3 Ingredient Ideas

When I first started cooking, and not just the delicious dishes my mother and grandmother had handed down, but really exploring flavors on my own, it was at a time in my life when I didn't have a lot of cash. So I'd read my various food magazines (this was pretty much before food blogs) or trawl the pages of cookbooks I was working on and I'd think, that would be a delicious meal if only I could afford to buy all those ingredients.

And then I came upon a cookbook author and chef who seemed to speak to my predicament -- the desire to expand my flavor and cooking know-how without buying out the grocery store. Vibrant and complex flavors, as I found in Rozanne Gold's fantastic 1-2-3 volumes, can come from just three ingredients. Now these are not necessarily thrifty ingredients, and some can be quite pricey. But being able to keep it to three ingredients meant being able to cook more than one new dish a week. Eureka!

I'm back to watching my grocery bills, and so I've been thinking a lot about Ms. Gold's approach. Many of her recipes call for ingredients that aren't "processed foods" but do include several elements: anchovies with capers in brine, garlic oil, flavored vinegars and so on. I thought of her when I had Mr. Lemon pick up Ras el Hanout on his adventures to Brooklyn's Sahadi's Grocery. (We call it going to the souk, and it really can be as exotic and exciting.) One ingredient, but so many spices in this delicious Moroccan staple that literally means "top of the [spice] shop."

So here's a dinner with 2 dishes, 6 ingredients (not counting olive oil, salt and pepper), that takes about 25 minutes from start to finish. Easy as 1-2-3. Thrifty as $5.

Pork Chops with Ras El Hanout

1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 pork chops, bone in

Combine the Ras el Hanout and olive oil and spread on all sides of the pork chops. Let sit for 10 minutes while you get the grill ready. Grill until white inside, about 8 minutes a side.

Grilled Collards and Potato

5-6 large collard leaves, rinsed, thick rib removed and torn into large pieces

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablspoons olive oil

4 small potatoes (white or red, but waxy), thinly sliced

Create a "bag" with tin foil, using two sheets. In the bag toss the sliced potatoes, olive oil, garlic, and torn collard greens. Add salt to taste. Cook over direct heat, 20 minutes on the grill.

Tally:

Easy and healthy dinner on the grill

Investing in spices is worth it for this dish

A balanced meal in two steps

On sale pork chops find a new flavor from Morocco

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops

Mr. Lemon and I are not vegetarians, or accidental vegetarians, or even flexitarians. If anything, we've become thrift-arians. That means when there's a nice "deal" in the meat aisle, as long as it's lean, we hit it.

Pork chops were on sale at the grocery around the corner and after all our CSA-inspired veggie dinners and lean chicken dishes and all-around healthy habits, it was time to indulge in some pig.

I've tried making pork chops pretty much every which way, and I always find them a bit dry compared to other cuts. The only time I've ever been blown away was by the chops from Asia Grill, back in the old neighborhood. Succulent, great sear on the outside and thin enough that the chops never became dry on the inside, they were a big part of my order-in rotation. Looking at my two big flat chops, I knew what I had to do.

Putting my fingers to the keyboard, I found Josh Friedland had covered Vietnamese pork chops on his great blog The Food Section. Of course, I didn't have all the ingredients, so this is adapted from his recipe.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops

2-4 pork chops, thin

2 Tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)

2 Tablespoons honey

1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons lime juice

Combine the fish sauce, honey, sesame oil, garlic and lime juice in a shallow bowl. Add the pork chops and let sit for 15-30 minutes.

Grill chops over direct heat, spooning extra marinade over the chops, until chops are cooked and white inside. They will go pretty fast depending on your fire. Ours took about 12 minutes.

Tally:

Succulent thin chops are a small but satisfying treat

This thriftarian special came in under $3

"Pantry" staples make this a quick and easy marinade

Getaway Grilling

Despite the odd year we've been having (see the no-moneymoon), Mr. Lemon and I are able to take a deep breath and recognize the sweeter stuff in life. Tops on that list: outdoor space. This steamy summer may have us hiding in the AC-cooled apartment during the day, but at nightfall, when the temperature drops, we've been eating dinner on the terrace.

And better yet, we've been making dinner out there, too. We've got a little grill and we're making the most of it. Grilling's a healthy way to get a lot of flavor out of not only lean meats, but those uber-healthy, CSA-supplied dark greens, too. So on a recent hot night, with some on-sale chicken breasts pulled from the freezer and a bag o' greens from the CSA, our little terrace turned into a Caribbean getaway.

Caribbean Spice-Rubbed Chicken

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 chicken breasts (this proportion could also 'rub' up to 4 breasts)

Combine the spices, oil, thyme and garlic in a shallow dish or bowl, and add the washed and dried chicken breast. Rub in the spices, all over. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in refrigerator for half an hour (or more.)

Grill over indirect heat, about 10 minutes each side until done. You could broil this easily, too.

Grilled Collards in a Bag

I saw the adorable Jamie Oliver make his greens this way on his Cooking Channel show, and whether it was his charming accent or his use of lemon, he had me convinced that this was the solution to my CSA-greens overload. And it turns out he is 100% correct. This method can't be beat and the greens are not bitter, have a silky texture and still keep all their healthy nutrients and fiber.

2-3 cups collards/greens/what-have-you, rinsed and trimmed (Take off the really thick part of the stalk)

1/2 lemon

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Salt and ground pepper

Create a bag with tin foil: use two sheets about two feet long each. Place sheets one on top of the other and fold over, then fold two sides, leaving the fourth side open and creating a "bag"

In the bag, place the greens, torn into large pieces, along with the olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, salt and pepper. Seal the fourth side and grill for 20 minutes.

It wasn't the deck of a boat, or a beach bungalow's porch, but sitting out there enjoying our spicy chicken and greens, we felt like we had found our own little tranquil island escape in the big noisy city.

Tally:

Chicken breast w/bone, not the healthiest, but grilling drains some fat away

A flavor-packed way to get our "greens" in without adding porky bits

Grilling takes away a dark green's bitterness in one simple step (no blanching!)

Fast dinner that doesn't heat up the kitchen