The Food Stamp Foodie: A Sample Recipe

My husband can cook anything.  I mean anything.  

I used to cook before we got together, but now I don't bother.  If you lived with Picasso, would you be saying, "Pablo, why don't you let me paint the pictures once in awhile?"

What I can do, that my husband has absolutely no facility for, is write.  So several years ago, I started copying out his recipes as he chopped, braised, explained, and created.   Because a lot of what he comes up with is not in any recipe books - he just riffs.  It's like watching a one-man jam band.

The down side is that he'll cook something fantastic, and I will fall in love with it and want to eat nothing but that dish each and every night for the rest of my life, but by that time he'll have forgotten what he did when he came up with it, or be off to the next culinary adventure.  This is the other reason I started writing things down - so I can say, "It's been a really long time since you made that dish with the glass noodles and the mushrooms and peppers and tofu and sesame oil, and when are you making that again?" To which the invariable response is, "Oh - sure, I can make that. Why didn't you tell me you liked it? Uhhh...tell me what was in it again."  So now I can go to the laptop, and I can tell him what was in it again.

We also decided to set ourselves a challenge.  We aimed at coming up with a series of dishes made with healthy ingredients that would feed a family of four on a very restricted budget.  We called the resultant collection "The Food Stamp Foodie."

Writing out the recipes was a bit of a conundrum, because my husband never measures anything.  I had to convince him rather forcefully that "a nice glug of," "a handful or two," and "whatever you've got in the fridge" is not going to be helpful to anybody who is trying to cook the dish he is attempting to describe.  I did my best and was often royally chewed out for cutting off the flow of the Creative Chef Process in midstream.  (You are welcome, and yes, there is a Kickstarter campaign to cover my hospital bills.)

In recent years I became a vegetarian, which has ruffled my husband not at all, because he's perfectly happy to cook two different dinners and put them out at the same time, since he still eats meat, so we have both vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes.  Today being a cold any yuckky day, I thought I would share one of his vegetarian creations with you.  It is one of my personal favorites.  If you make it, let me know what you think!


Texas Thai Hodgepodge

FIRST: make your

Vietnamese Coleslaw:

MIX
1 bag coleslaw
2 T fish sauce
3 T rice vinegar, mixed with 3 T sugar, microwaved till sugar dissolves
Salt, Pepper
REFRIGERATE and allow to marinate for at least 8 hours before serving.

NEXT: Make your

Texas Three-Bean Pate:

1  15 oz. can each of pinto beans, pink beans, black beans, drained (3 cans total)
4-5 T finely-diced sundried tomatoes
4 T finely diced red onion, sauteed in olive oil till translucent but not caramelized.
1 tsp Veggie Magic
1 tsp Frank's or other mild hot sauce, to taste
3-4 T olive oil.

Mash all above ingredients together until they form a smooth paste.  (If you are lucky enough to live near Zabar’s, you can simply buy their Texas three-bean pate.)

NOW make the

Texas Thai Curry:

1 large zucchini, diced into ½ inch cubes
1 medium eggplant, peeled & cubed
1 package extra-firm seasoned tofu, cubed
1 can coconut milk
1 box sliced mushrooms
1 bag raw coleslaw
2 tsp Thai green curry paste
1 tsp Adobo (spices -Goya section)
½ tsp Veggie Magic (Paul Prudhomme spice mix)
4 T olive oil (or a bit more if needed)

Method: Heat wok on high approx 1-2 minutes.  Add olive oil. After about 5 seconds, throw in green curry paste & stir with spatula to break up the paste; keep it moving.  Add all the vegetables: zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms, coleslaw. Stir.  Sprinkle with Veggie Magic & Adobo.  Stir.  Cover; wait 3 minutes; uncover. Stir.  Once veggies have started to wilt, add coconut milk & 1 cup of the Three-Bean Pate (8 oz).  Keep stirring so that pate blends with coconut milk to make a sauce.  Allow to cook down for about 5 minutes, stirring, so nothing sticks or burns.  Add tofu; keep stirring.  Allow to cook 2-3 minutes, and serve.

At table, mix in: VIETNAMESE COLESLAW, which adds a delightful note of coolness, crunch & contrast.