One of the World's Best $2.50 Lunches

Beautiful, cheap and delicious. Just like me!

Oh yes, here it is. The chicken is really high quality fresh chicken I bought at my favorite Chinese Market.


I poured some olive oil in a bowl and mixed in some of my spice rub. I rolled the chicken around in it and rubbed it into the skin. I put it on a foil lined tray and into a 425° oven for five minutes, then I turned the heat off.


When they just firm and done all the way through I took them out. Simple and delicious.

Cost: at $.89 a pound they were a real bargain. The two cost about $.60. Let's add a tablespoon of olive oil and some spices and call it $.70.

Lettuce is really expensive right now and quality is difficult to find. But I found these little gem lettuces for $1.59 each. It's dressed with hazelnut oil and a 10 year old balsamic vinegar. Not trendy right now but very tasty. On top for a quirky garnish is some enoki mushrooms and below is a few sliced almonds to add some depth.

Cost including the few drops of expensive oil and expensive vinegar and the mushrooms and almonds: about $.85

The sourdough was toasted over a flame and topped with onions and peppers and boquerones, those fishy little fish from Spain.

Cost: about $1.

Yum factor is very high for this meal. Cost is really low. I made a big pile of this chicken since the whole family is here all of a sudden. While the chicken was in the oven I made the onions and peppers.  When the chicken was done I cooked the Branzino I had for lunch yesterday. There were a lot of good textures in this meal too. The chicken skin was cruncy and flesh nice and moist. The bread was really crunchy and had a flame-toasted flavor. The lettuce was cruncy too and the little bit of hazelnut oil on it make the almonds taste really nutty.

Good stuff all around. Glad I got to eat it.

Good food is back back back!

I love the Asian markets!

I went by my favorite Chinese market today because I had been cooking for one and today my wife came home from playing concerts in Dresden and Prague and tomorrow my son comes home from college. Better fill the fridge!

Today I picked up two delicacies, a branzino and a pound of live shrimp. The branzino was flown in from Greece. I don’t know where the shrimp came from but it is unusual to find them live here.

I made a classic court-boullion to cook the shrimp. I got a pot of water boiling and added a bay leaf, a couple of crushed garlic cloves, some aromatics, a few peppercorns and some lemon juice. I boiled it for a few minutes then dumped the shrimp in. They cooked just for a minute and I took them out and let them cool in a mix of the court-boullion and water.

The branzino I simply rubbed with  olive oil, sprinkled with salt and put it under a broiler for a few minutes.

I also made a snow pea salad dressed with walnut oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper and lemon juice. I had a couple of slices of wine, wheat walnut bread to fill it out.

This was an expensive lunch for me. The branzino is not a cheap fish. Altogether I spent about 6 bucks.