Living With My Own Personal Sequester

As I believe I may have previously mentioned, I live life on a much smaller budget than I used to. Some of you may feel that the economy is coming back to life, but let me tell you, from the standpoint of a restaurant person, that ain't the case. The food service industry has not rebounded, and even where it may be improving, budgets and plans were revised, and chef's salaries were the first thing on the chopping block. There are so many of us that are making less money then we did 10 years ago. So, good people, if any of you have connections in the print or tv media, get me out there! I want to write, I want to cook...I want to sing! (Who got the Holy Grail reference there?)

Ugh..I'm so off topic already! The whole point of today's entry is to talk about this amazing dinner for two I made, spending only about $8.00. Again, it was a combination of staples from the pantry and the fridge, combined with some fresh seasonal vegetables. Here's what I had:

A can of Alaskan Salmon
A box of Cappellini pasta
A bunch of asparagus
A beautiful summer tomato
A sweet onion
Fresh basil
Sriracha hot sauce
Garlic
Olive oil
A lemon
A little canned chicken broth
A bottle of dry vermouth (used only for cooking, not martinis)
Locatelli cheese

Of course I could have used fresh fish, or seafood, etc., but the point was, I could make a tasty dinner on a budget. First thing I did was open and drain the salmon. For those of you who have never used canned salmon, it's not like tuna. It's a little more...rustic, shall we say. It's like they steamed a whole fish and jammed it into cans. There's skin and bones. The bones are actually so soft you can mush them up, but I pick them out. I clean the skin out, and the darker meat, too. It comes right off. I also wear gloves doing this, because it's a little stinky. But it's actually quality salmon, with a nice color.
I chopped up the onion, tomato, asparagus and garlic. Heated a little olive oil in a pan, and when it was hot, threw all the vegetables in. Tossed them around for a minute until they started to cook, then hit it with the lemon juice, the hot sauce, a splash of vermouth and the stock. By the way, I used vermouth because I didn't have any white wine in the house, but I do cook with vermouth when I am making seafood, so either one would be fine. (that was a very poorly constructed sentence, but deal with it.)
Oh yeah, pot of water boiling on the stove. Angel hair doesn't take very long to cook.
Back to the sauce..now I added the salmon and tossed it gently around. Seasoned with some kosher salt and ground black pepper, and ripped up the basil leaves and threw them in. Don't add fresh basil to the sauce to early, or it will turn black.
I put the cooked pasta into a bowl, and spooned the sauce over top. The biggest indulgence of the dish was the good Locatelli. I buy a chunk and grate it fresh when I need it. It lasts a very long time in the cheese drawer, and people, believe me, LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO EAT CHEAP CHEESE. Treat yourself. Stay away from that green can in the pasta aisle. Seriously, is it really cheese?
Let's take a look, shall we?

 

It was really good. Trust me. So there you have it, gourmet food without the gourmet price. It can be done.

If you have any other ideas on how to eat well on the cheap, let me know. I'd love to hear. Until then, enjoy the summer days,  my friends. Eat produce. Dine al fresco. It will all be gone in the wink of any eye...