toppings and enjoy.
This Week’s Receipt
Posted: June 16, 2009 Filed under: $ Left, Tina Wrote It, Weekly Rundown 4 CommentsPhil got some nice fruit this week and I spent $1 for 4 onion rolls. Last night we had some fantastic homemade veggie burgers made with a mixture of fava and white beans with those oven fries (see below) and a big salad. Breakfast today was a pluot/apple galette I made last night. It wasn’t very pretty, so I didn’t take a picture, but it was so tasty that I think I’ll put up the recipe later.
Total spent: $20.76 + $1 (6/16/09 – Phil bought some rolls for us to have more veggie burgers for dinner tonight)= $21.76
30 Bucks a Week 
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