Between the rise in the shopping basket due to the war in Ukraine -despite the fact that general inflation moderated at the end of 2022, food increased by 14.3% per year -, and the January slope, preparing healthy, delicious dishes that don’t leave our wallet shaking begins to seem like a pipe dream. But there are still accessible fresh foods that we can turn to to fill our car and stomach with the approval of nutritionists, and techniques to cook them in a way that also pleases our palates. Yogurt, eggs, whole chicken, some vegetables, seafood, fish and preparations such as tofu offer many possibilities at an affordable price, and today we will tell you how to get the most out of them.
EGGS
They are not only nutritionally very interesting; they can also be prepared in so many ways that we could eat them daily without getting bored (if you don’t get out of the French omelette, here are a lot of ideas). The most practical way to have a lot ready to add to all kinds of dishes is to make them hard; but never overcooked: put a large pot with about three liters of water to boil, or enough to cover the eggs completely and a couple of fingers more. When it boils, carefully put in a dozen eggs – take them out of the fridge a while before to avoid thermal shock – and reduce the heat to almost the minimum. After 10 minutes -12 if they are XL-, take them out and leave them in very cold water or with ice to stop the cooking: they are ready to use, completely free of that green line and the sulfurous whiff that overcooking gives. If when you peel them you always take half of the white, try this trick: put them in a jar with a finger of water, cover and shake for three or four seconds and the shell will come out on its own. You can also use a glass and your hand as a lid.
CABBAGE
A great misunderstood that has suffered a bad press due to overcooking, easy to redeem by applying a short cooking… or not at all. Eliminate the toughest parts -you can save them for other preparations- and cut the cabbage into fine julienne (better if you have a large and sharp knife). Put it in a bowl or salad bowl with a little salt and give it a little one-minute massage, so that the salt is distributed well. Peel and slice four to six garlic cloves and brown them over low heat in four to six tablespoons of olive oil. When they are ready, add a teaspoon of paprika to taste -I like it spicy and smoky-, stir it for a few seconds, add a splash of vinegar and wait for it to boil (be careful with this step: if the garlic or paprika burn , they will bitter). Add a peeled and finely chopped sweet onion and stir with a spoon or spatula. When it doesn’t burn, give it a massage so that the dressing penetrates better and add a handful of olives; You can eat a part now and take the rest to the fridge. It lasts four days quietly, in which its flavor will change -more powerful- and its texture (it will soften): it is good alone, with rice or cooked potato, with any canned fish, in a pasta or legume salad or in sandwiches or toast with avocado and a boiled egg for five minutes.
WHOLE CHICKEN
Although it has also gone up in price, if you buy it whole it is still reasonable (proportionately, those made from breasts, thighs, etc., have gone up more). Cutting it at home is not exactly difficult: you only need a cutting board and a sharp knife, In this video you can see how to do it, but if you don’t feel like it there is a very simple way to roast it in a short time: the one known as “butterfly chicken”. Just make a cut on each side of the spine and flatten it to leave the chicken open and completely flat, ready for a herb or spice marinade and subsequent baking in the oven which will take about 30 minutes, or a A little more to add some vegetables to serve as an accompaniment: in this video we tell you everything.
Do you want to further optimize energy consumption? You can cook two at the same time, extending the cooking time by a few minutes. Bone the one that you are not going to eat at that moment and separate the meat into serving containers (not for one person, but for those of you who are going to eat it; at home there are three of us who eat chicken and a boneless chicken is considered two servings) . You can make croquettes, cannelloni, sandwiches, salads, to fill avocados and a lot of other dishes; Here we already leave several ideas to use it. You can also freeze it: it is much easier to release what is already cooked than raw food. Do not even think about throwing away the bones and skin: add them to your next broth -along with the spine removed from the chickens- and they will give it a deep and delicious flavor.
CARROTS
Every time you turn on the oven and have room left over, fill it with carrots and let them cook for about 30 minutes, flipping halfway through. When you take them out you can chop them up and season them to taste while they are still hot -they look great Moorish- and you will have a healthy snack or accompaniment that lasts for days in the fridge. Other options are to add them to a hummus, any vegetable cream or a mashed potato. Don’t you usually turn on the oven? Use the air fryer -about 25 minutes at 180 degrees, turning them also after about 12- or a low casserole with a lid over low heat (and add a little oil and a splash of water from time to time to generate steam, also moving them a couple of times).
NATURAL YOGURT
In addition to all of its sweet options, think of it as a blank canvas on which to make all kinds of creamy dressings. You can start by leaving four yogurts for two or three hours on a strainer so that they lose part of their whey -if you add salt and leave it longer you will get labneh, another very interesting option to use in savory dishes- and take a look in your cupboard and fridge. Do you have oregano, capers and dried tomato? Dice the tomato and go ahead. Tender garlic and lemon? Very thinly sliced young garlic is very aromatic and milder than the bulb, and a little juice and lemon zest, salt and pepper will complement it perfectly. You can also use curry powder, any fresh or dried herbs, or spice mixes like za’atar or ras el hanout. With the resulting sauce you can liven up salads, steamed vegetables, cold poultry or fish remains, boiled potatoes or lentils with vegetables.
POTATOES
We will tell you about it here, but it is a good time to remember it: peel and cut four or six monalisa or kennebec potatoes into medium pieces, put them in a silicone case or in a simple deep dish covered with another, with a little water in the bottom so that the potatoes are steamed and not dry. You put a pinch of salt and seven or eight minutes at maximum power in the microwave, a couple more minutes of rest as it is, and when you uncover them, season them with olive oil, paprika, herbs or whatever you prefer. You can also add a splash of milk and butter and turn them into a rustic puree, simply by mashing them with a fork or, if you have one, a potato masher or potato masher for a finer version.
blue whiting
Looking for white fish at a more than reasonable price and easy to cook? The blue whiting – lilies, apriles, codfish, mairas, codfish or perlitas – greet you. It is important to ask for them to be gutted at the fishmonger as soon as possible because they may have anisakis -this has nothing to do with their price or quality: hake, sea bream or monkfish are also easy to have – and look at them afterwards to check that they are clean. With the gut and head removed, they don’t need much more than finning and a bit of seasoning; which can range from a touch of salt to a marinade with oil, garlic, lemon juice and parsley. It only remains to decide how we want to cook them: floured and fried, baked for about 15 minutes, grilled -without glue to minimize the smell, if the pan or griddle have seen better days, you can put a baking paper so they do not stick- three to four minutes per side or steamed in a microwave case for five to six minutes. The air fryer at 180 degrees is also a good option, putting a little oil on them with a brush or spray (about eight minutes with five of preheating, turning halfway). We will add some time to all cooking if the blue whiting is large.
mussels
The most economical seafood, and a flavor bomb that we can get a lot of out of. A very simple way to prepare them, which saves us time and energy if we are going to eat them without the shell, is to wash them well on the outside and steam them open, removing the beards later easily with the help of scissors. Reserve the liquid they have released, strain it if it has any impurities and use it to flavor a simple pasta with garlic and parsley, adding the meat of the mussels already off the heat so that they do not cook. Are you still lazy to clean them? Its pickled or natural version -they don’t have to be the biggest ones in the supermarket, save those for the appetizer- also serves to add them to quick stews made with a stir-fry of onion, tomato, garlic and a jar of legumes or salads.
TOFU
Although it is already easy to find in all kinds of supermarkets, it is in Asian food stores where it is best valued: a half-kilo block of a firm consistency costs around two euros (the silk and semi-firm versions a little less). , smoking, etc usually more). There are many ways to consume it: add it to stews or stir-fries, crumble it to make scrambled eggs -with black salt or kala namak we can give it an egg flavor, a good substitute for vegans and allergy sufferers-, integrate it into smoothies or turn it into a creamy sauce with little fat that serves as a light substitute for mayonnaise. For the firm version there is a trick that allows us to give it all the flavor that it does not come with as standard: by freezing it, thawing it and putting some weight on it, we will remove all the water that it has inside, and with a subsequent marinade we can refill those hollow with our favorite flavor. If we lightly sprinkle it with cornstarch before sautéing it over high heat, we will also get it to be very crunchy on the outside.
#fresh #products #cheap #ideas #cook
