So I’m sitting on a meatball recipe that was SUPERGOOD. And it only used one and a half cups of wine, so there is still plenty left in the bottle.
In the next few days, I’m going to be posting a few booze related recipes. Tomorrow is beer bread!
(4:24:38 AM) ME: lots of alcohol
(4:24:53 AM) Paul: THAT IS HOW I COOK
(4:24:59 AM) ME: that’s how i drink
reblogged from christatos
So my roommate Colin just pointed out that my BBQ sauce has SO MANY ingredients, to which I responded that most of the ingredients are spices. The rest of the recipe involves a can of tomatoes ($1 for the Safeway or Lucky Supermarkets brand), brown sugar (so sweet and delicious), water (apparently San Francisco’s tap water is some of the best in the nation? I think someone told me that once), and bourbon (keep your liquor cabinet fully stocked at all times. For cooking reasons, obviously). And this is how I live my life.
Because I’m on a pretty tight budget, I buy basic ingredients such as canned tomatoes, frozen spinach, black beans, uncooked rice, meat and the like (“$1.89/lb chicken at the Lucky? I’ll have 13 pounds. Prec. Where are your freezer bags?”) and stock up. Then when I get around to cooking them, I flavor them up however I feel. With spices.
Right now I have Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, Ground Mustard, Sweet Basil, Red Curry Powder, Hot Madras Yellow Curry Powder, Onion Powder, Red Pepper Flakes, Paprika, Chili Powder, Garam Masala, Turmeric, Saffron Powder (Thanks to Sarah’s trip to Palestine/Israel!), Za’atar (Again thanks to Sarah), Ground Ginger, Sesame Seeds, Pepper, Iodized Salt, Sea Salt (it’s more fun when it’s in a plastic grinder), Tandoori Spice Mix, and Bay Leaves.
And almost all of these I got on sale or for cheap. I’ve started walking down the spice aisle every time I go into the grocery store to see if anything is on sale. I also check out farmers markets and places online for good deals. There’s a chef’s supply store called Le Sanctuare in San Francisco that has a pound of Bay Leaves for $4; A pound at Safeway is going to cost $20 or $30 at least. The next time I run out of oregano (which is going to be pretty soon, I’m going there to get a pound for $11. $3 an ounce or $11 for 16 ounces? Hmmm….
And before you start to think that if I do that then there is no way I can possibly use all of those spices before they start to get stale and lose their flavor, I agree. I cannot possibly. But then I’ll just add more. Which I’ll have. Because I bought an entire pound of it. I’ll only have to buy Oregano once every two years—something that is great for my budget. Besides, There isn’t any way I can use up all my Onion Powder before it starts to get weaker, and I’ve only got 3/4 of an ounce of that. Think big.
So the moral of the story is to show the versatility of plain ingredients by spicing them up and/or down. But I like it spicy, so at my table, that’s what we do.
I love to cook, and I love to eat. And part of both of those loves comes from the fact that standing around my kitchen beating eggs by hand or simmering tomatoes until they break apart is a great way to relieve stress brought on by four group projects and can build up a healthy appetite.
And what I clearly need is more of an appetite. So I’m going to post my recipes and pictures of the finished product (both the winners and the epic failures) and wax poetic about each and every morsel of my favorite meals. After a while, maybe I’ll get around to printing these out, but for right now we’ll keep it online only.
