FREE FOOD!
By Francesca Arniotes
I’m writing in early January on a snowy day that took us by surprise. That is a welcome situation since we have been very busy and the schedule is pretty full going forward. But ah, today. Today there is nothing on the calendar. So we have the woodstove going in the sunroom with its floor to ceiling windows looking out onto fresh,
still-trackless drifts in the wintery woods. On top of the stove there is a pot of water with a chopped onion, a chopped carrot, cubes of potato, a few leaves of shredded cabbage, some kale I found in the back of the vegetable crisper, the ends of three zucchini, broccoli stems, and some cooked lentils left over from our New Year tradition. Lentils signify prosperity in the Italian new-year-good-luck tradition, shaped as they are, like coins. I had saved the pan drippings from our pork roast (another good luck charm for January 1st), and seizing the opportunity to put it to excellent use, I discarded the fat and added the rich amber jelly to the pot. And there were 2 rogue campari tomatoes hiding in the fruit bowl! Now the house smells delicious and we are looking forward to having soup for lunch and later this afternoon after snowblowing the driveway.
I consider this soup free food, since none of the ingredients was purchased for the purpose and none was enough on its own to make a meal. It’s cooking on the woodstove – no electricity or gas required. Incidentally, since it’s simply fresh veg and water, it’s free food in another sense: I can eat as much as I want! The whole pot has about 20 calories and a ton of water, although there are plenty of micronutrients. I drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil on, which adds a hundred calories but also adds excellent health benefits, luxurious texture and wonderful flavor.
There are a lot of free meals in our kitchens if we pay attention and invest a few extra minutes. People who had grandparents who lived through the Great Depression likely learned to waste nothing. A lot of that kind of discipline got lost in the second half of the twentieth century. These days the cost of groceries may give us pause and a reason to think harder about how to get more out of what we buy.
Let’s stick with soup for a minute. Instead of throwing away or composting carrot or potato peels, celery ends, onions skins and scraps, the ends of vegetables, and things that got overlooked and went a little wrinkly or soft, make soup. No time today? Put them in a baggie in the freezer until you have time. Roasted chicken is nice, but if you spatchcock it, you can make soup later with the wing tips and backbone instead of tossing them in the trash after dinner. Mix some flour, salt, pepper and a beaten egg together, drop the batter by spoonfuls into the boiling broth and you have a free meal.
Chicken, by the way, is not the most inexpensive meat any more, especially if you buy boneless breasts or thighs and if you have left that waterlogged commodity chicken behind in favor of air-chilled, pasture raised birds. It might be an appealing time to buy whole chickens and learn to cut up and debone them yourself. You have no waste and the lowest cost. For $10, a humanely-raised and clean, air-chilled chicken can be turned into three, four, or even five dinners for two people. Bone the breasts and slice one into strips for stir-fry with vegetables for two. Thin cutlets from the other, slicing through the thickness, make two servings of chicken piccata, or bread them for crispy fried chicken cutlets or chicken parmigiana. Boneless thighs will make Cuban chicken and rice (using your homemade broth), or Taiwanese popcorn chicken, Creole chicken and peppers or just grill them. Cut the wing tips off for soup and cut the wings into two at the joint. Pop them into a baggie and freeze until you have enough for a buffalo wing ding party. And the back and all those bones you pulled out go into the freezer if you don’t have time today to throw them into a pot of cold water with a piece of onion and a bay leaf and make a rich broth. Maybe toss in all those vegetable scraps you’ve been saving. Strain the broth and keep some for cooking rice or making gravy by putting 4 or 8 ounces into ziplock bags and freezing. Make soup from the rest by adding some salt, chopped carrots and onions, a little tomato, greenbeans, corn, peas, canned beans, whatever you like. When the vegetables are cooked, add leftover rice or quinoa, or cook soup pasta, like acini di pepe or stars, right in the broth. Make a salad, slice some bread and enjoy your meal.
Many of us use potatoes without peeling them for extra nutrition and fiber. But I have a few recipes that call for peeled potatoes. Wash the potatoes and let them dry. The peels become a guilt-free, vitamin-rich, roasted salty snack by tossing them with just enough oil to wet my hands and placing them on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until they are crispy and golden. Sprinkle with salt and watch them disappear.
See if you can find more free food. You’ll find that little extra time in the kitchen pays!
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