Ginger Ice Cream

Yields about 1 quart
Total Price: NY $ 5.56 (with one leftover egg and 5 leftover egg whites)
Price per scoop: NY $0.46


This recipe makes a custard-style ice cream, which isn’t my favorite but which the LBUH adores. Since we had leftover egg yolks, I decided to make this for him. The ginger makes this sweetly spicy, but still relatively mild. A great after dinner dessert, particularly as ginger is said to aid in digestion. As you’d expect for something made with egg yolks and heavy cream, this dish is more decadent than its is diet-friendly. But it still has lots of vitamins and minerals, some protein and calcium, and as long as you don’t scarf down the whole quart (Hey! LBUH, back away from the freezer! Leave the spoon where I can see it!), its not entirely out of place on a website devoted in part to healthy eating. This is delicious topped with crumbled ginger snaps.

(UPDATE: We've been Slashfooded! "Ginger Ice Cream - Feast Your Eyes")

Ingredients

• Small knob (about 3 inches) fresh ginger (NY $0.58)
• 1 cup milk, whatever kind you keep on hand (NY $0.30)
• 2 cups heavy cream (NY $2.49)
• 5 egg yolks (NY $2.19 for half dozen)
• ¾ cup sugar (staple)
• Pinch of salt (staple)
• Optional: chopped crystallized ginger (staple: if you don’t have any already, I wouldn’t bother buying just for this recipe)

Directions
Scrub the outside of the ginger thoroughly, but there's no need to peel. Slice the ginger root in half lengthwise. Rest each cut side down your cutting board for stability, then slice lengthwise into very thin long slices.

Put the slices in your saucepan and add about two inches of water. The ginger slices should be covered and have a little less than an extra inch of water to float in.

Blanch the slices by bringing the water to a boil, and then continue bowling for approx. two minutes.


Pour the ginger root into a colander to remove the water, and then return the ginger to the saucepan.

Add the sugar, salt, milk, and half of the cream to the saucepan and reheat, being careful not to bring to a boil. When the mixture is warm, remove it from the heat and let it sit covered for at least an hour so the solution absorbs the flavor from the ginger.

When the hour is almost up, pour the rest of your cream and the crushed crystallized ginger into a large bowl, place a mesh strainer on top, and place the bowl in an ice bath.*

Reheat the saucepan containing the milk/cream/ginger solution. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the ginger slices.**

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together, and then slowly pour in the contents of the saucepan while continuing to whisk the eggs.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and reheat over low to medium heat. Continuously stir with a spatula, making sure that the egg/milk solution does not stick to the sides and bottom of the saucepan. Keep stirring and scraping the sides until the mixture begins to thicken.

Once the mixture is evenly coating your spatula, pour it through the mesh strainer into the large bowl containing the rest of your cream. While the bowl is in the ice bath, stir the mixture until it is cool.

Place the mixture in your refrigerator and chill for about 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Adapted from David Lebovitz, Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

*I filled the kitchen sink with a mixture of ice cubes and enough cold water so that the bottom half of the bowl was submerged.
** You can try nibbling on these while you continue to make the ice cream: the LBUH loved these, although I did not.


Nutrition Facts per scoop

Calories 197.2	Vitamin B-12 2.9 %	Manganese 0.1 %
Total Fat 15.1 g	Vitamin B-6 1.2 %	Niacin 0.2 %
Cholesterol 71.8 mg	Vitamin C 0.8 %	Pantothenic Acid 2.1 %
Sodium 39.3 mg	Vitamin D 5.5 %	Phosphorus 5.1 %
Potassium 67.5 mg	Vitamin E 1.5 %	Riboflavin 4.8 %
Total Carbohydrate 14.7 g	Calcium 5.3 %	Selenium 2.1 %
Fiber 0.0g	Copper 0.3 %	Thiamin 1.2 %
Sugars 12.5 g	Folate 1.2 %	Zinc 1..4 %
Protein 1.7 g	Iron 0.3 %
Vitamin A 12.1 %	Magnesium 1.3 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Salmon Cakes with Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce

Makes about 15 cakes
Total price: NY $10.33
Price per cake: $0.69


As we’ve said before, we’re not willing to give up fish entirely until the Great Recession is at last over, but we’re not about to go splurging on wild bluefin tuna these days either. Enter fish cakes. This version uses canned salmon, which is very inexpensive. These are topped with tzatziki, a riff on the traditional tartar sauce accompaniment.


Tzatziki has a similar smooth creamy mouth feel punctuated with crisp bursts of green, and also contrasts nicely with the texture of the fish cake, but is a lighter and more modern alternative.


Ingredients
For the Salmon Cakes:

• 2 cans salmon (about 6 oz. each) (NY $3.98)*
• 3 stalks celery, finely diced (about ¾ cup) (NY $1.69 for bag of 2 bunches)
• 1 small onion, finely diced (about 1 cup) (NY $0.59)
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise (staple)
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard (staple)
• 1 tbsp drained pickle relish (staple)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (NY $0.50 for 1 lemon)
• ¼ teaspoon paprika (staple)
• ¾ teaspoon Worchestershire sauce (staple)
• 2 dashes hot sauce (staple)
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs (staple)
• 4 tablespoons canola oil (staple)

For the Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt (NY $1.99)
• 1 cucumber (NY $0.99)
• 1 tsp lemon zest (uses the same lemon from above)
• 1 tsp lemon juice (uses the same lemon from above)
• 1 clove garlic (NY $0.59 for one head)
• Pepper (staple)

Directions
For Salmon Cakes:
Crack open the salmon cans, and empty the salmon into a small colander to drain. (Warning: if you have a puppy, she will become most decidedly under foot at this point. The opened cans will be, ummm, fragrant. If you’re new to canned salmon, I promise the final result won’t smell like this! Of course your puppy thinks it smells just divine right now.) Flake the salmon in the colander, then transfer to a medium bowl. Combine chopped celery and onion with the salmon in the bowl. (If any small bits of salmon still cling to the colander at this point, put it on the floor for the puppy, who will now love you forever. Or at least until somebody else starts to look like he might take her outside to play.) Salt and pepper to taste, and fold together gently with a rubber spatula.


In a small bowl, combine mayo, mustard, relish, lemon juice, Worcestershire, paprika, and hot sauce, and then gently fold into salmon mixture.

In same small bowl, crack open one egg. Whisk vigorously, then fold into salmon mixture along with ½ cup panko. (Shoo the puppy away with your ankle, as she will be inquiring as to who, exactly, will be licking these discarded dishes and spoons you’re going through.)

Pour out about another ½ cup panko onto a plate.


Using a spoon, pick up about a palmful of salmon mixture, and roll it gently between your hands to form a ball shape. Try not to overhandle the fish. Put the ball down onto the plate, and gently flatten to form a patty shape, about 2 inches across. Gently flip over to coat the alternate side with panko. Transfer to a flat-bottomed dish. Repeat until you’ve used all the salmon mixture, creating approx. 15 patties. (The puppy will reeeeeeallly want to know why she can’t have the nice fishy dirty bowl, especially since her mean owners haven’t fed her in weeks and weeks and weeks and she’s wasting away to nooooooothing. Stay strong: its had onion in it. Ignore the beseeching puppy dog eyes.)


Transfer to fridge to chill for about an hour, and move on to making the tzatziki sauce.

Remove chilled cakes from fridge. Heap 2 tbsps canola oil in non-stick skillet. Carefully transfer cakes to skillet. Be sure not to crowd them in the pan: give them some elbow room, this isn’t a subway car! Let them cook about 2 minutes, then carefully flip with an offset rubber spatula and continue cooking about another minute longer. Transfer to paper-towel lined plate to drain, then serve immediately, garnished with the tzatziki.


Directions for Lemon-y Tzatziki Sauce:
Seed and dice the cucumber finely, and mince the garlic.

Combine all ingredients in bowl, and put in fridge to chill and allow flavors to blend until ready to serve.

Any leftovers are delicious with pita bread, carrot sticks, or even tortilla chips.



Loosely based on Parade, October 2002

* We got boneless, skinless canned (Wild Alaskan but still inexpensive! High fives for the shopping coup!) at Trader Joe’s. If yours has skin and bones, pick out the skins. You can then either remove the bones or mash them into the salmon for extra calcium. I recommend the later option (the bones are soft cartiledge, and in these cakes you shouldn’t even be to tell that they’re in there) but if they skeeve you out, go ahead and dig them out.


Nutritional Information
Approximate values per cake

Calories 142.9	Vitamin A 2.0 %	Iron 4.0 %
Total Fat 9.1 g	Vitamin B-12 16.9 %	Magnesium 4.0 %
Cholesterol 13.9 mg	Vitamin B-6 5.8 %	Manganese 6.4 %
Sodium 212.5 mg	Vitamin C 5.2 %	Niacin 10.3 %
Potassium 163.0 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Phosphorus 10.1 %
Total Carbohydrate 8.3 g	Vitamin E 5.2 %	Riboflavin 5.1 %
Fiber 0.9 g	Calcium 8.3 %	Selenium 13.9 %
Sugars 0.9 g	Copper 3.1 %	Thiamin 6.4 %
Protein 6.9 g	Folate 5.0 %	Zinc 2.7 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Macaroni and Cheese with Tomatoes

Total price: NY $13.04/16.83
Price per serving: NY $1.30/1.69


Macaroni and cheese is arguably both the ultimate comfort food* and the ultimate budget food besides. You wouldn’t know it lately, however, as in recent years expensive “gourmet” versions have become trendy, chock full of eighteen kinds of expensive imported cheeses, loaded with pancetta, crimini mushrooms, and frizzled leeks, and even mounded with truffles.

This recipe gets back to what I consider to be the basics. When I was a kid, my mother always put a few tomato slices on top of her macaroni and cheese, which otherwise came straight out of the red-checkered Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. We always elbowed and jockeyed for the tomatoes, inspiring one memorable meal-time squabble that you already know the gist of if you've ever seen the “That caviar is a GARNISH!” scene in “You’ve Got Mail!” Are these tomatoes are good as caviar? You be the judge!


This version dramatically ups the quantity of tomatoes in my mother’s dish for two reasons: (1) increasing the fiber, vitamin, antioxidant, etc etc blah blah content of the dish and (2) decreasing fighting at the dinner table.

This recipe also deviates from tradition in one notable aspect by subbing out some of the cheese for chicken stock. The result is easier on both your wallet and your arteries, but is still creamy, cheesy and deeeeeeeelicious.


Ingredients

• 8 tomatoes (NY $4.77)
• 1 pound elbow macaroni (NY $1.49)
• 8 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated (NY $4.79)
• 2 cups chicken stock (NY $1.39)
• ½ cup parmesan cheese, freshy grated (staple or NY $2.80 for 5 oz)
• 2 cups milk, whatever kind you keep on hand (NY $0.60)
• 2 tbsps Parsley (staple or NY $0.99 for a bunch)
• Dash of Nutmeg (staple)
• Dash of Cayenne pepper (staple)
• 5 tbsps flour (staple)
  
• 1 ½ tsps. dried thyme (staple)**
• Salt (staple)
• Pepper (staple)
• 2 tbsps olive oil (staple)
• 2 tbsps butter (staple)
• Optional: breadcrumbs (staple)
  

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice tomatoes about ¼ inch thick. Spread tomatoes in a single layer on baking sheets. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp. dried thyme, salt to taste and chopped fresh parsley. Grind black pepper over. Bake until tomatoes have softened, approx. 20 minutes. Remove, but do not turn off oven.

In a pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until just on the crunchy side of al dente, approx. 5 minutes (or per package directions). Drain in a colander, and run under cold water to stop cooking. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour into ½ cup chicken stock.


Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in nutmeg, cayenne, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, and additional salt to taste. Pour in milk and remaining chicken stock.

Whisk in flour mixture, and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and bring to a simmer. Continue cooking approx. 8 minutes, whisking frequently.

Add cheese and cook, stirring with spoon, until cheese has melted.

Turn off burner, pour macaroni into pot, and stir to combine.


Line bottom of a 9 x 13 glass dish with a single layer of cooked, sliced tomatoes. Scoop up any loose juices on the sheets and pour those in the dish too. Pour macaroni mixture over. Top with another layer of tomatoes. If using, sprinkle breadcrumbs across top to your taste.

Bake until bubbly*** and golden brown, approx. 30 minutes. Serve immediately.



Adapted from Martha Stewart Living

* And can’t we all use some comfort these days? The LBUH recently had what we thought was a good lead on a job. He met a cool woman at a networking event who was hiring, and seemed very impressed by him. She told him to call her on a certain day to set up a time for him to come in and meet some other people and discuss what kinds of things he could do for her company. He called her as requested and asked if she still had time to meet that week. The response? “Sure, I’ve got pretty much unlimited time to meet this week, because *I* just got laid off.” Just in case you’ve been living under a rock: its hard out there these days. And apparently even the uber-wealthy are asking for mac and cheese these days.

** This is also delicious with fresh thyme if you have some on hand.

***Don’t you just love that instruction? I’m tempted to use it in all my posts. Hmmm, maybe I will in the future . . . (Okay, FINE I’ll leave it out of any future fro yo recipes. Happy now? Party pooper.)

Nutrition Facts

Approximate values per serving

Calories 257.4	Protein 10.8 g	Magnesium 7.5 %
Total Fat 14.1 g	Vitamin A 19.9 %	Manganese 13.3 %
Saturated Fat 7.1 g	Vitamin B-12 3.5 %	Niacin 11.7 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.9 g	Vitamin B-6 7.3 %	Pantothenic Acid 4.1 %
Monounsaturated Fat 5.2 g	Vitamin C 18.2 %	Phosphorus 19.2 %
Cholesterol 32.2 mg	Vitamin D 1.1 %	Riboflavin 13.7 %
Sodium 254.3 mg	Vitamin E 4.3 %	Selenium 24.0 %
Potassium 314.4 mg	Calcium 18.9 %	Thiamin 13.1 %
Total Carbohydrate 22.5 g	Copper 8.1 %	Zinc 8.0 %
Dietary Fiber 1.8 g	Folate 16.4 %
Sugars 1.1 g	Iron 8.6 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump