Hobo Whatever: Bastardization Galore

Being the first week of the month, it's Hobo Tuesday time. I actually made this on Tuesday too. Forgive me, it's been a busy week, and that's why I'm only posting now. Truth be told, I'm not actually sorry and there's nothing you can do about it, so you'll just have to deal.

Luckily for both you and me, this ended up being a very delicious dinner that pulled double duty, creating a full fledged 2 meals for 4-5 people. Oh snap. On top of it all, the original dinner was vegetarian (and easily made to be vegan) and the second version, actually vegan.




I've probably lost you and you're likely wondering what it is I'm blathering on about. Well, if you'll recall, Michelle over at Thursday Night Smackdown hosts Hobo/Tight Ass Tuesday the first Tuesday of every month. And every month has themes. This month, we were charged with creating a fusion dish all while keeping it to $5 for 2 or $4 for 10. Fusion cuisine: Why bastardize one culture when you can shame as many as possible at once? For a while I was stumped. I was baffled. What could I possibly do?

Not wanting to be "that guy" and throw fallafel in a taco shell, I devised the following. It occurred to me that Italian and Thai cooking share a number of ingredients, concepts and even cooking methods. With this realization, I started formulating something of a curry tomato cream sauce.

Thai Red Curry, Tomato and Coconut Milk Sauce with Ravioli

2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbs thai red curry
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
zest of 1 lime
1 tsp sugar
7 oz lite coconut milk
salt and pepper

1 60 pieces ravioli

Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add garlic and onion. Cook until onion starts to become translucent. Add curry and mix well. When the curry becomes fragrant, after about a minute or two, add tomatoes, lime and sugar. Let simmer for 30-40 minutes. Blend thoroughly. (I love my immersion blender) Add the coconut milk and let simmer for at least another 20 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the water for and cook the pasta. Season the sauce to taste, plate and serve!

You will only need about half the sauce for 5 servings of ravioli.

Pan Fried Potato Crisps

4 medium white potatoes
cooking spray
salt

Wash potatoes well and slice 1/3" thick. Heat 12" sauce pan or skillet. Coat well with cooking spray. Place potatoes in a single layer in the pan. You will probably need to do this in two batches. Cook until browned, about 10 minutes, flip and do the same on the other side. Remove from heat, sprinkle with salt on both sides. Enjoy.

Cost Break Down
olive oil - pantry
garlic - pantry
onion - FREE!
tomatoes - $0.50
sugar - pantry
curry - pantry
lime zest - (what the hell is the zest worth? let's say...) $0.25
coconut milk - $0.50

frozen ravioli - $2.67

potatoes - FREE!
cooking spray - pantry

Total: $3.92 for 5 servings or $0.784 each.

So, first, the free potatoes and onions came with a coupon. We walked into the grocery store last weekend and were handed a coupon. Free 5lb bag of potatoes, 2lb bag of onions and 2lb bag of carrots if you bought of roast of 3lbs or more. So obviously we did. The roast made a lovely meal and leftovers of hot open faced sandwiches. I'm still working my way through some of the root vegetables. Obviously. Also helping with the price is truly that only half the sauce is needed. Don't worry, that was used and has all been eaten as well. So has the poor zested lime in my new favorite addiction.

For the other portion of sauce... Peel 4 white potatoes. Cut into about 1/2" cubes. Boil for 15-20 minutes until soft. Drain. Combine sauce, potatoes and about 3/4 bag thawed frozen peas. Heat through, serve over rice.

Whip It Up: Week 5: Spicy!!

So. A few apologies first.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post. They're locked away in my camera until I can find the associated cord. Silly me didn't have my memory card in the camera whilst taking them and I was hoping to find the cord while packing. This didn't happen.

The second apology is for missing the deadline. All that packing I was doing was so that I could move. This past weekend. I was smart enough to have the foresight to make this dish on Monday this past week, but that's where my non-moving-dedicated energy stopped. Do I still get credit? I hope so!

In terms of this week's theme, I really like spicy food. These days, the spicier the better. When I was little, I didn't much care for spicy food at all. But the past few years I've enjoyed it. The past few months, I crave it from time to time. I've also recently been introduced to the jalapeno popper. The kind they have at pizza places with the dubious yellow "cheese" doesn't even come close to the creamy-amazingness of the cream cheese kind that they served at a local establishment. Yes. Served. When I found out this particular app was being taken off the menu, I knew I would need to figure out an alternative.

So a few months ago, I set about looking for a baked (because I don't much care for frying at home, but more because I wanted it to be a healthier option) jalapeno popper with cream cheese recipe. As a part of my search, I found, made and fell in love with this recipe. Yes, I know. It's Emeril. But you know that I didn't buy his Essence. I mixed my own.

And one night, not long before Whip It Up, while making these poppers, I had a thought. Why not take the greatness that are these jalapeno poppers and combine them with another of the greatest recipes of all time. And that's when the idea for this week's submission was conceived.

The day I made this, I wanted to look online and see if this was a truly original idea, or if it'd been tried before. This was the first link I found (and the only real recipe I saw in the small amount of time I spent looking). I almost didn't make it because she had made it. But then I remembered how I was thinking of making it, and it sounded a thousand times better than her recipe. I'm glad I didn't back out.

Jalapeno Popper Baked Macaroni and Cheese

1 lb pasta (I used medium shells)

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1 10 3/4 oz can Campbell's Cheddar Cheese Soup
3/4 soup can 1% milk
1 tbs cayenne pepper
1 tbs cumin
6 jalapeno popper, seeds and ribs removed. cut in half the long way then sliced
1 28 oz can diced or petite diced tomatoes
3 oz shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese

Bread Crumb Topping
1/2 c plain bread crumbs
2 1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp salt
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried leaf oregano
1 tsp dried thyme

Preheat oven to 350.

Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. When the water is boiling, add pasta and cook until a minute or two under al dente. The medium shells took 10 minutes. Drain the pasta well, and rinse immediately with cold water to stop from cooking any further.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients of the bread crumb topping and set aside.

Meanwhile, blend together cream cheese, and cheese soup. When combined, add the milk and spices. In a 9x13 casserole dish, combine the cheese mixture and pasta. Next, add the tomatoes, jalapenos and shredded cheddar cheese. When well combined and distributed evenly in the dish, sprinkle with the bread crumb topping.

Place in the oven and back for 45-55 minutes until the cheese is bubbling and topping brown and crispy. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Enjoy!

So...

Was it good?
Oh my goodness yes. I was somehow able to restrain myself from eating the entire dish in one sitting. It made it all the way to three meals, or six servings.

Was the recipe easy to follow?
I was sort of making it up as I went along - but this is a merge of my grandmother's baked macaroni and cheese, which is fantastic and easy and those poppers, which is the same.

Will I make it again?
You bet your butt I will. And if you're lucky, maybe I'll share.

Unexpected Goodness

I have, what is probably an irrational, distinct dislike of Martha Stewart. So imagine my surprise when trying to figure out what was in my farm share last week and then figuring out what to do with my apparent fava beans, I came across a person who modified a Martha Stewart recipe that I wanted to try.

But then when I went to make it tonight, I figured out I had only the orzo and shallots. And so using it as an inspiration, that is where our two recipes part ways. Whew.


Orzo with Green and Fava Beans

1 1/2 c. dry orzo pasta
1 shallot diced
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs capers
1/4 - 1/2 c. shelled fava beans, white casing removed
1 c. green beans, cut to 1" lengths
1 glug white wine (about 1/4 cup)
1 tbs dijon mustard
6 - 7 slices turkey bacon
2 tbs fresh diced parsley
shaved parmesan
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 415

Fill a medium pot with water, salt lightly and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente according to directions on the box. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water to stop cooking.

Place turkey bacon on a baking sheet and place in oven until crispy. About 15 minutes. No need to flip. Remove from oven until cool. Dice/crumble.

Add olive oil to pot. When heated, add shallots and capers until shallots are translucent. Add white wine, dijon mustard. Combine well. Stir in cooked orzo and bacon. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and add parsley.

After plating, top with parmesan shavings.



Personally, next time, I wouldn't add the capers. That's it. I would have liked more fava beans as well, but I used all I had. The contrasting crunch of the green beans was very nice.