October is a scary month. And my nightmares are from things that go bump in the kitchen!
But don't worry, the Ghastly Gourmand has a pumpkin patch full of recipes for all you ghouls and gals, so keep checking back to see what I have in my creepy cupboard.
For Halloween, I have a special treat, creepy meat recipes that are devilishly delicious. And, if you have leftover pumpkin flesh then visit me here for a couple of unique Pumpkin Recipes.
So for the next few weeks keep coming back to the Creepy Cheap$kate, then next month it's back to being just a regular Joe knocking around in the kitchen creating tasty treats for anyone on a budget.
So I'll raise a cup of coffee to you and this ghostly month.
It's all about the meatballs in a Meatball Sub and my Meatball recipe is loaded. And I make large meatballs so get ready for a big bite!
A warm Meatball Submarine Sandwich is a thing of beauty. Simply delicious. No need for anything extra but a thick Marinara Sauce.
You do want a large bread roll to hold all this goodness. It can be a crusty one or a regular soft roll. I find mine in the bargain bin from my local grocery store.
Click on any photo to see larger.
I'm not embarrassed to admit that I enjoy a fast food Subway Meatball Sandwich. When I order mine I get everything on it. With all the salad toppings available, I go for it: cucumber slices, spinach, sliced tomato and red onion, black olives, and melted cheese, oh boy.
But when I go to an old-school Italian deli for a Meatball Sub, well it's back to basics, just the Meatballs and Marinara Sauce, please.
For my Loaded Meatball recipe I use ground Italian-style ground pork. Ground pork is a little cheaper than ground beef.
I've made Meatballs with ground turkey I frequently find on sale. Of course, you can use any favorite ground meat(s).
I mixed ground meat with spinach, sauteed onion, mushrooms, toasted bread, and garlic making a typically heavy, meaty meatball so light it almost floats off the plate.
Onions and garlic are cheap anytime. You can substitute with dried or powdered versions.
One package of spinach leaves or a bundle of spinach is enough. You can use frozen spinach, too. (Drain excess liquid from frozen spinach.)
I have a small patio garden with fresh herbs like basil, oregano, sage, and parsley. You can, again, use dried herbs or an Italian Herb Mix.
Maybe you like a more solid Meatball, then leave out the sauteed veggies and toasted bread for a hefty Meatball. If my Meatballs are too large then make them small. Make Meatballs your way - it's all good.
I finish the Meatballs with a canned tomato sauce. I've made an EasyMarinara Sauce (click here) with crushed, diced, whole, and just plain tomato sauce. I add a little red wine in this recipe, but you can just add some water that's sloshed around to rinse the tomato can.
I simmer the Meatballs for at least an hour so the sauce breaks down while absorbing the Meatball flavorings. If you are using whole canned tomatoes then break them apart as the tomato sauce cooks.
Add or subtract any of the above Meatball ingredients. I've made different versions and the Meatballs have all been tasty.
My Meatball recipe does double duty, not only are they great added to your favorite pasta, but they fit perfectly into a hefty Meatball Sub.
Meatball Submarine Sandwich - VIDEO Play it here, video runs 5 minutes, 5 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients
Bread Rolls - for sandwiches. Okay to use any favorite bread like buns or sliced bread.
Ground Meat - 1 pound. Okay to use any favorite ground meat including pork, beef, veal, or poultry, or a ground meat mix.
Spinach - one bunch with most of the stems removed. Okay to use a 6-ounce package of spinach, or frozen spinach.
Mushrooms - sliced or chopped. 1 package, about 4 to 5 ounces, of any favorite mushrooms.
1 Onion - chopped.
Garlic - 1 tablespoon chopped fresh or from a jar. Okay to use dried garlic.
Bread - 2 slices toasted. Break into small pieces to mix into ground meat and sauteed veggies.
Italian herbs - 1 teaspoon fresh or dried, including basil, oregano, sage, and parsley. For fresh herbs add 2 teaspoons.
Milk - 1/4 cup, optional.
Salt & Pepper - to taste, or about half a teaspoon total.
Oil - 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. One tablespoon to saute onion, and one tablespoon to saute Meatballs.
Marinara Sauce
Tomato Sauce - large 24-ounce can or jar. For a smooth texture use tomato sauce, but I've made chunky sauce with whole, chopped, or crushed tomatoes. Just break up large tomato pieces as the sauce simmers.
Red or White Wine - about 1 cup. Okay to substitute one cup of water rinsed from the tomato sauce can.
*I find the Meatballs have enough seasonings, so nothing more is needed in the Marinara Sauce.
Directions
In a large pan or pot saute onion for about 5 minutes in a tablespoon of oil until soft.
Add sliced or chopped mushrooms and saute until soft about 5 minutes.
Add chopped garlic and saute for another minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add 1 teaspoon of dried or fresh herbs.
Wash the spinach and remove most of the stems. Add spinach and cover the pot to seam spinach to softness for a few minutes. Give them a stir as spinach cooks down.
In a large bowl mix, ground meat, milk, shredded bread, and sauteed veggies.
Form the meat mixture into meatballs, any size you like (I like large ones) and add to the heated pan with oil.
Brown the meatballs for about 5 minutes on each side. You may need to do it in a couple of batches depending on the size of your pan or pot. Partially covering the pan helps firm up the meatballs by steaming, thus making them easier to turn without breaking apart.
Deglaze the pan with red wine and add tomato sauce. Add another can of tomato sauce for extra servings (especially for Meatball with Pasta). Okay to substitute red wine with a cup of water or a favorite broth.
Cover and low simmer meatballs in sauce for 1-2 hours until sauce is reduced by half. Add water or broth if the liquid cooks out too much. I like a thick sauce, but make it the way you like.
When Meatballs in Marinara Sauce is done, build a Meatball Sub. Pour on some Marinara Sauce on the bottom slice of the bread roll. Place enough Meatballs to cover the bottom bread roll slice. Close the roll and chow down.
You can also add any favorite topping like sliced black olives, onion, and cheese.
Today is National Taco Day, the most hallowed of culinary days in my cocina (kitchen.) I can have tacos morning, noon, and night. So read on and you'll know what I mean - just click on any taco name, or highlighted text, to see all the tasty details from my blog post recipe or review. And click here to see local National Taco Day specials.
In the morning it's spicy Mexican chorizo with scrambled eggs and refried beans nestled into a warm corn tortilla.
Breakfast Tacos
And my Chorizo & Egg Taco is about as cheap as you can get. I get Mexican chorizo from my local Latin grocer natch, and all kinds too, like beef, pork, and even soy (which is a recent favorite.)
*Click on any recipe name to see the original blog post recipe or review*
For Breakfast Tacos, it's all about the salsa toppings. I like salsa from a jar, but sometimes I just gotta go for it and make my own Homemade Salsa, and it's easy to do.
My Mango Salsa recipe with yummy photos and tasty text is right here, but you can check out the video below:
I buy a 5 to 6-pound budget pork shoulder, and I can get a couple dozen tacos out of it so no one leaves hungry.
And boy it's the perfect budget recipe that your friends and neighbors will line up for. You let them do most of the work -- they get to build each taco to suit their taste. I like to set out some chopped onion and cilantro. You can make your taco bar any way you like, go ahead and add a bowl of shredded cheese, chopped lettuce, and tomato, and a cheap jar of salsa, too.
Some palates can't handle porkso I noticed at my local Latin grocer's deli case they serve Carnitas made from Turkey. Well, it works, especially the 99 Cent Chef recipe way. I make mine flavored with Mexican Cola. Sweet and succulent slow-cooked turkey leg meat is delicious not just on Taco Tuesdays, but every day!
Chicken is still one cheap protein. My Chicken Tinga recipe will have your guest coming back for seconds...and thirds! Chicken Tinga is a stew simmered in tomato sauce with a can of spicy chipotle peppers, but you can make a milder version with a can of enchilada sauce.
Chicken Tinga
One of my most unique tacos came about one summer while on vacation at our spectacular national parks in Utah. I stopped to eat and had an Indian Frybread Taco. Frybread is flour dough that's rolled out and deep-fried. You top the frybread with chili beans, lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
Frybread Taco
Carne Asada, or grilled steak, is a favorite taco of mine. Just make my marinade for thinly sliced steak, let it sit for an hour, then slap it on the grill. After the Carne Asada is done you chop it up and serve on a corn tortilla
Carne Asada Taco
The marinade is a simple mix of lime juice, oil, cilantro, cumin, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Drive anywhere in Los Angeles and you will see taco trucks, sidewalk taco vendors, and taquerias on almost every street. And I've stopped at many of them. What follows are a few of my faves - with a few recipes I cribbed from them, too.
When I moved to Los Angeles over 50 years ago, I discovered the taco truck. Boy, have they evolved over the years. In the beginning, it was just hamburgers and tacos made with ground beef. Well, that all changed in the year 1991 when a hotel chef named Roy Choi, who was down but not out, rebounded from couch surfing to start Kogi Taco Truck.
A fellow co-conspirator came up with the idea of a Korean taco, and chef Roy Choi assembled the taco ingredients of Korean barbecue short ribs with a kimchi-style coleslaw, served on corn tortillas. His truck was an instant hit, and Kogi jump-started the nouveau taco truck renaissance.
Kogi is still around and I still love them. Check out my video below, where I hang out night and day, for L.A.'s most uniquely mouthwatering taco.
Inspired by Kogi's mashup of Korean BBQ and Mexican Tacos, I came up with the Loxaco, which combines Jewish and Mexican cuisines.
A Loxaco is comprised of homemade lox (cured salmon) in a fast food crunchy taco shell topped with cream cheese and thin sliced red onion. I introduced this preposterous concoction at a book signing in Libros Schmibros, a lending library in East Los Angeles. How did it go over with book lovers? The following video is a twofer, you get a recipe plus a literary happening scene -- even the late great food critic Jonathan Gold makes an appearance - while his wife and kid tried them Jonathan gave them a pass )-:
After a double feature at my fave art house cinematheques like the EgyptiaTheater or the Academy Museum, on the way home I swing by Leo's Taco for a couple of Al Pastor pork tacos. They just cost $2.50 and the line can be long, now that the word is out.
This is porcine perfection on a paper plate. It's tender and flavorful grilled marinated pork, that's cooked in front of a gas grill called a trompo. A cook manning the grill slices off thin slivers, finishing the taco with flare: a flying slice of pineapple. Check out the yummy action below.
I've followed the Two Hot Tamales from the beginning when the Border Grillwas in a storefront with half a dozen tables on Melrose Avenue. Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are fixtures on the L.A. dining scene who jumped on the taco truck train, bringing their neuvo take on Mexican cuisine to four wheels.
My Tacos El Primo video review has gone viral. That means this YouTube video gets thousands of hits per month - right now it is pushing a million total views. Why? I'm not sure. Let's see... in this video, I review Buche and Tripas tacos, or tacos made from slow-cooked stomach and intestines. Gross right? One thing I noticed is half my visitors are from Mexico, so maybe half my audience is curious about how gringos react to offal.
That doesn't seem interesting enough really, but hey, what do I know, I'll take it. I did the taco review because Tacos El Primo was a midnight munchies stop on my return home from various Hollywood treks.
When you have a neighborhood food stop, you eventually dive deeper and try eats that you would not normally taste.
Tripas (intestine) Taco
Well, join the multitudes and check out my Cheap$kate video review of Tacos El Primo.
Deep-fried Fish Tacos are one of L.A.'s great culinary contributions. These battered depth charges of crunchy perfection are based on the street food of Baja Mexico and other coastal communities. If you like British Fish & Chips, you will love Fried Fish Tacos.
Fish Taco
The battered fillets of fish are typically served on corn tortillas and topped with a white crema and chopped cabbage. I have my own recipe for Fish Tacos you can see by clicking on the recipe name.
And this is the best taco deal in town: Today (Wednesdays) is $1 Fish Taco Day at Tacos Baja! Yeah, that's what you heard - don't believe me? Just watch the video below and see it for yourself. (The Wednesday Special is now $1.59.)
Do celebrate National Taco Day with me. Hey, celebrate it any day now that I've shown you a slew of taco recipes you can make easily and cheaply.
And, what the heck, I'll end with a queasy taco review, from of all places, Jack In The Box's 2 for 99 cent tacos...ugh, watch it with a barf bag. (The price has doubled since I made the video review.)
