Until my loan check for the new semester comes in the mail, I'm poor. Terribly poor, I should say. I am to that fun point of poor when one must make purchases with quarters dug out from the laundry change jar. Last night I was thrilled to find this 25 dollar American Express gift card I had received about 6 months ago and had never put to use- you can totally live off one of those in NYC for like 8 days, right?
Today as I walked home from school, I opted not to buy groceries for dinner, instead deciding to eat whatever scraps I thought would be in the kitchen- which I expected to consist of a bag of edamame covered with freezer burn and 2/3 of a Ritter Sport bar. Now before you start freaking out about my poor eating habits, let me stress that I had a totally balanced lunch of salami sandwich and a carrot and a stick of string cheese. Mouthwatering, right? Anyway, you can imagine my surprise to find some very tasty items in the fridge. I had bacon (leftover from my brother's visit), mushrooms (for a quiche I never made), shallots (also for the quiche), a container of grated romano cheese (maybe for pasta?) and a 1/4 loaf of multi-grain bread.
These items were pretty damn gourmet- at least for a person living off of a 25 dollar gift card for the next week. Not that these items necessarily go together as a complete meal. At this point I was happy to not have to eat chocolate and edamame for dinner. But what to do with these ingredients? Normally I would make a bacon-mushroom quiche with this stuff, but I was lacking eggs. Instead I decided to get a little, shall we say, daring. It was time to make a more creative meal- because, as I like to say, with poverty comes creativity. Ok, I've really never said that before in my life. But maybe I'm deciding to start now.
Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1 diced shallot, cook for a moment. Add 1 carton of sliced button mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt, cover, and cook for about 6 minutes. Uncover, add 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and pepper to taste (I say lots) and allow to simmer until liquid evaporates. In the meantime, cook bacon to your preference in a separate pan and toast the bread. When the mushrooms liquid is almost completely gone, add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the pan; stir before taking it off the heat. Place bacon on one slice of toasted bread, add a good amount of mushroom mixture to the other slice. While mushrooms are hot, sprinkle a tablespoon or two of grated romano cheese on top to melt. Carefully fold bread slices together, cut in half, eat. Not too bad, eh?
Today as I walked home from school, I opted not to buy groceries for dinner, instead deciding to eat whatever scraps I thought would be in the kitchen- which I expected to consist of a bag of edamame covered with freezer burn and 2/3 of a Ritter Sport bar. Now before you start freaking out about my poor eating habits, let me stress that I had a totally balanced lunch of salami sandwich and a carrot and a stick of string cheese. Mouthwatering, right? Anyway, you can imagine my surprise to find some very tasty items in the fridge. I had bacon (leftover from my brother's visit), mushrooms (for a quiche I never made), shallots (also for the quiche), a container of grated romano cheese (maybe for pasta?) and a 1/4 loaf of multi-grain bread.
These items were pretty damn gourmet- at least for a person living off of a 25 dollar gift card for the next week. Not that these items necessarily go together as a complete meal. At this point I was happy to not have to eat chocolate and edamame for dinner. But what to do with these ingredients? Normally I would make a bacon-mushroom quiche with this stuff, but I was lacking eggs. Instead I decided to get a little, shall we say, daring. It was time to make a more creative meal- because, as I like to say, with poverty comes creativity. Ok, I've really never said that before in my life. But maybe I'm deciding to start now.
Jessie's Bacon-Mushroom Sandwich.
(kinda like a burger, but without the patty)
(kinda like a burger, but without the patty)
Melt 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1 diced shallot, cook for a moment. Add 1 carton of sliced button mushrooms and 1 teaspoon salt, cover, and cook for about 6 minutes. Uncover, add 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and pepper to taste (I say lots) and allow to simmer until liquid evaporates. In the meantime, cook bacon to your preference in a separate pan and toast the bread. When the mushrooms liquid is almost completely gone, add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the pan; stir before taking it off the heat. Place bacon on one slice of toasted bread, add a good amount of mushroom mixture to the other slice. While mushrooms are hot, sprinkle a tablespoon or two of grated romano cheese on top to melt. Carefully fold bread slices together, cut in half, eat. Not too bad, eh?
Labels: recipes
posted by Jessie Bruah at 10:53 PM
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