Stew

Stew is a great, cheap dinner that's hearty and filling. Add a crusty baguette and it can be perfection. We usually do ours in the slow cooker, because it's easier and tastier, as it helps break down the tough connective tissue found in the cheaper (and more flavorful) cuts of meat. I prefer beef, but lamb or pork works just as well. Just make sure you get a cut that's from a heavily used muscle, such as a shoulder, otherwise the meat will end up cooked to death. I find a good ratio to be one part meat (I use a package of stew beef), one part potatoes, and one part carrots (one pound of each works well for a small slow cooker). For added flavor and better texture, brown the meat in a skillet before putting it in the slow cooker. Add one onion, cut into wedges, and some garlic if so desired. A can of tomato paste also adds a fuller texture and better color, as well as some flavor and sweetness. Salt and pepper to taste. Once you have everything in the slow cooker, just fill it up with enough water to cover all the ingredients, and go to work. Eight hours later you'll have a delicious stew. Four hours should be enough on higher heat, but a longer, slower braise makes for meat that's fall-apart tender. For a more Moroccan flair, try adding some cinnamon and cloves to the mix. For a more Irish stew, add some peas, cabbage, and stout beer, and don't use tomato paste.

Pizza

Pizza is a great cheap meal to make, and usually gives you plenty of leftovers as well. Pizza dough is essentially a quick and easy bread, and as such costs almost nothing to make (I never have to buy any ingredients specifically for pizza dough). The following recipe is based on this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I don't find it to be anything like Papa John's pizza dough, as stated in the recipe, but it is delicious nonetheless. This recipe makes enough dough for two pizzas, or one pizza and a batch of bread sticks (which is what I do), and is enough for a 12" pizza and 4-6 medium-sized bread sticks. If you like a thicker pizza crust or want more dough for bread sticks, scale this recipe up about 25%. Equipment you'll need: whisk, wooden spoon, one or two large mixing bowls, two pizza pans (or pizza pan and baking sheet, etc.; enough space for two pizzas and/or breadsticks), dough blade.


Pizza Dough


Ingredients

2 1/2 - 3 c. bread flour
2 T. sugar
2 7/8 t. active dry yeast
1/2 t. salt
1 c. very warm water
2 T. oil


Proof the yeast by whisking it, the water, and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Let dissolve for 5 minutes. Add 1 c. flour, whisk to combine. Add the oil and salt, whisk to combine. Add more flour, 1/2 c. at a time, until the dough become too stiff to stir with a wooden spoon. On a floured counter, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, adding more flour as needed if the dough is sticky. It should not be stiff, but if it sticks to your hands badly it needs more flour. Oil a large mixing bowl and set the dough inside to rise.

Preheat the oven to 450. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about an hour, or until doubled. Divide the dough in half with the dough blade. Take one half, round it into a ball, and press down to flatten it. Place it on the pizza pan and press and stretch it to cover the pan. You want less dough in the center, especially for a crispy bottom, and more dough on the outsides, especially if you like a thick chewy crust. With the other half, do the same, or cut it into 4-6 pieces to make bread sticks. The easiest way to make bread sticks is to pat and stretch the dough out into a rectangle, then cut it into long sticks with the dough blade. If so desired, roll each one gently between your hands to smooth the sides. Place in a rimmed baking sheet, close together if you like softer ones with larger holes inside, or farther apart if you like denser, chewier ones with crispy crusts. Once all your dough (pizza, bread sticks) is shaped, cover it with oiled plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise for at least 5-10 minutes. Prick the pizza dough with a fork to prevent large bubbles under the toppings. Prebake the crust (without any toppings or sauce) for 5 minutes. This is called "blind baking" a crust, and helps keep it from getting soggy or being underdone. If you're making bread sticks, you can bake these while you're topping your pizza. Bake them for about 5 minutes. Once the pizza is topped, put it back in the oven for 4-5 or until done.

As for sauce and toppings, you can put whatever you like on the pizza. Unfortunately cheap tomato sauce tends to be runny and flavorless, so it's often advisable to leave it out entirely, or just put on some olive oil and garlic, if you can't afford the good stuff. Alternatively, you can make a white pizza by making a cream sauce with some asiago or parmesan cheese. Cheese, again, is something you don't want to skimp on for a pizza. Stay away from anything too bottom shelf or "low moisture". The best is a mix of cheeses, heavy on the mozzerella. Grocery stores often have store-brand "pizza cheese" blends that work well. If you're in a spendy mood, get some good mozzerella and add a bit of asiago and parmesan (parmigiano reggiano if you're really spending the big bucks). Fresh basil is great. If you buy 2-3 basil plants toward the beginning of the growing season, you'll probably have as much fresh basil as you care to use until winter. Pepperoni is another American classic.

Pictured on the left is a traditional cheese pizza with tomato sauce, spiced up with some dried basil and oregano and Murray River pink salt. On the right is another red sauce pizza, with pepperoni and fresh basil (be sure to put the basil on after the pizza comes out of the oven). Accompany with a caesar salad if desired.

Lunch ideas

A lot of cheap lunch ideas don't involve making anything. Often it's cheaper to buy the mass-produced items you can find in the supermarket, though that doesn't mean they taste better. The freezer section is a good place to look for cheap meals. Our grocery store has an entire section of frozen meals for $1 each. They're not fantastic, but it's better than ramen and not much more expensive. Pre-packaged mac and cheese is another good option, especially if you spice it up a little yourself. I usually add some good salt and a few dried herbs, such as basil or oregano. Sandwiches are another good cheap option. If you make your own bread, sandwiches should only end up costing you about $1.25 a piece. PB&J is always a good option, though not as cheap as everyone seems to think because of the high price of peanut butter. I usually go for turkey or roast beef, with some sharp cheddar and various other accoutrements. If options like these just don't fill you up, add some chips or bread. Homemade chex mix is a great way to go, especially if you leave out all the expensive nuts. In today's world of eating organic, eating local, eating healthy, people like to look over the fact that some of us are just trying to get enough food to feel full throughout the day. Carbs are a great way to create a more filling meal without spending more money.

Pasta

Pasta is a great way to eat a filling meal for cheap. For basic pastas such as macaroni, fusilli, spaghetti, fettucine, etc., it's cheaper to buy dried pasta at the store. Barilla usually runs around $2 for a pound of dried pasta of any type, and the store brands are sometimes less expensive if you buy a large package. Filled pastas are usually cheaper to make yourself, since at the store they come with expensive ingredients already inside and need to be refrigerated. The recipe is going to differ depending on what you're making, but typically you'll start with a pile of flour with a dimple in the middle, into which you'll drop a few eggs (and usually some salt or other flavorings). The key is to mix in just enough flour so that the dough is the right consistency, and then set aside the rest of the flour for rolling out the dough. We like to fill our ravioli with a mixture of ricotta, gorgonzola, and parmesan.

A note on cheeses: it's often the case that fancy, expensive "natural" food stores (e.g., Whole Foods, Wild Oats, Good Food Store) will actually have cheaper cheese than the big chain stores. Around here, 5 oz. of parmesan at Albertsons runs you about $6, while at the Good Food Store you can get half a pound for $4, as well as parmegiano reggiano for around $18/lb. (vs. almost $30 at the supermarkets). You'll also find a much better selection. The long-aged gorgonzola we get we can only find at the Good Food Store, and it's only about $3 for enough cheese to last at least the week. Ricotta's rather expensive, but a little cheaper to make yourself. Recipes abound on the web, but the basic premise will be to heat some whole milk, add some vinegar and salt, and let it sit for a few hours for the curds to form. Then you just have to strain it and you've got some home-made ricotta.

Then comes the question of what to put on the pasta. Decent tomato sauce can be expensive, store-bought or home-made, so we usually opt for a bechamel (though gorgonzola ravioli are also good with a pureed sauce of onion and garlic). A bechamel is essentially equal parts fat (I use butter, but margaine or olive oil works as well) and flour to make a roux, which is then cooked for 5-10 minutes to give it more flavor and take out the floury taste. Then you add some milk, bring almost to a boil to thicken it, and then add whatever cheese or other flavoring you want. I always add salt, black pepper, white pepper (for a little more kick without too many black specks in the sauce), and nutmeg (freshly grated is best if you don't want it to taste like Christmas eggnog). For cheese I almost always through in some parmesan, and supplement that with either romano or a mixture of gruyere and gorgonzola. Good additions to any pasta include bacon (mmm...bacon) or frozen peas (one of the cheapest vegetables out there).

Bagels

I just recently started making bagels, because I like bagels, and good ones are expensive. The cheapest ones I've ever been able to buy are $2 for half a dozen, and they have the consistency of cardboard. Homemade bagels, on the other hand, are delicious, easy to make, and really cheap; the recipe below, which makes eight, costs less than a dollar, barely over a dime per bagel. The recipe comes courtesy of John Lee.


Bagels


4 c. bread flour
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1 T. vegetable oil
2 1/2 t. active dry yeast
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 c. warm water


Let the yeast proof for 5 minutes in 1 1/4 c. warm water and sugar. Add flour, salt, and oil. If the dough is too dry, as in the picture below, add a little more water, up to 1/4 c.


Knead the dough for 10 minutes, then divide into 8 equal balls and let rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425. After the dough has rested, take each ball and roll it into a long snake. Take the ends and squish them together (I dip both ends in water to make them stick). You want a good bit of overlap so when you squish the ends together they end up the same thickness as the rest of the bagel instead of much thinner.



Let the bagels rest for 20 minutes, and in the meantime bring a pot of water to a boil. Grease a large baking sheet with some vegetable oil. After the bagels have rested, it's time to boil them. I do two at a time. Put them in the water, let them boil for a minute, then flip them and let them boil another minute. Remove each batch from the water and let dry on a paper towel as you finish the rest. Once they're out of the water, feel free to sprinkle on some sesame seeds (my personal favorite), poppy seeds, salt, whatever you want. Once all the bagels are done, put them on the baking sheet and put them in the oven for 20 minutes. John recommends flipping them halfway through for evenness. As for myself, it's quite a pain and I don't mind if the tops are a little more done than the bottoms, so I usually don't flip them.

Scones

Scones are great for dessert or breakfast, especially with some freshly whipped and unsweetened cream. Making scones is essentially the same as making biscuits, but with the addition of sugar and cream. This recipe is again based on Joy of Cooking.

Craisin Scones

Preheat the oven to 425, and have a large ungreased baking sheet ready. Whisk together 2 c. AP flour, 1/3 c. sugar, 1 T. baking powder, and 1/2 t. salt. Add 6 T. unsalted butter, cut into cubes. Incorporate the butter with your hands, a pastry blender, knives, forks, however you want (I use my hands), but make sure the butter doesn't melt and turn into a paste. This mixture will look basically the same as when making biscuits.


Stir in 1/2 cup craisins (or dried currants, or raisins, or whatever you want in them). Add 1 c. heavy cream and 1 t. grated orange zest (freshly grated!). Mix with a wooden spoon until incorporated. Knead the dough against the bottom of the bowl 5 to 10 times. Transfer to a floured surface and pat or roll the dough to about 3/4" thick. At this point I usually cut 2-3" squares and then cut these in half, yielding triangular scones that are 2-3" on the short legs. Put them at least 1/2" apart on the baking sheet, then brush with cream. Bake until the tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes (keep an eye on them starting around 12 minutes, depending on your oven). Let cool for a few minutes. I like to brush on some pomegranate molasses, which is another one of those products which seems unnecessarily expensive but will last forever. We use it in everything from poultry dishes to salad dressings to desserts. It's great as a glaze on top of pastries.

Baguettes

Many people shy away from breadmaking, but when I started making my own bread this summer, I found that it really doesn't take much more than a little patience and some elbow grease. If you're interesting in getting into breadmaking, I can't recommend highly enough Rose Beranbaum's The Bread Bible. (And buy it online, don't be a chump like me and pay full cover price.) Not only does the book have great recipes, but it also explains the purpose of various steps and the importance of doing them just so. The recipe posted here is essentially the original, except that I've adjusted the yeast amounts for active dry yeast instead of instant yeast; I find active dry is easier to find and cheaper. I also use bread flour instead of unbleached all-purpose flour, since I find this makes for a bit of a chewier texture. If you prefer a lighter loaf, use AP flour (but not the regular bleached kind).

The first step in making baguettes is to make two different starters, or preferments. The purpose of these is to let the yeast and flour ferment a bit before mixing the actual dough. This way the final loaves have much more flavor. I typically allow about 48 hours for making baguettes, so if I want fresh bread for dinner on Saturday I'll make the starters Thursday evening. It's not necessary, but it sure makes for a better tasting loaf.

One of these starters is called the "scrap dough" or pâte fermentée, which traditionally was a bit leftover from the last batch of bread you made. Since the amount of yeast used in these two starters is very slight, start by measuring out 1/4 t. of active dry yeast and mixing it with 1/4 c. of warm water. This is going to be the "yeast water" that's used for both starters. The water should be warm but not too hot. My general rule is that if it's comfortable for me, it'll be comfortable for the yeast. Active dry yeast needs to be awakened a bit, so let the yeast water sit for about 5 minutes before using it. I usually just mix it together in my measuring cup with a small whisk.

In a small bowl, stir together 1/4 c. plus 2 1/2 T. bread flour and 1/4 t. salt. Add 2 T. plus 2 t. of the yeast water. Stir until mixed with a wooden spoon. It'll be a stiff dough, so I usually just use my hands towards the end.


Resist the temptation to add more water. If the dough is absolutely too dry, wet your hands and knead it in the bowl a bit. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 3 hours, then refrigerate overnight.

For the other starter, or poolish, mix 1/2 c. plus 1/2 T. bread flour, 1/2 T. of the yeast water, and 1/4 c. plus 1 1/2 T. of warm water. Stir until incorporated. This dough will be much wetter, about the consistency of a batter.


Cover and let ferment at room temperature overnight (the book recommends 11 1/2 to 16 hours, but up to 20 won't hurt). In the morning the poolish should be risen slightly and covered with bubbles.


Now it's time to make the dough.

Stir 1/4 t. yeast in a large mixing bowl with 1 1/2 T. warm water. Add another 1 1/2 T. of warm water to the poolish to loosen it. Once the yeast is dissolved, add 1 c. plus 3 T. bread flour. Pour in the poolish. Stir together, as before kneading together by hand if the dough is too stiff for stirring. Cover and let rest 20 minutes.

Knead for 7 minutes. My experience is that at this point the dough is firm enough that you don't need to add any flour, but if your dough is too sticky to work, add some more flour by coating your hands and kneading surface and working it in.


Put the dough in an oiled bowl or other rising container. For the first hour, give the dough a business letter turn every 20 minutes (i.e., a total of 3 turns). A business letter turn involves taking the dough out, stretching it (not pressing it!) into about an 8x5 rectangle, and folding it in thirds like a business letter. (This is the kind of stuff that's a lot easier if you have the book, since it's full of illustrations. Buy it!) This is my dough after the first turn.


Once you've finished the 3 turns, let the dough sit undisturbed another 1-2 hours, for 2-3 hours total rising time.

Once the dough has risen for 2-3 hours, take it out and cut it in half. Take each piece and stretch into a rectangle, then start at the top and roll the dough into a stubby log.


Mine are actually pretty long; yours can be much stubbier. Let rest 30 minutes. They'll probably puff up just a little.




Take your stubby logs and stretch them back into rectangles, then do the same thing again (this process makes the dough more elastic). The end result will look about the same as it did the first time.


Let rest 30-45 minutes.

For the final shaping, gently stretch the baguettes to whatever length you want.

Baguette pans are great for this, but as you can see, a regular baking sheet works just fine. Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least 5 hours).

Take the baguettes out of the fridge at least 1 1/2 hours before baking. Preheat the oven to 450 one hour before baking. In the oven, preheat a baking sheet (with rim) at the lowest level, and put your other rack just above it. When your baguettes are ready to go in, dump 1/2 cup of ice (4-5 large ice cubes) in the rimmed baking sheet and slide in the baguettes. The ice will create steam, which humidifies the oven and keeps the crust from setting before the dough has risen fully. Bake for 30 minutes. I always turn things around in my oven halfway through to ensure even baking. When they're done, cool them on wire racks if you have them.