Carry Laws
Welcome to another episode of Budget Eats It’s snowing outside and I do not want to work. I just want to stare at these flurries all day long. The premise for this episode is $ 20 budget. That’S it We’re going down from 25 to 20 Who knows what will come next, but you know what I am not trying to cook five days in a row every single week, and so this is our way of saying you get your content. I get my rest.
Hopefully, I’m not too good at my job and end up creating 18,000 meals anyway out of 20 bucks, but you know we’ll see I just I don’t know And because today is a snow day and we were alerted days in advance of it. Yesterday, the markets were crazy. Almost every single store, I went into had massive lines: To be honest, it was not great for social distancing, which you know is still very much a thing guys that we should be practicing So I went in. I grabbed what I could I got out, skedaddled home, Considering the circumstances. I don’t think I did too bad.
I am a little bit worried, though, because I didn’t really brainstorm this time, because I didn’t have time to So now we’re just gon na go with it. I think the theme to my life now is, I don’t know which they should have taught you in school is you’ll, never know. And for those of you who are wondering my hair is doing fantastic. Still, thank you for asking, I think, y’all know the shtick by now. So let’s take a look at what we got.
Do you like what you see Once I got home I realized I still had $ 2 and change to spend. So I looked through my cupboards and I found this bag of red lentils that I had gotten on sale for 2.99 about two weeks ago. So we’re going to throw that in as well. I know the bag says 4.
9, but you’re just going to have to trust me. It was 2.99 And if you don’t trust me, I’m going to have Zach show you my credit card statement. Believe me it was on sale, otherwise I would not have gotten it For our surprise ingredient this week. I grabbed this bag of polished, wheat, berries, product of Turkey.
In addition to those red lentils and wheat berries, we also got a can of evaporated milk, along with one can of crushed tomatoes, one can of peeled tomatoes, one bag of tortillas, one two pound bag of onions, along with a sleeve of five pieces of garlic. Two bags of salmon scraps for a buck each No bone broth. This time guys we’re taking a fish break. We got two carrots for about 28 cents, Ooh that snowblowers going hard. We got one bunch of cilantro for 69 cents.
We got one bag of jalapenos for a buck, One really wrinkly jicama for a buck. I’Ve never cooked jicama before so. I’M kind of excited to see. I don’t even know what it tastes like to be honest with you. I got one bag of crushed mandarins, They look a little past their prime, but I’m thinking we can juice them, use them in a little bit of salad or syrup or some something.
You know It’s citrus A dollar One, four count: bag of sweet potatoes and one tiny butternut squash. Also for a dollar. I really went ham on that dollar discount bin. You know – And that brings us to a grand total of 20.06 Now, let’s get cooking Day, one is always prep day.
We take a look at our inventory. We see what vegetables or produce is going to go bad fast, and then we take care of those first. I definitely don’t want to deal with rotten seafood, so I think we’re going to cook off all of our salmon today. My game plan for the salmon is to sear all of them off. This will cook the meat and make it easier to pull off the bones, and then we can save the large spinal bones for making a little bit of a broth later.
Our salmon looks particularly juicy, so I’m going to try to use some paper towels to dab off those seafoody juices And then we’re going to place them in our cast iron skillet over medium heat, with just the touch of oil to help them not stick completely. Can we all just acknowledge how beautiful salmon is For now we’re going to keep the salmon seasoning super simple, just salt, maybe a little touch of pepper I don’t want to flavor the entire batch any single way so that I have more room to play with throughout the days.
A little bit of that edge turned deeply golden. I know that the fish should be ready to turn without much stickage. Skin should be crispy Flesh should be opaque. And once that’s done how much color, how much goldeness is totally up to you You’ll see a lot of oil draining out of the salmon Just make sure that you dump that into a bowl save it, because we will be using it for cooking ( skin crunching ) For the cilantro we’re going to shake it dry, We’re going to chop off the stems away from the leaves We’Re going to wrap the leaves up in a damp paper towel and put it in an airtight container. In the meantime, we’re going to take our stems and just chop it really really fine, so that it’s easy to chew easy to eat in our salad.
If you want really clean, stems, free of all leaves go ahead and strip it by hand, But if you’re, not so nit-picky, just chop it off at the midway point where the stem meets the leaves. do you remember the last time we ate jicama It was at a raw food place that we got a Groupon for and we ordered jicama fries and they turned out ,’cause. We forgot, it was a raw place. It was just like literally raw jicama pieces covered in this sugar free ketchup, and it was probably one of the worst things we ate that decade of our life.
I have no idea what you’re talking about. Do you want to taste a strip just to jog your memory, a little bit of what that experience was like, This tastes better than that did Oh yeah, What did they do to that? They made it worse, How This tastes really good. It’S kind of like if you took a pear that wasn’t very sweet, crossed it with a radish that has a little bit of like that.
Peppery kick and then mashed it together with the starchiness of a sweet potato I can’t tell if it’s because I had garlic on my cutting board before, but this smells almost like the faintest salsa Can’t wait to make a salad with this So to prep our jicama, I’m just going to trim off top and bottom so that we have a Little bit more stabilization on the jicama and then we’re going to follow the curve of that jicama with a sharp knife and just try to peel off that tough fibrous outer skin This smells so good. I can’t stop smelling it. It looks like a pear Tastes like jicama, Delicious delightful. Have I mentioned what we’re making for meal one yet We’Re having crispy salmon tacos with a jicama slaw slightly picked For our slaw, I’m going to chop up some jicama carrots, jalapeno onions, We’re going to grate a garlic in there. We’Re going to toss in our cilantro stems We’re going to squeeze the juice of some of those mandarins We’Re going to add some vinegar for a little bit of kick and then a little bit of salt.
You know what I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’S just go with that. First, Give it a taste and then we’ll proceed. Needs more vinegar, (, fun, jazz, music ) We’re going to let this beauty rest in the fridge. While we prepare our tacos For our salmon tacos, what I’m going to do is pick out the pieces with the crispiest skin parts and we’re going to refry them in the pan.
Can I help you [ Aaron ] Salmon, tacos Yes, soon Soon Go away, As I was saying we’re going to be picking out the fattiest parts and we’re going to be refrying them in the pan, with a little bit more spices For my spices, I’m going to go with some smoked, paprika a little bit of Ground Sichuan, peppercorn steak, seasoning and ground cumin I’M also going to be picking out some meaty parts, picking the bones out of them and then refrying them very briefly, Once our pan is all oiled up with that nice fatty salmony fat we’re going to fry our tortillas in there. This is what we’re looking for on our tortilla Slightly crispy a little bit golden slightly crunchy, but still foldable. Here’S our cooked crispy salmon, filling for our tacos As your pan runs dry with each tortilla just pour in a little bit of your reserved salmon cooking oil That should flavor them perfect. Here’S all the salmon meat that I managed to get off of our bones. Pretty plenty, I would say, About four cups: And here is all the delicious bone that we got out of our scrap bags of salmon, I’m going to plop these in a pot of boiling water and I’m just going to let them cook with a tiny touch of salt.
Until that broth is a little bit milky, I think we’re ready to assemble and eat, Okay, my friend I present to you crispy crunchy tacos, with some salmon that might still have bone in it. Yes, correct It won’t kill you Don’T worry, Don’t worry Messy The messier, the taco, the better. It is, There’s a lot of fish skin on this still right. Yes, I’m getting a lot of that chewiness, which is really nice. I tried to make it crispy, but I think because it’s like gotten a little bit cold now, both the tortillas and the salmon skin have gotten a little flacid.
However, flavor.. It’S pleasant, It’s not particularly strong in any direction. Mm-Hm. The salmon skin is definitely more chewy than crispy, but it adds a nice texture.
( June chuckles ) Oops That adds an element of fun to the meal. I had a bite with the orange and I would say it doesn’t really take away anything from the dish, but it doesn’t add much either It’s just sort of like “ Ooh, I’m eating an orange slice. Now .” Mm-hm You know: Okay, Not a bad fish taco for the 18 cents that I assume this meal cost A little bit more than that, I’m adding the chili pepper. So I can give you an honest grade.
Adding enough chili to regular food brings it up to what a level of food a normal person would enjoy. This just gets me to the baseline of giving it an accurate assessment, Because I realized I got to stop rating stuff lower for not being spicy enough After, like 18,000 episodes, you realize that Hey better late than never I think you’re going to give me like a five and a half, I’m going to give myself a six and a half, Not my best work. I agree I’ll agree with your grade. I’M standing here, eating it and enjoying it Six and a half Mm-hm Mm-hm, I think primarily where I went wrong, was second cooking. The salmon I kind of toughened it and didn’t really crisp it up as much as I had hoped it would.
And then the tortillas kind of just sat too long in the salmon grease. I would give the salad an 8.5 on its own. It’S so crisp so refreshing nicely tart a little bit salty a little bit spicy just so well balanced. Meal one, I wouldn’t say I failed, but I definitely disappointed myself a little bit Now, I’m going to spend the rest of the night thinking how I could have improved those tortillas from going totally stale I’M going to go ahead and let that fish bone broth just steep until that color is nice and creamy and then I’ll strain it out tomorrow.
I’M going to try not to cry too hard over my disappointment with myself and I’ll, see guys back here tomorrow. Good morning, guys Welcome to Tuesday I’M going to be honest with you. The depression is bad today, and this just means that we’re going to take our time we’re going to practice a lot of self care by drinking water and practicing a lot of self forgiveness, because it’s okay to not be okay and it’s okay. To not always be good, We’Re just going to be in our feels today For our first meal of the day I was thinking we could make some fried rice Salmon, fried rice Salmon, miso fried rice Salmon miso friend wheat, So when I first saw this bag in the aisle, I thought “ That looks like rice “. It looks like grains of brown rice “, but it looks a little bit.
Yellower “, I wonder what kind of rice it is .” And I pulled it out and it said: “ Shelled wheat, “, If you’ve never seen wheat berries before this is what polished wheat, berries look like, and it looks an awful lot like rice So I was thinking why don’t we treat some of this like rice? I’Ve never had durum wheat as a berry form on its own, so I’m very excited to see what this grain tastes, like. Also on the bag. “ Preparation, don’t rinse the product before usage .
‘. I think I’m going to rinse the product before usage As a rule, I don’t know where these manufactured items came from. I don’t know how clean the process is And if I get it from the store and not from the source itself, I’m going to rinse it. So what I think I’ll be doing is taking half this bag rinsing it very briefly, I’m going to let the water come up to a boil. I’M going to lower it to a simmer, maybe cover it with a lid and let it go from maybe about 18 to 22 minutes, I’m guessing the reason why they don’t want you to rinse the grains before cooking is because they’re, so starchy, they’re, probably really good.
For binding into a porridge thicker consistency kind of like risotto, but because we’re going for a fried rice, I’m not too concerned about washing some of the starch off I want my grains to be still separate, but maybe just a little bit carby on the outside Delicious I’m going to let it steam with the heat off for about 10 minutes. Before I lift the lid This will ensure that any carryover heat can get to the center of those kernels and make sure everyone is just nice and happy and evenly cooked It’s time for a taste test. What this reminds me of is, if you took barley, and you took brown rice and you made them, have a baby together. The grains are fully separate, They’re, not sticking together at all, unless you want them to, but each individual grain is perfectly bouncy and aldente I’M going to transfer the rice into a big bowl so that we can fluff it up and let it evaporate off a little bit of the extra moisture while we prep our other fried rice ingredients For the fried rice. I think of going to peel and dice up a lot of garlic, ( bowl, dings ) Garlic meditation is one of my favorite meditations.
In addition to some carrots jalapeno, some jicama, I’m going to try my best and not over cook the salmon. Today, And also miso has a tendency to burn when it hits direct heat, so just be sure that you’re not cooking the miso too too much or you’ll end up with a very charred taste in your fried rice. Miso is a fermented soybean paste that has some rice mold in there Nice rice culture, don’t freak out, It’s fine, it’s safe guys And even though mine expired last summer, I think this is still fine, because fermented foods basically keep forever if stored, properly. To go with this fried rice dish, I’m also going to make a quick pickle of some jicama and some onions that have been minced, We’re going to squeeze one mandarin juice in there and then we’re going to add a little bit of vinegar as well as salt. That’S it pure and simple, And a little bit of fish sauce just for flavor, I’m also going to add in a little bit of our minced jalapenos, just for a little extra kick in the pickles, I’m going to be using my cast iron pan medium heat.
Lots of salmon fat Once the veggie starts to soften a little bit, I’m going to go in with my white pepper, black pepper and turmeric Stir that around until it’s evenly cooked and then we’ll go in with our wheat ( wheat popping ), Once the rice grains, look very, very toasty we’re going to go in with our salmon as well as our miso ( mellow music ). I present to you.. [ Aaron ], The wheat thingamabobs, The wheat thingamabobs Cheers Cheers ( bowls clank ) We’re in business. Yeah Business is open.
You like it [, Aaron ]. Yes, I have a lot of bone. I’M glad you told that one [ Aaron ], Oh God, I didn’t even like guard for bone, so –, It’s okay, They’re, very well, cooked They won’t kill me Famous last words: [ Aaron ]. This is interesting. That usually sounds bad when I say it first, but it’s actually really good and interesting Hit me with it.
Oh yeah, [, Aaron, ] Fish sauce has a very strong flavor. Obviously so it’s brave of you to choose this ingredient that could have overpowered everything else, especially in combination with other fish Yeah, these wheat, berries or whatever they are are great. I don’t know why. I don’t see them more often, If you guys need more gluten in your diet. If you’re on a high gluten diet, then these would be great Substitute the gluten free food rice with Big opening ( June chuckles ), All right There you go, I think Aaron’s right.
The texture of these grains are totally on point. They’Re bouncy they’re chewy, but they’re, not at all like hard or chalky They’re, just so nice and pliable and gives me life Gives me spring. You know how, when we make fried rice, we love to crisp it up. Mm-Hm [ Aaron ]. I wonder how this would do for that.
I tried crisping up a little bit and they were even popping. I don’t think I had enough oil in there and because yesterday’s tacos were too greasy, I was like “, Let’s ease off on the fat .” [ Aaron, ] Yeah. This is not overly fatty. I really like the miso in here I think it works really well with the fishiness of the salmon and it makes it taste a little bit less oily [ Aaron ], It’s overall, a very high savory dish.
Mm-Hm Didn’t need MSG in this one. [ Aaron ], Wow And there’s a bouncy castle in my mouth too, with these Bouncy castle, Mm-hm [, Aaron ] For its inventiveness, using a new ingredient and just the overall pleasure I’m getting from eating this. You know bouncy castle of fishy savoriness, I’m giving it a perfect nine Hey, you know, after yesterday’s defeat, anything above a 7 5 would have made me exuberant [, Aaron ]. Are you exuberant? Are you full of exuberance?
Can’T you tell, I don’t think it’s so exciting to deserve a nine for me. This is an 8.1, but you know what Good enough Excellent job June Question: what do you want to eat for dinner? Where’D you get that The floor. You want butternut squash with dinner.
Yes, do sweet, butternut, squash, Sweet Yes, You want dessert for dinner, Butternut squash, dessert dinner. You got it. Okay, Bye, Thank you. I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited to do dessert for dinner. Because boy, oh boy, do I have an idea in mind So on the back of this bag of shelled wheat there’s a recipe for Noah’s Ark pudding, which seems just basically like a very delicious rice, pudding.
Because I grabbed a can of evaporated milk, we can now make “ rice pudding. “, I’m pretty excited honestly because I think we can just chuck everything into the pot and let it cook until it’s nice and creamy, And it’s very hands-off which I would love. I would love hands-off right about now. So I think what I’m going to do is just prep, my sweet potato and my butternut squash chunk them into cubes. You can definitely use a peeler, but you’ll see that there’s a lighter thicker skin, underneath the superficial skin If you leave this on, it’ll, be slightly tougher to chew, While still edible might not be pleasant in texture.
But if you use a knife, you can make sure that you’re exposing that bright orange skin underneath That flesh is nice and tender and creamy. Alternatively, you can just use a peeler, of course, and peel away slightly more of the flesh until you expose that inner orange flesh either way works. For the bottom portion, I like to split it in half after it’s peeled and then scoop out the seeds. We can save the seeds and roast them for a little crunchy topping on our rice, pudding. I would also make sure that you take out this hard core, It’s very fibrous and not at all good to eat, (, bright, instrumental, music, ), We’re gon na ahead and add in a cinnamon stick and I don’t know 20-ish cardamom pods We’Re going to crush them very lightly and then put them in the pot.
Cracking them open helps them infuse better. So we’re going to cover the pot with our evaporated milk and some water and turn the heat on very medium. I don’t know what very medium is, but I think you know I’m going to add in a pinch of salt, along with about three cups of our cooked wheat. Sweeten it to your desired level of cavities I’M going in with about a quarter cup The key to pan roasting seeds is to flip and toss and turn often The more you turn the more even the heating. The longer you, let us sit, the more likely it’s to burn on one side.
Keep your heat low and do not walk away As far as the seeds go. I want to hear some of them crack ( seed pops ). I want to hear some of them pop ( seed, pops ): I want one of them to assassinate your eyeball, They will blow open, they will lose their moisture and then that’s how you know: they’re crispy, crunchy and ready to snack on ( bright, instrumental music ) Now I know rosewater can be quite a controversial ingredient, mainly because some people think it tastes like soap, especially if you use too much of it. It kind of triggers a cilantro-esque response where some people just can’t handle it, which I get but me and Aaron. We love some rose water or orange blossom water in our desserts and I’m going to slip a little bit of this in ,’cause.
You know it makes me feel pretty I need it today Not too much just a tiny little splash After simmering away for about 40 minutes. It’S looking nice and silky, sticky creamy all of the good stuff And also my house has never smelled better, Or rather you know my studio apartment. That is way too tiny for two people during a pandemic. But hey making do We’re going to turn the heat off and we’re going to let it cool off a little bit and then we’re going to enjoy the hell out of it. Today we have a sweet thing because I’m super depressed and I need sugar And so what we have is wheat, berries, cooked with evaporated milk and a quarter cup of sugar, along with some sweet potatoes and butternut squash, and it’s flavored with cinnamon cardamom and rosewater Wow Gourmet, ( June laughs, ) Mm Mm Mm This is great.
I love it. It’S like sweet comfort, food, [, Aaron ]. What are these wheat things called? They’Re, just wheat, berries, Wheat berries is my new favorite thing. I want to experiment with them in everything.
Now You like it. This is a great dessert. Before I grade this, can I add more cinnamon? Yes, Okay Or pumpkin pie, spice I didn’t spice it enough for you, with 20 cardamom cloves I was hoping for more cinnamon Mm okay, But that’s an easy fix. You like it Mm-hm You can tell I like it’cause, I’m still eating it.
I give this …. Oh, I just ate a whole cardamom pod Yum, I give this another nine because — A perfect nine, A perfect nine yeah Yeah, these wheat berries are just a fun ingredient and you found a way to use them both savory and sweet in ways that both taste, delicious It’S hardy food It’S peasant food Mm-hm, I’m going to go out and work the cold fields.
Now plowing migraines my grains Go work With my oxen Goodbye, Okay, Bye farmer, I’m really digging the textures in this bowl. Everything is so creamy, but the grain itself is somehow still toothsome. Still a little bit aldente and then you have the creamy bits of butternut and sweet. Potatoes are starting to fray and fall apart and it just kind of melts into your bite. And then you hit it with that surprise crunch from the pumpkin seeds, as well as the surprise cardamom pods, which is a little bit strong, but also absolutely delightful and fragrant Day.
Two, I think, was relatively successful. I’M pretty happy with how both dishes turned out – I’m not even going to start thinking about tomorrow, because right now I just want to go to sleep. So that’s what I’m going to do! See you guys in the morning ( dramatic music, ), Truly, no feeling like crying first thing in the morning Good morning, guys It’s a Wednesday I’m crying not because of depression today, but because of onions. They are very potent I’m prepping, some veggies, as I’m reading the last Budget Eats article for article approval.
So you know today’s a busy day All right, let me fill you in a bit on what’s going on here For our first meal today, I am going to make a chilaquiles inspired dish. Usually those tortillas for chilaquiles are fried. I just don’t feel like frying. Today I have a lot of meetings. I’M a busy man, I’m going to use this opportunity to make things spicy for Aaron We’Re going to throw in some jalapenos we’re going to throw in some ground chilies that I have left over from our Thanksgiving budget episode, We’re going to throw in some red, pepper, nice, tasty Everything’s, going in Plus.
Once I turn the oven on. You know I’m going to be roasting, some other things too, So we’re just going to push everything in there and let them cook I’M only going to be seasoning these tortillas on one side, because I don’t really want the side. That’S touching the pan to burn with the spices on them. We’Re relatively high at 375, so I don’t want that high heat to toast them prematurely And a little salt, I’m going to recommend that you’ve rub your spices really well into the oiled tortilla. What way you can evenly distribute all of the flavor particles, ( timer beeping ) (, energetic music ), I’m going to roast off our remaining butternut squash from yesterday.
I’M going to roast up some garlic, some onions and also those salmon broth fish bones. You know I kept those. You know I’m going to toast them into chips. You know I’m going to eat them. (, energetic music ), I’m going to save the flesh of the jalapenos for a salsa and the seeds and the pith I’m going to chop up, and this is going to go into the sauce.
We’Re going to let that get nice and toasty and we’re going to bloom the spiciness out of that membrane and seed I’ll also add in our remaining carrot, just for a little touch of sweetness and texture in the sauce. I’M going in with about a teaspoon of ground, cumin, half a teaspoon of smoked, paprika, one teaspoon of ground coriander, one teaspoon, black pepper one tablespoon ground chili, one tablespoon gochugaru, as well as one teaspoon, dried oregano, We’re going to stir those spices until they’re, nice and Toasty, maybe about 30 seconds or so, and then we’re going to go in with our garlic, onions, our seedy jalapeno innards and our carrot. (, energetic music, ), (, timer, beeps ), Then we’ll go in with our canned tomatoes, our sugar and our sambal. (, energetic music ), It’s a little spicy, so we’re going to add the juice of one mandarin (, energetic music ) About halfway through the bake, I’m going to turn all of my vegetables to make sure they’re getting golden on both sides We’re going to pop them Back into the oven for another 15 minutes, a total of half an hour, I got a little bit distracted with my meeting, so these got a little bit dark At 20 minutes. I think we went a little too hard on the bake, but I think they’re just under being burned.
So ( tortilla crunches ), Let’s use’em, To help balance out the toasty notes of my toasted tortillas, I’m going to go in with two untoasted tortillas. You know just to add a little bit of that pure corn flavor back I’m going to be reserving one of this crunchy tortilla for topping (, energetic music ) # Veryspicy; If Aaron still needs chili, on top of this, I truly have no idea who he is anymore. He’S definitely not human For our jalapeno salsa. In my little tiny food processor we’re just going to put in our onions, jalapeno, cilantro salt blitz To help the salsa turn a little bit finer in texture. I added the juice of one mandarin, along with one tablespoon of vinegar for acidity Nice.
Our butternut squash is nice and roasty golden and mushy We’Re going to plop in our butternut squash, along with half of that roasted onion and two cloves of roasted garlic and we’re just going to let it whiz in there until it’s nice and smooth and crema-esque To help this one blend a little bit better, I’m just going to go ahead and add a little bit of water to thin it out. It’S nice and sweet a little bit earthy a little bit, oniony slightly garlicky and just overall pleasant, and I think it’ll do a lot to quench our spicy spicy tongues. Fire. Put it out How hungry are you Very Okay, I’ll give you a big serving (, energetic music, ), [ Aaron ] I’ve been hearing you moaning in agony all day about the heat of this. Don’T tell me it’s not spicy!
[ Aaron ]. Is it supposed to be spicy? Oh my God. No ( beep ) way, [ Aaron ]. What exactly were you tasting when you were yelling and crying and moaning in agony The red soggy part The red soggy part I’m flaming up in the back of my throat right now.
That’S why I gave you jicama to cool you down: [ Aaron, ] Kind of tastes like an ice cream sundae. What are the crunchy bits on top More tortilla cooked differently. Yes, There’S three kinds of tortillas in here: There’s two raw ones that I didn’t do anything to just tore up And then there’s eight that were a little bit overly toasted in .., What [ Aaron ]?
It was a fiber of some sort. It’S just from the butternut squash dude Fiber Literal fiber, okay, Anyway, [ Aaron ] Is fiber good for you And what’s this That is a jalapeno onion, cilantro, vinegar, orange salsa of sorts [ Aaron ]. That’S really good Yeah [, Aaron ]. This is a brilliant dish. You like it [ Aaron ], It’s not particularly spicy, but I mean it tastes.
Great Chilaquiles are one of my favorite foods. It’S gon na hurt me if I finish my entire portion, man, The green salsa is delightfully fresh and cooling kind of against the red saucy warm tortillas, ( June clears throat. ). Excuse me: [ Aaron ], It’s a beautiful dish. I love the colors Red white and green There’s a little bit of heat starting to build.
I do be feeling — Just now. ( June coughs, ) [ Aaron ], Pull through June [ June ], Oh my God, Ah [ Aaron ]. My feeling is an 8.5 I think you would have gotten another perfect nine if I tasted it fresh But I’m tasting what I’m tasting as it 8.5.
Okay, Guys, I’m going to have to do a rule, break ( dramatic buzzer sounds ), I’m really suffering here. I have some sour cream that expired in January. I think it’s still good Dairy helps. Let me just make sure that we won’t die from eating this first [ Aaron ] Be real, Even if it was well expired, you’d still eat it, You’d be like “. Oh it’s cheese, now .
‘! So what’s the main source of heat in this There’s four types of chilies in here There’S jalapeno and I added some sambal I also added ground Chinese, dried peppers as well as gochugaru. How is your mouth still alive? It’S coming out of my nostrils, this pain, [, Aaron, ] Pain, coming out of your nostrils. That’S new, Okay, you know what That is so much better with the sour cream.
It just adds a little bit of creaminess to tamper down on the acidity of the tomatoes in our sauce And then it also kind of slides across the texture of the soggy tortillas. Perfectly so that you don’t just have like a soggy piece of tortilla, you kind of have like this. Almost .. It reminds me of a grilled cheese: almost [, Aaron ] Yeah, It’s overall, better with the sour cream for sure Mm-Hm, I am enjoying this way more now that I have some dairy.
What are you doing? [ Aaron ]? This is definitely not part of the budget, but do you need it Now? In the middle of my ..
– Oh my God, [ Aaron ]. How much does that help? Can we do ice cream sammy week, where you just make ice different variations of ice cream sandwiches? Oh my God, that’s so good Sugar and dairy is helping me recover. I’M not sure how my digestive track is going to do after this meal eat Eat.
Now. Think later, That’S my role: I’m going to take a break and we’ll meet back here for dinner, I’m going to wait until the fire inside me dies down a little bit Guys. I forgot about these. It’S our ocean graveyard! This time.
Be careful, the bones are quite sharp. I would go with these spinal ones. Do you think this will give us cancer too? Is it ash [ Aaron ] Gives me deliciousness Mm Good snack, Mm-hm, [, Aaron ]. You should package that, But people might choke on it and then sue me.
Look at how pretty that is: I’m not going to recommend that you do this, because there is a good chance that if you don’t chew these properly, you either poke a hole through your gums. …, It’s edible and it’s kind of delicious and it’s crunchy and toasty and calcium An 8.
out of 10. I lied, I didn’t take a nap, but now I’m back and I’m thinking about dinner. I think after that fiery lunch we’re going to need a hefty refreshing salad because it’s still burning guys. I’M thinking to all of our leftover ingredients, We still have jicama, We have cooked salmon, We have cooked wheat berries. We also have a lot of onion and jalapenos and cilantro So what I think I’m going to do is chop up all of our veggies, very simply, slice.
The jicama mince some onions slice, some jalapenos, throw it all in a bowl with our wheat, berries and our salmon, and then we can toss it with a simple little vinegarette. We don’t have a lot of it, but we still have some of this salmon cooking oil. I’M going to be adding a little bit more olive oil to this bowl and we’ll whip it up with some grated garlic, along with some apple cider, vinegar, go in with some Dijon mustard, maybe a little bit of salt a little bit of pepper. You want to whisk your dressing until it looks like it’s silky and emulsified, and smooth and creamy Nice and perky a little bit. Garlicky Just the way I, like it, ( funky, music ).
Could this possibly be the easiest and fastest meal I’ve ever made on Budget Eats? Maybe You excited for some salad Eating a salad with a spatula is really inefficient. Mm Mm All right, my dude dinner is here: Cheers [, Aaron ]. Are there bones in this again No, I picked through them. Okay, There’s no bones: [ Aaron ]!
It’S been a bony week. It’S just been bone after bone I’M not making a joke. It’S just the salmon bones [ June ]. What do you think chef Salmon, salad, Salmon, salad, [, Aaron ] With wheat, berries, With wheat, berries, cilantro some jicama, some onions, some jalapenos and a vinegarette [ Aaron ] Those fancy lunch restaurants in New York, where your food comes in one of those compostable cardboard trays and they charge $ 20 for it. Mm-Hm [, Aaron ].
This is what they would serve there, This probably costing like 12 cents for the whole bowl It’S a nice, healthy, salad, Does it taste good [, Aaron ], It tastes good, Good, [, Aaron ] Is good good enough. Mm-Hm [ Aaron ] There’s nothing bad here, which means it’s good. You have a grade: [ Aaron, ] Good out of 10. I think it needs a little bit more acid and a little bit more salt. Do you agree [ Aaron ]?
I was thinking it needed black pepper. Do it: Okay, ( pepper, grinding ); Oh salt! See I knew you wanted: salt [, Aaron, ], Yeah, salt and black pepper. Oh, you went for the fancy. Portuguese sea salt [ Aaron ], Portuguese sea salt: This is chamomile, vinegar, Oh okay, fancy With mother in the dropper.
I don’t need that fancy. Can I just get like three more of those please. It’S tiny I thought you said you didn’t need acid, You change your mind, Just trying it Trying it Sure you are Better for sure Mm-hm, If there’s anything that I learned this week, it’s that salmon oil is super fatty. It’S almost like twice as rich as other oils. In the same amount.
I used less than a tablespoon of that leftover salmon oil in this dressing and you can taste the heaviness in that salmon oil in this dressing, which is why we needed more vinegar. ( June, sighs ), If you know why salmon oil tastes so rich, let me know down below in the comments ,’cause. I want to learn: [ Aaron, ]’Cause, it’s meat, fat And it’s good. Is that an answer I’m going to give myself an 8 7 out of 10, because I love this meal so much It was so easy and fast to whip together. It’S so satisfying to eat It’s just like a complete meal.
What are you crinkling back? .. Whoa Urfa, Urfa pepper, [ Aaron ] Urfa biber. I have no idea how to say that, but it’s this Turkish chili, that’s delicious.
Can I try some of yours Whoa Mm Mm-Hm [ Aaron ], I’m not crazy, just dumping chili on everything That is so nice and smoky, and also a little bit salty too. It gives it such a rich flavor, [, Aaron ]. It’S really weird. I don’t think this pepper has — I’m peppered out today: [ Aaron ]. I don’t think this chili has salt in it, but it tastes really salty and savory.
I’Ve noticed that every time I’ve used it in food So good [ Aaron ]. I give this a seven pre my modifications and 9 1, after Chili, pepper, salt and vinegar upped it by 2.1 points, [ Aaron, ] Yeah. So this is now my favorite thing of this week. So far, No Mm-hm Really Mm-hm, Just because of spicy, though [ Aaron ].
No, I think it just tastes like it’s health food, but it’s really satisfying at the same time and that’s really hard to do And you did it June lied to me. I almost died. It was kind of my plan. I think today was a resounding success. We had a great lunch.
We had a great dinner And now.. Now I’m going to go, take a nap Or will I I’ll see you guys tomorrow? Yes, Tess Yes, I do Welcome to Thursday That chilaquiles really did a number on me through the night and I’m not feeling too good. I’M sure you can tell So today for lunch.
I think I’m just going to go with some simple soothing, comforting food. There’S a dish from the Indian subcontinent called khichdi. I don’t know if I’m pronouncing that right And if I’m not, please. Let me know down in the comments below the right way to pronounce it. Thank you so much Usually it is a dish made with lentils and rice and you simmer it into a porridge-like consistency.
It’S flavored very simply, but you can also add whatever vegetables you want to it Depending on the region, depending on the family. The recipe combos are endless. The simplest version following Ayurvedic traditions and guidelines is just rice and lentils, turmeric and salt plus water. That’S it Today. I’M going to add a few more spices to that mix just to flavor it up somewhat, but I’m going to keep it fairly simple and absolutely no chilies in this one, because my hands are flaring up so bad from all those chilies I know Aaron’s going to hate it, but you know what It’s mushy it’s nice for me, I’m going to treat myself today.
I really don’t want to turn on any lights, but I guess we have to Here. We go So I’m going to go ahead. Rinse off my lentils, give them a nice good soak and then I’m going to take the wheat berries and use those as a rice substitute Because they’re so bouncy. I want to kind of chop them in half a little bit. So I’m going to give them a pulse in my Vitamix just so that they get a little bit more broken up and they can get even more mushy in the texture Now, because the packaging on this wheat tells me to not rinse the product before usage, I’m Going to take advantage of it this time, because I definitely don’t want a damp grain in my mixer We’re going to go into the Vitamix with this unrinsed I’M going to grind about half cup of it for our khichdi and then the rest of them we’re going to turn into flour.
And now that I’ve fully woken Aaron up with the Vitamix, I say we go ahead and make some lentil flour too. Now, if I had premeditated this flour making process, I probably would have rinsed these yesterday and then left them out to dry overnight, but they look relatively clean to me And if we grind it down to a fine powder, even the hardest tooth breaking grit should be. Okay, Probably not good to eat, but you know compromises (, blender, whirring ), As the red lentils are soaking periodically give them a stir to ensure that nothing is clumping together at the bottom and all the water is soaking all of the legume evenly. For my version of khichdi we’re going to go and make some garlic chips This way, we’ll have some oil, that’s infused with garlic, flavor and a little bit of a crunchy topping that we can put on later, I’m going to slice my garlic real thin, I’m going To heat my pot with a thin layer of oil For my oil, I’m going to be using these sample packets of coconut oil that we got probably two years ago. Keep mixing while they’re still in the pot to ensure even heating, You don’t want any pieces to burn And as soon as they turn lightly golden like this pull it.
Even if some pieces look white, you don’t want any of the pieces to get burned Once they turn brown. It’S not very delicious. To add a little bit of meatiness and substance to this, I think I’m going to go ahead and peel and cube one sweet potato just for a little added sweetness Healing powers. I’Ll also add in about half cup of our open can of crushed tomatoes from yesterday. I think this will add a nice little height of flavor to it.
As for my spices, I’m going to go ham on them. I’M going to use 14 spices in my khichdi Now. Obviously, if you don’t have all these spices at home, you don’t have to use all of them. You don’t even have to use any of them. Just put some turmeric in put some salt in.
You have a very basic version of khichdi, However. Today I have all these spices in my pantry, so I’m going to put all of them in, because why not? Treat yourself We have some ajwain seed, which is a little bit bitter, a little bit citrusy a little bit oniony and it’s absolutely delicious. When used with other spices, We have some kalonji AKA nigella seed, AKA black cumin. It goes by a lot of names.
I don’t know why. It has all these names, Then we have some of our repeat players: ground cumin, coriander, fennel seed. We have some fenugreek seeds which are a little bit curry-like in flavor. Then I’m going to go in with some cardamom cracked, black pepper and ground cinnamon. Then we have ground ginger, white, pepper and turmeric.
Obviously, And last but not least, we have some stinky boys We have some asafetida, which I can even smell it through the closed container, as well as some kala namak AKA black salt. Both of these have like a sulfuric smell, so they kind of smell like gas. But hey we like cheese which smells like smelly socks and feet. So we like weird things. You know And they taste good to us.
So once we have our garlic oil we’re going to maintain the heat on a medium low and then we’re going to toss in all of these 14 spices. Once they’re toasty about 30 seconds to 45 seconds in you’re, going to move fast, We don’t want any of these spices to burn That will lead to a bitter taste In, go our sweet potatoes, our soaked wheat, our soaked lentils, as well as that tomato I’M going to use about half cup We’Re going to add some water enough to cover Just bring everything up to a boil and then lower it to a summer, We’re going to cover it and just let it go for maybe 25 minutes until everything is nice and soft and easily digestible. I know you guys like recipes. I know you guys, like exact amounts. But when it comes to things like khichdi and kanji, there really is no prescription for how smooth and liquidy these things are.
It’S totally up to personal taste, If you like it looser just add a little bit more water And if you like it, chunkier and you know more solid, just add less water. Cook it off until it’s the right consistency for you, During the 25 minute simmer time, I would just unlid occasionally and give it a stir to make sure nothing is sticking on the bottom, because we don’t want burning. We just want smooth soothing soul, food, We’re going to taste for seasoning, It’s hot. I think, as is it’s quite nice, It’S salted, but not salty. It’S nicely flavored Everything’s, very soothing, There’s a little bit of curry flavors going on in there, and the flavor is almost like mashed potato, but with nice little bouncy pieces of our cracked wheat.
In there, The tomato is adding a nice little bump of acidity that’s turning more into savoriness than tartness, and I think a little bit of cilantro on top will make this really nice. ( funky, music ), I love the textures. The sweet potatoes have completely fallen apart. They still hold a little bit of shape in the bowl, but once they meet your mouth, it’s just pure creaminess. You crunch down on a little bit of that fried garlic chip and it’s just comforting heaven in a bite.
I know that this is nowhere near the spice level that Aaron prefers, so I’m going to give him some homemade fresh chili oil and some sambal so that he can, you know top it to his own desired needs. How are you feeling [, Aaron, ], Hungry Are you ready for some mush [ Aaron ] Mush, That’s mine, Yours is in there during there [ Aaron ] June. This looks like food. You would have made anyways [ June ], Yes, [ Aaron ], Whether or not you were working today or –, Correct, [, Aaron ] Doing any Budget Eats week. It’S mush food, [, Aaron ].
This is literally something …. I think you’ve made this hundreds of times already.
What was that in there Cardamom? Okay, How many times this week have I bitten into a whole cardamom pod, It’s good for you! Don’T worry about it, [, Aaron ]. I think this is your mush plus like jazzed up to like normal people. Food tastes, That’s good Yeah, So it’s not just like jail.
Slop. [ Aaron ] Not just jail; slop It’S flavorful slop. Exactly So is this an Indian dish? What is it called? Inspired by the dish known as khichdi, I think I’m pronouncing that close — [ Aaron ].
I don’t think you are, I don’t think you’re pronouncing it right at all. I think you knew I wasn’t going to love it. Mm-Hm [ Aaron ], But I like it: Okay Yeah. You want to put some spicy. Yes, Okay, Did you like the garlic chips, at least [ Aaron ]?
I do. These are perfect Yeah. I like, when they’re still a little bit of rubbery If you fry garlic too much, then you know it loses a lot of that garlic essence. This is going to be the deciding bite ,’cause, it’s the perfect bite. Yes, it has sweet potato too.
No, it doesn’t Good job. Yeah on the bottom of your … All right!
Well, I obviously like it better now that it’s .., What are you doing? I would give this a solid 7.2 Wow Mm-hm, We have like enough leftovers for yet another meal of the same dish, and I think this is a really great way to stretch your budget, because I only used about a cup and a half of soaked lentils and half a cup of dried wheat, berries And that’s enough to serve four So get on this khichdi deal Next up, noods Folks, I do believe the time has come for us to use our salmon broth And for our salmon broth.
I think the perfect thing to put in there is noodles And because we have durum wheat that is now ground into flour, I don’t see why we can’t make noodles ourselves. Let’S give it a try. I’Ve never worked with this type of wheat before so I don’t know how it’s going to react. I don’t know what the gluten situation is like, So what I’m going to do is take a cup and three quarters of flour and then I’m going to pour some boiling water in there, I’m going to see how it sets and we’ll work from there I’m guessing. It’S going to have the consistency of pasta, dough, which you know is a heartier type of noodle, Very, very dry, dough, Probably not going to be able to pull it, We’re probably going to need to roll it out and cut it.
Why boiling water? Well, usually, when I make dumpling dough in Chinese cuisine, there is hot water going into that dough to kind of set that dough and make it more pliable a little bit more toothsome I just like that texture, so I’m seeing if we can mimic that dumpling skin texture Basically, hot water sets the gluten right away when it comes into contact with the flour and it kind of gels the starches in the flour. So then you have a softer noodle that isn’t quite so elastic, but it’s quite toothsome For our dough in a large bowl. I’M going to put in our flour a little bit of salt and stream in our hot water. Once I see some dough clumps like this, I’m going to go in with my hands and knead it, And if that dose still feels really dry and crumbly, I’m going to add in a little bit more water at a time, Just maybe one tablespoon max until that Dough feels nice and cohesive Once your dough looks like this, where you can poke it, it doesn’t stick to your hand, it has cracks, but still feels pretty nicely moist and not dry and crumbly.
We can just put it away in a container seal it and let it rest for about 30 minutes. While we make our broth I just tasted the salmon broth and do you see how fatty this is on my lips? My goodness, Let me think about this. If you ever need lip balm just eat some salmon oil Okay, I think, to balance out the fattiness of the salmon broth we’re going to need to go in with some of our canned plum tomatoes, I’m going to probably plop two in along with some raw garlic and just let it seep into that salmony fatty goodness. I’M also going to be adding in some spices, I’m thinking a little bit of ground white pepper, a little bit of black pepper along with a little bit of miso, And then we should chop our carrots and jicama and just slide those in there for a little Bit of crunch and vegetables I also found some cut up, onions and jalapenos from yesterday, and I’m just going to dump it all in guys: (, fun, jazz, music, ), So Aaron’s, favorite, pasta shape is the bow tie and I’m going to try to make some bow ties out of this dough.
Basically, I’m going to take our dough, I’m going to put cut it into quarters and then I’m going to work with one quarter at a time I’m going to be rolling it on a wooden cutting board very, very thin about one eighth of an inch to one Quarter of an inch, It all depends on how thick you, like your pasta, to be Then I’m going to use this little pinwheel tool that I bought five years ago and I’ve never used it since I’m going to be trimming the dough into strips and then making tiny little one and a half inch by one inch pieces that I’m going to pinch. The middle to kind of seal that bow tie middle part And then I’m going to use chopsticks to kind of push that in and seal it completely so that it doesn’t unravel. ( fun, music ) Time to give our soup a taste. I think it tastes pretty good, but it needs a little bump of flavor. So in we go with MSG and the remaining green Sichuan peppercorns that I have That got the job done: ( fun, jazz, music, ), (, timer, beeps, ), (, fun, jazz, music, ) Cheers Cheers.
Is this salmon soup [ June ]? Yes, salmon bone broth, Salmon broth Yeah June you and you made my favorite cut of pasta, [ June ]. I did bow ties: [ Aaron, ], 10 out of 10 [ June ] Farfalle [ Aaron ] That it has a really good texture for being fresh pasta. [ June ], You don’t like fresh pasta, [ Aaron, ]. Well, usually dry pasta is more aldente.
I feel like fresh pasta, because it already starts a bit. Mushy just becomes more mushy when you cook it. But it is a really good. How did you make this a bow tie shape? I guess you’ll have to read the article and find out, Magic Did you use magic Be honest, Do you think I did a good job on shaping them?
I think they look pretty [ Aaron ]. You did a good job on the whole meal. This is delicious. Yeah Yeah Woo – This is great. This is a 9 5 ( June gasps ).
What No Yeah? Yes, No You’re right: it should be a two, It’s a two, So I’m not a huge fan of fresh pasta just because I feel like I kind of like the more bounciness [ Aaron ]. That’S what I said. Yeah, the more light bouncy airy feature of dry pasta, But ..
[, Aaron ]. You did well on this somehow And this is not just homemade pasta, You ground the freaking wheat. This week I learned how to use salmon fat. It’S unlike other bone broth, fats, [, Aaron ]. It’S really a story of personal growth for you, You’Re, like those salmon swimming up the waterfalls and they jump and the first one jumps and misses, and that was the first day’s meal where I just gave myself — All right.
Thank you, Immediate acne from the oil We still have half a tray of pasta left, plus the dough from our trimmings. I’M going to roll these out. I’M going to put this in a box with some additional flour, so they don’t stick next to each other, I’m going to put them in the fridge …
Freezer I’M going to put them in the freezer and I’ll see you guys tomorrow, TGIF babes, All right in case you haven’t noticed. We have a lot of lentils to use guys, so we’re going to be making lots of lentil dishes today. We still have quite a bit of canned tomatoes. We still have some of our salmon scraps that I pulled off the bone from our broth. And then we have lentils, I think we just got to mash them together and bake them into salmon, falafel-y type things and then put them in a red sauce and then scarf it.
Hopefully it tastes good. A lot of lentil meatball recipes that I found online used. Cooked lentils, However, red lentils turn really mushy really fast. So I’m thinking of making a falafel adjacent meatball, where we just grind up the raw soaked, lentils and, let’s hope it bakes and gets cooked So, to make these meatballs I’m going to food process all of our ingredients, My Vitamix is very wide on the bottom. It doesn’t get all the food items evenly dispersed, It’s just a pain to work with sometimes in small batches.
So instead I’m going to be using my tiny food processor and we’re just going to mix the ingredients as they fit. I’M going to process half an onion one whole jalapeno, Once again, I’m going to be saving the seeds and the membranes to go into our sauce and make it slightly spicy Perfect addition, The rest of our cilantro ( blender whirs ), Our cooked salmon, ( blender whirs ), Two cups-ish of lentils that were soaked. My food processor was way too small for two cups of lentils. So I think I ended up with about maybe a cup and a half of lentils in there and I just ground it up until it’s kind of like ..
. I don’t know what this is. You see what this is This: Instead of normal salt, we’re just go in with some flavored salt. I have some Mediterranean citrus, Perfect ( fun, jazz, music ) In terms of cohesion. It’S not doing too bad right now, but I want to make sure that they don’t fall apart.
So I’m going to go in with maybe two tablespoons of lentil flour for now and then we’ll see All right, I think that helped somewhat Now I don’t recommend doing this at home, because none of this is actually cooked, but you know the salmon isn’t raw, so I’m going to taste, it Tastes pretty good, Nothing like a shot of raw beans to wake you up In the morning you know I think I’m going to go ahead and just keep adding in some more tablespoons of lentil flour until this mixture gives me confidence that I can shape it without too much pain, All right guys about half a cup of lentil flour later, I think we have the Perfect mixture, If I scoop it, it holds its shape, it doesn’t immediately fall off and it’s still nice and moist. Let’S shape Oh, and I almost forgot one tablespoon of this tomato sauce going in just for a little umami bump. Meanwhile, we’re going to preheat our oven to 400 degrees for these meatballs I’M going to be brushing my tray very lightly with extra virgin olive oil And I’m going to keep brushing the tops of these meatballs with some oil as well just to ensure that we’re getting a nice little browning and a non-stick release. I’M not really looking for the world’s most perfectly round meatballs here, so I’m just going to be using two large spoons fairly round. They can compliment each other, I’m going to dip them in water to ensure a non-stick release from the spoon and then I’m going to scoop out a meatball and then we’ll shape it with the spoons on the sheet tray.
( timer beeping ) To make our red sauce I’m going to keep it really simple, because mainly we just don’t have that many ingredients left anymore. So I’m going to take our remaining half of the onion chop it up, along with some cloves of garlic, We’re going to saute that in a little bit of olive oil until it’s nice and soft, then we’ll go in with our canned tomatoes. I’M going to use all of the sauce and then I’m going to reserve, maybe two plum tomatoes. Just in case we want to eek out another meal. We’Re going to let those tomatoes break down a little bit.
Let them cook let them marry. Those jalapeno seeds are very spicy. I’M going to go ahead and squeeze this in Herb salt (, fun, jazz, music, ), (, timer, beeping, ), (, fun, jazz, music, ). The balls are out 20 minutes They look. Super super deeply golden on the underside, a little bit toasted and dried out on the top.
The only way to know if they’re actually cooked is to break one open and taste it They smell lightly. Salmony Ooh, that’s a bone! Shh, don’t tell Aaron, They are cooked, They have a vaguely fish stick flavor profile. It kind of reminds me of like public school lunch, cafeteria fish sticks and you can smell it from maybe 80 feet away. The lentils are nice and creamy and soft on the inside.
It’S not too dry and it’s also not too sloppy mush. I think it’s a perfect consistency, ( fun, jazz, music ), If I may say so, myself, those taste pretty darn good, and I think the only thing that can make this better is. If we have meatballs and spaghetti, We don’t have spaghetti, but we do have those bow ties from yesterday. I gave them a nice little freeze for longer storage, but you know what I think we can cook them today. Aaron is currently preoccupied with his work, so instead of boiling these and risking over cooking them, I think what I’m going to do instead is saute them very lightly.
In olive oil in our cast iron skillet, I’m going to get them really nice and toasty, and then I can pause the cooking whenever I need to so that I can heat it up for Aaron later While our oven is still warm, I’m going to spread out our frozen pasta on a sheet tray and just slide them in there on the off oven, wait for them to defrost a little bit, and then we can cook with them. While Aaron is plugging away. I’M getting a little hungry, so I think what I’m going to do is make myself a little treat. Do you remember the wheat pudding that we made It tastes surprisingly like rice pudding, which made me think if I blend it up with a little bit of ice and a little bit of mandarins, we could make a creamsicle horchata Now to simulate that orange creamsicle vibe we’re going to need the zest of the mandarins. That’S because all of the essential oils in the skin of the citrus fruit is where all of that nice fragrant flavor is So I’m going to go ahead.
Zest, the three of those peels into the Vitamix I’m going to plop in a little chunk of our wheat pudding. Oh and a little extra cinnamon, of course, And then I’ll put some ice I’ll juice up those mandarins inside whizz it up and we’ll taste it ( fun, jazz, music, ), So refreshing, So creamy lightly, sweetened slightly tart Needs a little more cinnamon. That’S too much I’m going to go! Give this to Aaron. Aaron is almost ready to eat, but our meatballs have gotten cold.
So I’m going to turn the oven back on, I’m going to slide them into warm them up slightly and then I’m going to make some tortilla chips, because we have a lot of those left and I’m thinking with our remaining tomato sauce, onions, jalapenos. We can whip up a salsa Chips and dip By now our pasta is fully defrosted, Let’s go ahead and give them a saute Just going to season them with a little bit of salt as they cook. Once your pasta looks nice and toasty hit it with a little bit of water. This is basically the same concept that we do when we make pot stickers. You sear the bottom, first, get it nice and crusty, and then you steam it to help it finish.
Cooking all the way through We’Re going to wait until all the water, basically evaporates and cooks into the pasta and goes into the air and then we’ll taste, the pasta If it still needs a little bit more cooking, we’ll add in a little bit more water Adjust it as you see fit. The inside, if you want it, aldente, should still be a little bit of white and raw in the middle. If you want it fully cooked, go ahead and keep adding water Aaron likes his pasta with a super bite, so we’re just going to let that water boil off get golden on the crusty bits and then pull and put it into our sauce with our meatballs (. Fun, jazz music, ), [, Aaron ], So these are meatballs Yes kind of Sort of [ June ] Kind of sort of yes [, Aaron, ]; Okay, It’s a bit dry, Yeah, ( Aaron mumbling ) Get some sauce. Did you get some sauce [ Aaron ], That’s better!
Yes, That’s why I put it all on the same plate for you so that you could eat them together. [ Aaron ] From now on. I won’t ignore anything. You say: Do you like them? The meatballs [ June ] Yeah Everything man But sure give me meatballs first [ Aaron ].
Do I like the meatballs Mm-hm [ Aaron ]? No, Do I like the rest of the stuff? Yes, My immediate thoughts are: this would have been a great dish if it was just your pan, fried pasta, and this sauce, The meatballs. I think it’s hard for the sauce even to get over the dryness going on here. [ June ], Okay, [ Aaron ] – Is this a whole piece of garlic right here?
Yes, Okay, 10 out of 10, Just for you, ( June laughs, ) [, Aaron, ] Yeah. For me, I grew up eating my mother’s delicious Italian style, meatballs, that’s veal, pork and beef and they’re just so rich and juicy and fatty –. Yes, I know [ Aaron, ] And just you know moist when you squeeze –. These are a little bit healthy. [ Aaron ] Yeah Too healthy, [, Aaron ].
This is basically like lentil patties. They are lentil patties, but salmony [, Aaron, ], Yeah, okay, You see if you called them lentil patties at the start, my expectations would have been set differently. All right, sorry See guys Lower your expectations, greater fulfillment. So I’m sorry, let me reintroduce this dish to you. Here we have some salmon lentil patties soaked in a delicious lightly.
Spiced red sauce with pan fried fresh bow ties: [, Aaron, ], Okay, Oh I love these lentil patties They’re way better than normal lentil patties. I’Ve had, which are ( beep ), but these are good. Lentil patties They’re (, beep, ) meatballs, but good lentil, patties Thank you. Yes, I think. If I used the salmon on day, one these meatballs would taste a lot fresher, but right now they have that sort of like frozen fish taste.
As far as using the ingredients go. I think I did a fantastic job. The pan, fried pasta, is a little bit crispy [ Aaron ] Every one of the meals this week, I’m dodging salmon, bones left and right Foiled. Yet again, I feel like Wiley Coyote here, trying to kill the road runner, but the road runner always escapes [, Aaron ], There’s faster ways to do it than hoping. I choke on the salmon bone, I know, but then I go to jail for it.
Just stab me with one of your great chef knives Not worth it. Is it filling? Yes? Is it delicious The sauces is The pasta, is nice, The fish balls ..
They have integrity. Ask me what my grade is with this dish with meatballs. What is your grade with the meatballs 6.5 What is your grade with the lentil patties 8.1?
Okay, One thing that I am extremely surprised by is the salmon balls. Don’T taste that spicy, but the sauce does And the sauce has the membranes and the seeds from one jalapeno and that’s it. I didn’t any other spicy component and it’s like insanely …
I’m sweating My tongue is a little bit on fire. Aaron is drinking water, so you know [ Aaron ]. That doesn’t prove anything. Oh sure it doesn’t. ( Aaron, coughs, ), ( June laughs, ).
Our golden chips are out of the oven and they look mad crispy ( chip, crunches ) Yum, All right guys for our snacky salsa we’re just going to go into our food processor, with the remaining of our tomatoes, a little bit of onion half my huge jalapeno and then we’re going to go in with a little bit of salt And a little bit of vinegar, And now we’re going to eat it with the chips and we will all be happy. Finally, That’s pretty good [ Aaron ]. That’S a good ( beep ) salsa That’S like an instant salsa [ June ], Instant salsa [ Aaron ]. I just saw you put that ( beep ) in there like a minute ago and suddenly you have salsa Yup. Oh that’s!
Spicy! Ah fire: Oh my God, you know what I forgot to add Garlic, Garlic. How could I have forgotten that It’S never too late, guys, Never too late to correct your mistakes. Here we go the proper salsa with garlic, ( chip, crunches ), All right guys. I know we still have an incredible amount of lentils left, but I think this is going to be our final meal.
The reason being, while we still have a lot of lentils left, which means I can make you all sorts of different lentil, soups and stews for another year. We have very limited ingredients as far as other things go. We have odds and ends like our roasted garlic, our onions, We have half of our jalapeno. We have some raw onions. We also still have a few pieces of tortilla left as well as two sweet potatoes, and we have our five mandarins And we still have some of this durum flour that we ground down.
It’S going to be an interesting last meal. What I’m currently leaning towards is making a hummus of some sort out of the lentils. We can put our roasted garlic in there. We can put some raw garlic in there, along with our roasted onions, maybe some spices I’m going to cover it with water, just barely so that we don’t get it too soggy. We want the lentils cooked, but not completely.
Slushy For the sweet, potatoes, Aaron has been moaning and nagging about fries all week, so I think I’m just going to cut them up and roast them until they’re kind of crispy crunchy on the outside and make some sweet potato fries. And if we have hummus and fries, we can either eat that on its own or we can make a wrap. I have to say there are few things I love more than just a pure flour flatbread and I think if we can try to make a durum wheat tortilla to wrap all of our hummus and fried sweet potatoes. Let’S do it. But you know I don’t want just any flour tortilla, I want a tomato flavored one And because we still have some of that sauce leftover from lunch.
I think I’m just going to put that into the durum wheat tortilla dough and see how that comes out. Let’S go ahead and make this dough first so that it can rest and then we can go onto our hummus For the dough in a medium large bowl we’re going to dump in our remaining durum flour, Along with that flour, we’re going to go in with half A teaspoon of salt half a teaspoon of baking powder, along with two tablespoons of olive oil, I’m going to mix that in with my hands until everything’s, evenly distributed After that, I’m going to stream in some boiling water. If it feels too dry just keep in mind that we’re still going to go in with a little bit of our tomato sauce, so that we’ll add some moisture too After our tomato sauce goes in I’m going to knead it with my hand, until a dough emerges, smooth supple and slightly oily Once that dough holds the shape of your finger indentation completely without sticking to your hands. You know that you have the perfect dough, We’re going to slide that ball of dough into a container and let it rest while we make our hummus lentils For our lentils. It’S really just whatever.
I have left on hand now. So in a pot I’m going to go in with a little bit of olive oil, I’m going to go in with my roasted onions, a little bit of raw onions, I’m going to go in with a little bit of roasted garlic, a little bit of raw garlic. I’M going to go in with a little bit of jalapeno, not too much And then I’m going to add in a lot of lentils. I’M probably going to go in with four cups, because I want to be able to control the consistency of my lentils. I definitely don’t want too much water in there to begin with.
I can always add more later, I’m also going to add in there some ground, coriander ground cumin, as well as steak seasoning for salting purposes, For a little bit of a smoky, kick I’m going to add in just shy of a half teaspoon of smoked, paprika We’Re going to bring everything up to a boil, clamp a lid, partially ajar on it and wait until everything’s, smooth and creamy and cooked If you’re, using a cheaper pot like I am where the metal is super thin on the bottom. Just make sure you unlid occasionally. Maybe every three to five minutes or so and give it a stir to make sure nothing is burning on the bottom. Because boy, oh boy, have I burned many a pot Because I soaked my lentils. These take super short amount of time to cook through I’m at eight minutes now and they’re already done.
You’Ll know that your lentils are ready to come out of the pot when, if you stir, they turn creamy As long as you keep stirring, they should be breaking down If they’re not breaking down they’re, not yet ready to be creamy hummus. Yet I’m going to take it off the heat and then I’m going to plop my entire pot into a bowl of large cold water. Into a large bowl of cold water, This will help it cool down faster because nobody wants hot hummus. In the meantime, we can prep our sweet potato fries For a little extra fiber and vitamins I’m going to be keeping most of the peel on I’m going to trim away the spots where it looks, dingy and blotchy. But for the most part, if it looks clear we’re going to keep it For ease of wrapping and eating, I think we’re just going to keep the traditional.
Shoestring fry shape here, My goodness (, exciting music ), We’re gon na put our fries on our tray, We’re going to brush it with olive oil. We’Re going to salt it very lightly, Maybe a little bit of spices We’re going to throw it into our oven. That has been preheating at 375. ( timer beeps ) At the 15 minute mark we’re going to take out our sweet potatoes. We’Re going to give them a little shake a little toss, flip them around a little bit and then put them back into the oven until they’re, nice and crispy.
Our fries are nice and golden, hopefully crunchy, Eh kind of Aaron. Do you want a fry? These are obviously not fried fries they’re baked fries, but I figured you should try one before they get less crunchy. They’Re kind of gummy in the center [ Aaron ] Yeah [ June ] Not very crunchy on the outside, Not Crispy, But — Taste great Yeah, I think it’s got really good. Flavor Mm That one looks fun.
I found an uber crunchy piece. In the meantime, we’re going to roll out our tortillas As you can see after it’s rested, there’s a little bit of gluten development and it’s nice and elastic I’M going to divide our dough into fours and then I’m going to roll each of them up into a ball flatten the ball and then roll it out with a rolling pin until it’s pretty thin. I would say an eighth of an inch. But let’s see how far we get When rolling out dough of any sort, if you’re trying to keep it circular, rotate that round often The more often you rotate it, the more even your rolling will be To cook these tortillas, I’m going to set my trusty cast iron pan over a medium-low heat and we’re just going to go on that pan until the bottom gets a little bit dried out and maybe slightly browning As soon as your pancakes come out of the pan And onto a plate cover it with a paper towel so that they don’t dry out. If you have your heat on the right setting as soon as you start to see the surface of the dough bubbling, that’s a good sign to flip.
Once you flip, it cooks. Really fast, on the other side, You’Re going to see some brown spots, it’s ready Once our lentils are cooled off, I’m going to hit them with some raw onions, some raw garlic, roasted garlic, as well as our jalapeno seeds and membranes, and I’m going to process it in batches until everything’s smooth. Oh, that’s spicy. You may be asking “ June, you have a very expensive Vitamix. “, Why are you not using that to do your hummus in “ Well guys, I have the wide Vitamix.
It beats a lot of air into it without moving the mixture efficiently. Sometimes – And besides, I don’t really like a fluffy hummus. I, like my hummus, to be slightly grainy a little bit textured with grit Kind of like this I present to you our red lentil hummus dip with a drizzle of olive oil, some of our remaining garlic chips, some cilantro and some gochugaru. On top. I think that looks pretty delightful, (, exciting music ).
Are you ready As usual? Our last meal requires a little bit of assembly, [ Aaron ]. Is it because it’s the just put together crap from whatever you still had lying around Actually, no This time it’s not leftovers, [ Aaron, ], Okay, We have sweet, potato fries baked and we also have tomato durum tortillas and we also have some hummus, but it’s actually lentils with a lot of different onions, jalapenos garlic And then you have toppings like raw Jalapeno raw onions, cilantro, pumpkin seeds, [ Aaron ], It’s a beautiful hummus Is this lentil hummus again [ June ] Mm-hm Don’t be too greedy, you might not be able to close it. You like it Mm-Hm Mainly because I’m just eating straight up, jalapenos Well yeah, it’s for you! I did pretty good.
The textures are really nice. There’S a lot of sweet elements of this wrap. The hummus is a little sweet, the tortilla’s, a little sweet sweet potatoes are obviously sweet Mm-hm, But those fresh jalapenos in there make it an exciting sweetness and exciting. Overall flavor. I didn’t add sugar.
There’S no sugar Mm-hm, Just the natural sweetness of the ingredients is coming out, And you know what my favorite thing is about this meal Hm I’M not constantly worried about choking on salmon bones [ June ]. It’S such a pleasing bite too. Did you get this idea from the halal trucks in New York that sometimes put fries when their falafel wraps Mm-hm How’s this for a last meal? Like ever Maybe Yeah, you never know these days. I, like my fries, I, like my cilantro I, like my crunchies, So this was $ 20 a week, Mm-hm
Do you have anything leftover? Yes, Lots of red lentils We’ve got lentils up there and then inside random leftovers, and also a lot of mandarins as well as some tortillas and salsa Ooh. How would salsa tastes on this Forgot about this [ June ], I know salsa’s great And I was looking forward to eating this when I got back, but here I am Better Mm-hm. Yes, It enfreshens it a lot. [ June ] Enfreshens it Can.
I have a grade chef, My battery’s running out Mm. I don’t know it’s not like mind blowing, but it’s good Maybe an 8.9 [ June ] 8.9’s, pretty good dude Mm-hm I also have some of our leftover pasta sauce from lunch Mm. That’S good in there, too.
Throw all the crap in here I’m in love with all the textures in this one. I think the soft flour tortilla is really nice with the crunchiness and then the creaminess of the hummus and then just all the random pickles and all the flavors are sweet and tart and salty, and slightly spicy And nothing’s overpowering. And it’s just nice to consume. I’M going to give myself, I think, an 8.9 out of 10.
Can you recall what your favorite meals are this week? I can’t remember what I did five minutes ago. So, probably not. I think my favorite was the wheat pudding [ June ]. Did you like the horchata?
It was fine, It was a bit fibrous. It was a bit too fibrous, Oh interesting, Because you did whole blended oranges. Oh too, thick Too thick yeah, I think my personal favorite was the miso salmon fried rice, Basically anything that used the wheat berries. I was a huge fan of. I love the jicama salad with the salmon And honestly, the khichdi was great I needed it after that day of fiery chilaquiles and it saved my life.
I think for the chilaquiles we had great potential. If I didn’t let it sit for too long, it could have been crispier and then maybe, if I didn’t use so many peppers, I would have survived. But I died that night and I was reborn the next day And you know a different version of June Better. What do you think You’Re: okay, Okay, I truly hope you enjoyed this week. I thought on $ 20 I wouldn’t be making nine meals plus two snacks, but I did Do you think next time we should go down to 15 I don’t think there’s a limit to how far you can go down.
You still ended up with a lot of leftovers for this You still made like so many meals. We got to get you doing like 99 cent weeks 12 cent weeks. Are you making a third wrap Yeah, You said you didn’t like it. Who said I didn’t like it. Well, it wasn’t on your favorites Just because something isn’t.
You have a tendency to think that if something’s, not my favorite, I hate it Right. Sometimes things are just good enough. It’S true And with that stay, hydrated I’ll see you guys next time, Please get more sleep than I do, because it’s not sustainable Goodnight.
