What with the credit crunch, worldwide recession and rising food prices - we’re all feeling the financial pinch. If you want to save money, then take some inspiration from Italian cuisine. There are plenty of traditional Italian dishes that are ideal if you’re cooking on a budget.
Use Cheap Cuts of Meat
Many Italian dishes are based on extremely simple ingredients. You can use cheap cuts of meat, for instance, and team them with vegetables, garlic and herbs to make a delicious meal. Cook them slowly, as they traditionally did with oxtail in Rome, and let all the flavours emerge. You can make a rich stew - or a versatile sauce that you can team with pasta.
Pasta and Polenta
Pasta, of course, makes a great money-saving meal – and all you need is a little olive oil and ground black pepper as a dressing. And don’t forget polenta, that staple of northern Italy. You buy it in a packet and mix it with water – a bit like porridge. It can then be teamed with vegetables, or a meat sauce, for a cheap and filling meal. Try some mushrooms, for instance, cooked with a little onion, garlic and parsley. A little polenta goes a long way and if you cook too much (almost inevitable), then keep it in the fridge and use it fried or grilled the next day. It’s surprisingly good with grated cheese.
Use Leftovers
Tuscan cuisine was a cucina povera – a cuisine of poor people, and there are plenty of traditional recipes that are very cheap to make. The peasants couldn’t afford to waste anything – even stale bread, and devised lots of recipes using leftovers. If you want to save money, then why not try making ribollita – a thick vegetable soup made with stale bread. Then there’s acquacotta – literally cooked water, which uses vegetables (essentially whatever is handy), stale bread and an egg.
Beans (especially cannellini) also feature in Tuscan cuisine and can be used to make a variety of cheap, nutritious dishes such as Tuscan bean soup or sausage with beans. You can also cook them slowly on their own with tomatoes and sage.
Herbs for Flavour
Herbs are important when you’re cooking on a budget. They really add flavour to a dish, especially important when you’re using cheaper ingredients. Grow your own fresh herbs if you can. If not, use dry herbs, they’ll still really make a difference. Don’t forget garlic either. You don’t need much. The Tuscans have a starter called fettunta, (it means ‘greasy slice’) which simply consists of toasted bread rubbed with a garlic clove, then a drizzle of olive oil. It is worth spending a bit more money on a good olive oil – you don’t need a lot and it can really make a difference to the flavour of your food.
Cook Local
Don’t worry if you can’t get hold of Italian ingredients. Credit crunch cooking means adopting the basic principles of Italian cuisine, not following recipes slavishly. Use locally produced, plentiful ingredients if possible, then find ways of making the best of them. Pizza, after all, utilised produce that was cheap in Naples – dough, tomatoes, a little cheese and some herbs. Find what suits you in your area.
