Ginger Garlic Bluefish Recipe

Tip: this recipe calls for ginger and scallion. As with scallions mentioned in an earlier article, grate the ginger root until you're sick of grating, use the portion you need, and store the rest into a Ziplock bag in the freezer so it doesn't spoil.

I'm posting this recipe because I wrote about how bluefish can be purchased for as little as $2.29 a pound in Boston.

Ingredients:

• Bluefish fillet (or whole, cleaned mackerel)
• Salt
• Garlic
• Cooking oil
  
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger (preferably fresh)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1/4 cooking rice wine/sherry (optional)
  
• A few drops of sesame oil (optional)
• Chili sauce (optional)
  
• A sprinkle of scallion (thinly sliced)
  

Like mackerel, bluefish is a fishier tasting fish, and some people are turned off by it. But making blue fish with ginger and garlic will diffuse the strong taste. This will also work on a whole mackerel. You can choose to grill, broil or bake the fish, but I prefer grill or broil, as the charred taste complements the fish.

1) Marinate the fish.
When I cook, I usually improvise, so these measurements don't have to be exact. Take your bluefish fillets and dust a light layer of salt and garlic all over it (can be substituted with garlic salt). Brush some cooking oil on both sides of each fillet. Let it sit in your refrigerator for a few hours.

2) Make the sauce.
Whisk together the ginger, soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine, sesame oil, and chili sauce in a small bowl. Sprinkle the scallion into the sauce.

3) Brush more oil over the fillets. Grill/broil/bake the fish at a high temperature (preheated to 450 F). Check after 8 minutes. If you're using a whole mackerel, you may want to turn it over after 5 minutes and return it to the oven for another 5. The fish is ready when you can see that it's flaky. Fish does not take very long to cook.

4) Remove fish from oven. Spoon sauce over the fish. Serve hot. It's very good with white jasmine rice and green, leafy veggies.

Saving Turkey/Chicken Bones for Stock

After you carve away your turkey or chicken meat, don't throw away the bones! If you are not in the mood to make soup/stock with it right away, just store it into a large Ziplock bag and throw it into the freezer. This can store for months.

We usually get a pretty small turkey, and the entire rib cage can fit nicely into a one gallon freezer bag, but if your turkey is larger, simply hack it up into a couple of pieces.

That's what I did with my turkey after Thanksgiving, and this morning I decided to make some stock with it. It's absolutely fine.

I put the entire rib cage into a large pot. It's frozen and so initially, approximately 1/3 of the rib cage was sticking up above the pot. I submerged as much as I could in water, threw some kosher salt into the pot, and began boiling the water.

I brought the water to a boil on high heat, and the turkey softened as the frozen meat melted away. Eventually, the turkey will get enough below the water so the pot may be covered with a lid. At this point, turn down the heat to simmer and just keep it going for a few hours. Keep tasting it periodically and add seasoning and salt to taste.

Finally strain away the bones and you'll have a pot of stock! As mentioned before, you can use this stock to make your ramen noodles a lot healthier. http://frugalmeals-frugaleating.blogspot.com/2009/02/ramens-undeserved-stigma.html

To Splurge Or Not to Splurge: Coffee

I'm going to talk a little about lifestyle adjustment. I used to be an IT professional with a decent regular paycheck. Then back in 2002, after the dotcom bubble burst, I decided to pursue my dream to become a full-time visual artist. It was a huge lifestyle change for me. I had never budgeted before, and I was used to having a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts coffee every morning. $1.50 - $3.50 (latte) a day didn't seem like much money to me, but what that really amounted to was $47-$109 per month just on coffee – That's $564 - $1308 per year. JUST. ON. COFFEE.

It's mind-boggling. Upon first making this shocking discovery, I swung heavily in the direction of skimping. Buying the cheapest (usually the nastiest-tasting) coffee available in the supermarket. Then I realized how stupid that is. You should not think of saving as self-punishment. There are plenty of great off-the-shelf whole bean or ground coffee choices available. If you really like your Starbucks coffee, you can even buy the Starbucks take-home beans or ground coffee to help you transition.

I think it's still okay to treat yourself to a latte once in a while, but budget for that too. I limit myself to once a month.

I guess I'm lucky that my favorite brand is not exorbitant. It's Yuban (pictured here). I had it the first time when I bought it on sale and then just fell in love with it. Unfortunately, not every supermarket sells it. When not on sale, a 12-oz can is around $4.50 ($.15 a cup) and can last a month. The only other cost is a basket coffee filter for my coffee maker. $3 for 100 count ($.03 a cup).

So, that's $.18 a cup. $5.60 versus $47-$109 per month on coffee.

Scallion Saver

Random tip of the day (week? month? however often I feel like it?):

I like to buy stalks of scallions, and then, to keep them from going bad if I don't use them fast enough, I chop them up, put them into a plastic container and stick it in the freezer. When I need to use them, I just take out the container a few minutes before throwing a handful of them into a dish.

While I realize that scallions are not that expensive (according to Ms. FrugalMeals, they are $0.89 per bunch in Boston, but I find that they are $1.19 in New York City on average), this is not just a money saver, it is a time saver as well.

Similarly, I buy jars of minced garlic so that I don't have to bother with the cloves.

Grocery Budget of $325 a month for 2 people and 2 cats

I'll kick off this blog with my entry. There are two people including myself in my household. I have a monthly budget of $325 (that's only $2 more than the amount of food stamps allowance for a 2-person household in Massachusetts, even though we are not on food stamps), covering groceries and pet food/supplies for our 2 cats. We eat pretty well. I want to show how this can be done.

WRITE DOWN NUMBERS. The biggest trick is logging in your receipts each time you shop. It's amazing how you can stick to your budget just by writing down numbers. I'm a total, complete slob and it took me a while to get used to this, but having a little notepad with you can really help.

GO INTO THE GROCERY STORE WITH A PHYSICAL SHOPPING LIST. The shopping list gives you a guideline to prevent you from impulsively picking up that "sale" item that you really don't need.

COOK MORE THAN ONE MEAL AT A TIME. Make a lot of food and store them in plastic containers.

I think these three are most helpful tricks for me. I will share what I make and how much everything costs as we progress.