Slashfood

• Poverty brings out the best in consumers...and cuisine!
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Vegetables, Recipes, Fruit, Pork, How To, Did you know?, Comfort Food, Retro cookery, Meat

  As the ongoing recession/inflation/credit crunch drives the cost of food higher and higher, British chain Sainsbury's has begun working to minimize food wastage. Meanwhile, ever-increasing numbers of consumers are cooking from scratch in an attempt to stretch their food budgets. Clearly, thrift is back!
  
  As you rush around in your search for cheap things to eat, it's worth remembering that, in the kitchen at least, poverty can definitely be the mother of invention. Although cheap gas, greenhouse...
  



• Proud father shows off son's catch
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Vegetables, Fish, Summer, Fall

  My son Alec, who frequently tags along with Amy and me on our foraging hikes, is camping this week in upstate New York, with my wife Marti, and his cousin Colten. I received a picture mail message today around lunchtime which is displayed here. The caption in the text message read: Your son's catch. Complete with butter and garnish!

  Continue reading Proud father shows off son's catch

  Permalink | Frugal Food, Vegetables, Summer
  
  There are several plants I am familiar with that are considered weeds. Dandelion comes to mind instantly. We'll wait till fall to talk more about our little yellow lawn devils. I was shopping in the Union Square Greenmarket recently during a lunchtime walk, and amongst the multi-colored organic carrots and varietal greens, was purslane. Purlsane is a slightly succulent sprawling weed, with thick reddish stems. It radiates out, flat to the ground from a central root. I had seen this plant in my garden and flower beds before learning from one of my books what it was. Purslane is raised as a...
  



• That costs what?
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Teas, Restaurants, On the Blogs, America, Food News

  In some sectors, it's practically de rigueur (and awfully hilarious) to rip on the rarefied findings of NY Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni, but I've gotta say I tend to dig his indignation as expressed through the fewer-holds-barred medium of the website's Diner's Journal. I certainly jibe with his notions of the judiciously applied dress code and the diner's right to doggie bags, but I'm almost irrationally delighted by his use of the bully pulpit to call out the stealthy price jabbings of high-end restaurants.
  



• Make backyard iced tea with Staghorn Sumac
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Teas, Summer

  
  

  In continuing with the backyard wild teas, I can't let summer pass by without mentioning this wild lemonade substitute. Sumac grows like a weed in this country. It is a relative to the much hated poison sumac, but as the flowers give way to the fruit, you can't mistake this harmless, small tree for anything else.

  The branches are fuzzy, hence the name of this variety. The fuzzy clusters of fruit are what we're after. Watch these from June through September and grab the red ones, as they ripen, but before the rain hits them and washes away the flavor. Soak a couple...
  




• Wild bramble season
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Dessert, Fruit, Summer

  

  Brambles are in season! What are brambles? Raspberries, blackberries, dewberries, swampberries, boysenberries, cloudberries, black caps, and any other wonderful members of the rose family that produce an aggregate berry. A recent trip to Kingston Point Park in Kingston, NY, had us eating almost everything we could pick.

  The berries that grew at the point were what the locals here commonly call black caps. These are wild black raspberries. They are usually found on upright, thorny, raspberry canes, and look like a slightly smaller version of the commercial variety. The taste is excellent.

  Amy and Alec found a nice stand of wild...
  




• Summer leftovers: Endive stuffed with grilled chicken
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Dinner, Hors D'oeuvres, Vegetables, Poultry, Summer

  
  

  I realize that none of these ingredients are considered wild like the things I usually write about, but it keeps within my love of frugal foods. I love turning leftovers into something that makes people say you made this with what?

  Leftover grilled chicken is a great starting point. I use it on top of salads, or as a great starter for fajitas. Endive, along with its cousins frisee, radicchio, and escarole, is a relative of the plant chicory, which is seen along roadsides all over the country. Don't expect to pick...
  




• Backyard tea: Pineapple Weed
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Teas, Summer, Fall

  
  I love showing this common weed to people. Pineapple weed is related to chamomile, which it resembles, except it looks like someone removed all of the petals from the flowers. I'm sure many of you have seen this plant because it grows in some of the worst soil, sometimes appearing in gravel or growing out of the cracks in pavement. Try to avoid the ones on very busy highways or near industry.
  
  The best feature of pineapple weed is also the best method of identification. Pick off a small piece of the plant, with flowers attached and crush it...
  



• Backyard tea: Creeping Charlie
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Teas, Spring, Summer

  
  

  Many of the plants I read about and see can be used for tea. Some must be dried first, and some can be used dried or fresh. I would like to start with the most common ones first. These plants can be found almost anywhere. I found these three growing in my yard upstate.

  While mowing the lawn Sunday, I smelled the familiar spicy-minty smell of ground ivy, also known as gill-over-the-ground, creeping charlie, catsfoot, and several other localized nicknames. Ground ivy is a small ground cover that frequently runs amok at the edges of lawns and around...
  




• Cattails: The supermarket of the swamp part two
  

  Filed under: Frugal Food, Vegetables, Spring

  
  Back when I first wrote about cattails, I promised a return to the subject soon for something I described as cattails on the cob. Allow me to explain this delicacy to you. In the late spring, if you watch cattail plants, you will notice that the well known sausage-like fruits of the cattail plant start to mature inside of the central leaves. Look at the leaves for a swelling and pull them out of the plant. If you slowly peel the husks away, you will find the two parts of the cattail flower inside. The upper, or male part of the...