Your best cheap dish

[Big Mike]

Braised Beef Shanks. Cheap and easy, yet people love it. I get big meaty shanks at my favorite butcher for $2.50 a pound. Add a healthy sprig of thyme from the backyard, a couple of onions, and a few cloves of crushed garlic and whatever liquid is around...stock, wine, water even. Low and slow for a few hours, love it. Feeds a voracious family of 5 with leftovers for under $10. Add a nice base of polenta and some greens, I'm a happy man.

Even cheaper is homemade pasta and sauce. I can bring that in for about $5 total, around $9 if you include a small wedge of pecorino. Two eggs and three cups of flour costs what, 75 cents?

Edited March 11, 2011 by Big Mike (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Fried rice.

Omelettes.

Pasta aglio (sp) y olio

Pasta w grated cheese

[annachan]

Chicken wing spaghetti sauce. The wings add flavor to the sauce and make for good eating with your fingers. Wish I could take credit for the idea, but somebody's Italian grandmother thought of it first.

This sounds really interesting. Is it just wings cooked in a red sauce? I have some wings in the freezer and may give this a try.

Yes. The chicken wings are simmered in the red sauce. When done, they should be soft, almost falling off the bone, but still hold their shape. Browning the wings beforehand will firm them up and add a nice touch of color when they're cooked.

Made this last night and it was lovely! I totally forgot to season the wings before browning them, but they still turned out quite well. Will definitely add this to my regular rotation.

[David Ross]

Spaghetti Carbonara

Spaghetti (although any dried pasta you have in the cupboard will work)

Bacon

Egg

Parmesan

Butter

If you have it and want it:

Parsley

Cream

[djyee100]

Chicken wing spaghetti sauce. The wings add flavor to the sauce and make for good eating with your fingers. Wish I could take credit for the idea, but somebody's Italian grandmother thought of it first.

This sounds really interesting. Is it just wings cooked in a red sauce? I have some wings in the freezer and may give this a try.

Yes. The chicken wings are simmered in the red sauce. When done, they should be soft, almost falling off the bone, but still hold their shape. Browning the wings beforehand will firm them up and add a nice touch of color when they're cooked.

Made this last night and it was lovely! I totally forgot to season the wings before browning them, but they still turned out quite well. Will definitely add this to my regular rotation.

I'm so glad you liked it. I clipped the recipe from the newspaper years ago. It was part of an article. The author's grandmother, an Italian immigrant who lived through the Great Depression, used to wheedle free chicken wings from her butcher as a bonus for her regular order. Then she made an extra dinner out of the free wings.

[ambra]

Still going with Singapore chicken and rice.

Ribollita, Pappa al Pomodoro, Pasta e Fagioli, Pizza, Lentils etc as well.