What was the first thing that you cut from your food budget when the economy began tanking? If you’re employed and fearing the unknown, it may have been expensive specialty items, prepared convenience foods, take-out and restaurant visits. Those with brutal salary cuts and lost jobs struggled to put food on the table. Home cooks flocked to the superstores to buy in bulk, searched for local specials and downgraded to cheaper generic brands and cuts of meat.

Months later, millions continue cutting deeper and searching for creative ways to “make it.” A once prosperous professional woman confided to me that she no longer can afford fresh produce for her young family. What to do? She is not alone.

I called Dan Avakian, our Beyond Wonderful Produce Expert and owner of Dan’s Fresh Produce market in Alameda and discussed how cooks could affordably maintain all-important fruits and vegetables in their family diet. We agreed that one has to think outside of the box and be open to new ideas.

1. Select seasonal, local produce for best nutrition and value. During the winter months, “local” may include the state and surrounding areas. Wean yourself off expensive, imported out-of-season produce.

Today, citrus, winter greens and beets are plentiful in the markets.

Have you ever roasted beets? They are divine when sliced with oranges and added to greens for a salad.
	Or, chop multi-colored roasted beets while sautéing their green tops with garlic, salt, pepper and a splash of Balsamic vinegar. Sensational!
Try sliced pears or apples with nuts and cheese in a salad of butter lettuce. Treat yourself to homemade dressing, foregoing the expensive, chemically enhanced bottled ones.

2. Locate the small, independent produce stores in your area that maintain a bargain rack filled with older fruits and vegetables and “uglies” with bruises and dings. These treasures go for as little as 49 cents a bag and really help tight budgets. Dan has a very popular one at his produce store that he fills daily. Know that large supermarkets do not have bargain racks, choosing to toss their unsold produce instead.

Just think what you could do with a few apples, a little sugar, cinnamon and spice—apple sauce, apple crumble, and baked apples are just a few ideas. They are all yummy and fill the kitchen with amazing, heart-warming scents.

A too-soft pear becomes a fabulous dessert when cored and microwaved with a cinnamon stick in the center.

3. Organize your family and friends to purchase and share large amounts of produce from superstores, farm stands and local U-picks. A huge bag of onions, garlic or peppers may be too much for your family, but works perfectly when divided.

U-pick farms give you the absolute freshest fruits and vegetables with flavors and scents that you may never have experienced in life.

Last year I picked strawberries at a farm and was positively giddy working in a kitchen that smelled like summer.

4. Buy frozen vegetables on sale, then add them to your rice and lentil dishes for extra nutrition, taste and color.

5. Spring is coming soon, and with it the chance to plant a simple herb and vegetable garden. Start small—a few clay pots of your favorite herbs, lettuce, arugula or watercress. Pick the outer leaves each time you make salad and they will continue growing for months. The alternative is overbuying lettuce and having it rot because you didn’t need the entire head.

Feeling adventurous?—plant tomatoes, squash, beans and more. No matter how bad the economy gets you’ll benefit from the joy of planting, cultivating, harvesting and eating your own food.

6. Trade your homegrown fruits and vegetables with friends and neighbors. My plums and your apricots will make beautiful summer fruit tarts, sweet jam and supply lots of chin-dripping eating pleasure. Now who’s got a cherry or peach tree and wants to swap?

When you start cooking like this you’ll find yourself asking, “How can I be on a budget when it tastes this good?”

Get printable recipes for easy reference.

Apple Crumble

Baked Apples

Butter Lettuce with Pears, Spiced Pecans and Blue Cheese

Pullao Rice

Roaste Beets and Blood Orange Salad

Roasted Beets with Greens

Strawberry Pie

Summer Fruit Tart

Valentine love is in the air and chocolate lovers everywhere are indulging with great passion. I just finished a batch of my favorite homemade bittersweet chocolate truffles infused with Kahlúa and dipped in a warm bath of dark liquid chocolate. I piped them all with big red Xs and Os in the spirit of the day.

Here, take one. Go on—imaginary bites are very cool. Close you eyes and experience the short moment of crunch just before you reach the rich, melt-in-your mouth center. Savor each bite—this is chocolate love at its best.

Making your own chocolate truffles may seem a bit Martha Stewartish or labor intensive but the truth is, truffles are ridiculously easy to make and cost 50 to 75 percent less than high-end store bought ones. As you contemplate making truffles, know that there are no special techniques or equipment required; just a pot to heat the cream, a bowl, whisk and two forks for dipping.

Did you know that chocolate truffles were invented after an assistant to culinary great, Auguste Escoffier, made a huge mistake in his kitchen over 80 years ago? The assistant was whipping up some chocolate pastry cream and not paying attention as he poured hot cream over a nearby bowl of chocolate pieces. Sacre bleu! What to do? Soon the melting chocolate absorbed the cream and cooled into a malleable mixture—ganache—the foundation ingredient in scores of chocolate desserts.

The assistant scooped and formed the ganache into lumpy bumpy balls and rolled them in cocoa powder. The resulting confection strongly resembled truffles—those rare, highly prized fungi dug up in select areas of France and Italy. Voila! Chocolate truffles were born.

Today we have hundreds of truffle variations as cooks flavor them with Grand Marnier, Kahlúa, brandy, whiskey, a variety of wines, liqueurs and extracts, and coat them with crushed nuts, cocoa powder, chocolate shavings, sugars and spices.

There are several things that will help you produce first-class truffles. First and most important use best-quality ingredients, especially the chocolate. Brands like Valrhona and Scharffen Berger will serve you well and are available at good grocery stores, baking supply and kitchen stores. Don’t waste your time and money on inexpensive supermarket chocolate. This is one time when you get what you pay for.

Go easy when adding liquor and flavorings to your truffles. There is nothing worse that those that reek of alcohol or send you into contortions with over-the-top taste. Be especially careful with flavorings designed for serious bakers. These are more intense than the supermarket extracts we are all familiar with. I learned this lesson the hard way when conjuring up an experimental batch of chocolate-pistachio truffles. Too much pistachio flavoring ruined an entire batch.

My chocolate-Kahlúa truffles are a family favorite and are easy for beginners, while still delivering sophisticated depth of flavor to satisfy the most devout truffle lovers. If you have any anxiety about making your first batch of truffles, just remember that it all began with a big kitchen error. At least when you pour the cream over the chocolate, you’ll already know what’s coming— pure chocolate love.

Get a printable Chocolate-Kahlúa Truffles for easy reference.

Refer to my illustrated, step-by-step how to cooking techniques: Chop Chocolate for Melting and Melt Chocolate

When I was a kid, Oreos were my favorite cookies in the whole world. Today, they are the dark crunchy crust of my decadent chocolate mousse pie. It’s a bit more sophisticated but just as memorable. This deep, rich chocolate dessert is my Valentine to you.

As an eater, I’m not sure which gives more pleasure: licking the spoon after folding mounds of freshly whipped cream into liquid chocolate infused with espresso and Kahlúa, or just dipping Oreo cookies into an icy-cold glass of milk, then sucking them dry until the next dip. Chocolate love needs no real thought—it just is.  

This pie is a showstopper dessert—the “wow!” both at large gatherings and spoon-to-spoon, one-on-one with your special love. And it gets better—especially for you, the cook—because this pie is easy to assemble and can be conveniently made a day ahead.

To start, you’ll need a 10-inch round springform pan to mold and chill the pie. For Valentine’s Day, I used a special heart-shaped springform that I bought at a local kitchen store. These pans have side latches that make removing the pie in one piece fairly foolproof. After all, who wants all that chocolate love on the floor or in multiple pieces of ugly on the serving plate?

Think you’re too busy to try this? Time is on your side as the crust and mousse are ready in approximately 30 minutes. And while the recipe allows for a quick chill of four to six hours, mousse pie is best when chilled overnight. Now if you are new to cooking or never attempted a dessert like this, don’t be shy. Jump right in and refer to my illustrated, step-by-step cooking techniques and tips for help.

The ingredients are easy: double-chocolate Oreos (any style will work, as there is no wrong Oreo), semi-sweet chocolate chips, espresso powder, Kahlúa, butter, eggs and heavy cream—plus decorations of your choice. My personal Valentines get fresh raspberries, but you could pipe whipped cream on top, add shaved chocolate or colorful holiday candies or sprinkles.

On the day I removed my mousse pie from the refrigerator and outlined it with plump red raspberries, I couldn’t help humming a bit of Janis Joplin, “…come on, come on…take another little piece of my heart…it makes you feel good.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Get a printable Decadent Chocolate Mousse recipe for your convenience.

Refer to my illustrated, step-by-step cooking techniques and tips:

Make a Crumb Crust
Melt Chocolate
Grease and Flour a Cake Pan
Unmold Your Cake from a Springform Pan

Some nights I leave the office dog-tired and hungry. The last thing on my mind is a stop at the market , but take-out food is expensive and often mediocre. At times like this my well-stocked pantry saves the day. I keep it filled with basic and specialty ingredients for my every mood, making meals like pasta puttanesca possible at a moment’s notice.

“Sugo alla puttanesca” literally translates to “whore’s sauce.” The bold, spicy dish was originally conjured up by the prostitutes of Naples, Italy. As word of this amazing sauce spread beyond its native region, puttanesca became wildly popular in the 1960’s. Today, cooks like me depend on its lusty goodness when throwing together a quick meal of pasta, garlic bread and red wine.

I grabbed my big iron skillet and the puttanesca basics: a large tin of Modena tomatoes, some black olives, capers, anchovies, garlic, olive oil, dried herbs and a bag of pasta. Over the years I’ve pumped up the flavor with sautéed onions, a bit of red wine and parmesan-reggiano cheese.

Like magic, the woes of the day faded as quickly as the sauce came together, filling the house with its pungent garlic scent. Soon the family made their way to the kitchen in anticipation.

I poured some wine, stirred the sauce and told everyone how the Neapolitan ladies-of-the-night enticed customers in with their simmering sauce. This was an especially clever tactic when you consider that brothels were required to keep their windows covered to avoid offending the neighbors. Unable to visually flaunt their wares, the savvy professionals appealed to their customers’ sense of smell instead. How, they must have reasoned, could men returning home after a hard day’s work resist the scent of garlic and all good things to come?

Pasta puttanesca is one of the easiest dishes around when you know a few secrets. First, unless you are surrounded with anchovy lovers, never, never volunteer that you’ve included them in the sauce. People get positively wiggy, wrinkle their noses, flail their hands in disgust and often pass on the sauce. Trust me—anchovies do not make puttanesca fishy or evil-tasting. In fact, they cook down and disappear into the liquid, adding a sophisticated layer of flavor not possible without the little critters.

Great sauce requires well-prepared—restaurant quality—pasta. Puttanesca is traditionally served with spaghetti or fettuccini but I prefer large pasta shells. They are “meatier” and fill with the warm spicy sauce, providing savory bursts of flavor with every bite. For perfectly cooked pasta, salt your cooking water like the Mediterranean—a handful in a big pot of water. Go ahead – don’t be shy; the pasta only absorbs a small amount of the salt.

After draining, never rinse your pasta with water or you’ll remove all the starch needed for the sauce to adhere. You also run the risk of creating a watery sauce. That said, always retain a cup or two of the salted cooking water to thin the sauce if required. It’s much better than using plain water.

I swear by one final professional touch: remove the pasta from its cooking water a minute early, drain it and mix it into the simmering sauce to finish cooking. The pasta absorbs all of the sauce’s good flavors, making your dish truly memorable.

Breathe in—then dig in. This is my idea of spicy, fast and easy. Now please excuse me while I close the blinds.

Print a copy of Pasta Puttanesca and How To Cook Perfect Pasta for easy reference.