How To Eat On A Dime

So many of us and close friends and family are feeling the pinch; the money pinch specifically more than ever. I fondly remember my mother who grew up in the Depression of the 1930’s whose comment regarding today’s economic crisis was rather simple, ‘we (Us Americans) have gone through this once before you know…there’s nothing new about trying to save money when feeding your family. You simply have to be creative’.

Now my mother was one of those who taught me much in the kitchen, whose home cooked meals mostly from scratch since I think I can only recall two or three ‘pre-made’ products in our home, the occasional Campbell’s soup can, the box of Biscuit, and the Manischevitz Split Pea Soup Mix which we would make often when there was left over ham, yeah, I know, not very kosher, then again we were not Jewish or other religion that would make eating ham a naughty thing.

But here starting with a ham, I share my tips and ideas on how to eat healthy and affordably stretching your meals into more, just by getting a little more creative and learning how certain foods can go a long way to feeding your family. Dorothy Parker probably quoted Irma S. Rombauer (Joy Of Cooking in the 1930’s) who coined the phrase; Eternity is two people and a ham. And these women were both correct, regardless of who actually came up with the phrase that still holds true today as it did in 1930’s.

But I share this with you; ham is one of those affordable meats that once cooked, can turn into a variety of dishes with a little forethought. I chose to list a main dish which then can be turned into many other dishes along with links on how to make them.

The chosen foods for today are Baked Ham and Roast Chicken.

Baked Ham Dinner – can then be turned into these favorite meals…

• Navy Bean Soup
• Quiche with ham
• Western Omelets with ham, sliced bell peppers and onions
• Pasta Carbonara or Penne a la Vodka
• Sliced Ham Sandwiches
• Ham Hash
• Grilled Cheese Sandwich with ham
• Go all out with Eggs Benedict – from the food network website

Roast Chicken can then be turned into these fine meals:

• Chicken Quesadillas with Caramelized Onions and Goat Cheese
• Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
• Chicken Soup
• Chicken Tetrazzini
• Chicken Salad – a list of their favorites from Epicurean.com

Rosh Hashanah Dinner Menu – Happy New Year

This past Monday I made (with some help) a large and super tasty meal for my very first Rosh Hashanah Dinner. I may not be Jewish, but my guy is and we thought to make a nice meal for several of our friends, one couple whose wedding we had just gone to days before. So to keep the festivities going from their new wedding bliss, my guy and I sought out to create one heck of a meal.

I learned a lot including adding a few new dishes and appetizers to my arsenal of recipes, all of which came out wonderfully. I share them with you here. One thing that I found most interesting what that you eat certain foods to help start the new year sweetly – so that it is sweeter than the previous year. I am all for that. And certain foods are quite traditional as well such as pumpkin, pomegranates, honey, whole fish, just to name a few. Let me share with you some of the reasons as to why you eat these foods and the thoughts behind them.

By eating a head of a fish…yes, you make a large whole fish is “to help represent being ahead for the new year, and not ‘be’ the tail for the new year”…thankfully my guy’s brother is making this one..2) eating a new fruit or apple with honey, so help bring in sweetness to the new year and that your new year will be sweeter than the last year…3) also foods such as beets, pumpkins, spinach, dates, pomegranates.

One particular cool thing about the pomegranates is that they supposedly contain 613 seeds. Thus, Jews display their desire to fulfill God’s 613 mitzvoth (commandments from the Torah) by eating the pomegranate. ok I did not know that…

I will provide all the recipes in a separate post.

So our party menu is the following:

• Sliced apples dipped in honey (the honey was from a local farm and was incredible!) to start (tradition I’m told) all said with a beginning prayer for the meal/feast.
  
• Clear chicken soupwith special spices
• Spinach patties and leak with ground beef patties (new to me, my guy and I made these – and they were fantastic! You make them the night before and serve them up cold.
• Whole fish served in a creamy super light sauce with chopped tomatoes (will have to ask my guy’s brother for the recipe – it was amazing and looked incredibly pretty)
• Super Salad which resembles a Greek salad with fresh feta cheese, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, red onions, parsley, tomatoes with only fresh lemon juice and olive oil. This was mostly all vegetables and very little lettuce at all.
• homemade hummus – (already posted)
• homemade tortilla chips and toasted pita bread
• cilantro pesto (posted)
• zahatar and olive oil for bread dipping (posted)
• cilantro bean salad (my dish – posted)
• honey glazed carrots
• steamed green beans with then toasted almonds, garlic and drizzled olive oil (posted)
• Cilantro Basmati Rice (posted)
• A huge Roasted rib eye roast (posted)
• Yorkshire pudding and homemade horseradish sauce (ok this is totally me, but heck, give this wasp girl a break – lol)
• pumpkin pie and pecan pie from scratch
• Honey Cake (very traditional and kosher as well)
• then the usual wine, coffee lattes, turkish coffee, etc.

This was followed by followed by two days of cleaning…was it worth it all?… You betcha! You could tell everyone was so impressed (always love that factor, I admit!) – the food was super tasty, beautiful looking and was enjoyed by all…as it turns out, I did have left overs and have been making some interesting new dishes which I will share in another post….Chef Maven

Happy New Year!

Authentic Penne a la Vodka with Proscuitto and Peas

This authentic restaurant-styled penne a la vodka dish will truly amaze your friends and family, they will bow down to you.

Impress them easily while serving this up with warm crusty garlic bread and salad for a complete meal.

See below for additional variations on this dish including using chicken or shrimp and/or additional vegetables.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound penne pasta
• 10 slices of Prosciutto de Parma (American Prosciutto ok to use if budget doesn’t allow) !***Ask butcher/deli person, to slice it thicker than normally, say 1/32″-1/16″ thick
• 1 and 1/2-2 cups of freshly grated Parmasean de Reggiano Cheese (please no green can stuff cheese ok?)
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 2 cups heavy cream, (light cream and half-n-half ok to use)
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 medium onion diced small
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Kosher salt and fresh crack pepper
• 2 shakes of crushed red pepper
• 1/2 cup vodka – more if you had a bad day, in a separate glass of course…
• 1 cup of reserved pasta water

Equipment needed: Deep skillet to make sauce in and large enough to add cooked pasta in later (I use my “Le Creuset” Le Creuset 10-Inch Skillet deep frying pan since I can bring it right to the table”), and pot for pasta to boil in. Also needed is a whisk and pasta strainer.

Directions:

1. Put water in pot to boil for pasta. Once at a rolling boil, then add dash of olive oil and 1 tablespoon of salt.
2. Get out your skillet, start to heat it up on low without any oil in it at first.
3. While skillet heats up on low, dice up that onion and slice and dice up prosciutto.
4. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter to skillet and bring heat up to medium-medium high, once butter is bubbling, add diced onions and sauté till almost translucent.
5. Grate cheese at this point and set aside momentarily.
6. Add prosciutto, crushed red pepper and freshly cracked black pepper and let it brown slightly – maybe five minutes, at this point throw the pasta in the boiling salted water and set your timer for 10 minutes.
7. Add garlic to skillet, continue to sauté 2 minutes.
8. Next turn off heat from under skillet for a moment, carefully add 1/2 cup vodka. Take second sip of your own vodka from your glass and return to paying some attention to what’s in the skillet.
9. Put heat back under skillet to medium-high.
10. With whisk, scrape bottom of skillet to get all those great extra bits I like to call “flavor enhancers” that have formed from the sugars of the onions and prosciutto.
11. Keep stirring till vodka is almost 1/2 evaporated (roughly 3 minutes) and add that can of tomato paste you forgot to open before, put heat on medium low, continue stirring.
12. Take another sip from your glass and stir up that penne pasta so it doesn’t stick, ok you are doing a great job so far! Now, back to the skillet.
13. After 3-4 minutes, add cream, whisk to incorporate cream into what’s cooking in your skillet.
14. Once cream starts to bubble, add 1 cup of grated cheese, and stir some more.
15. Taste-test penne pasta, it should be “al dente” but at least cooked through (no white inner rings). Drain pasta but try to reserve at least one cup of the pasta water.
16. Throw peas into sauce along with pasta. Call troops to table.
17. If sauce is too thick for your liking, you can “stretch it” by adding some of the pasta water or if you are a dangerous one who likes to live on the edge, add a little more cream.
18. Taste-test sauce, add salt to your liking.

Serve your Penne a la Vodka dish proudly, tell them someone else has to clean up and get ready to be bowed down to…relish in your royal achievements and have someone else fix you up another glass – hey you had a bad day right? Well you are off to having a fantastic night starting with this amazing dish! Enjoy! Use the remaining grated cheese to top off your plated dishes.
I have many other recipes here at my Divaliscious Dinner and blog – come on by

Alterations and Additions to Penne a la Vodka Ideas:

1. Like shrimp? Add de-veined with tails removed shrimp to skillet after prosciutto has browned prior adding vodka. Same with cut up chicken breast.
2. Want veggies in? Add frozen or fresh veggies to pasta water five minutes before pasta is finished.
3. You can also use ham or bacon or a combination instead of the prosciutto.

I have done all variations with excellent results. Let me know if you liked it once you tried it!