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.

Thank (whatever you pray to) for artichokes!

Soon my pretty friend will be overloaded with thistles!

I grew up a 45 minute drive from Castroville, a picturesque farm town of rolling hills covered with artichokes. Driving along Highway 1 towards Monterey you see miles and miles of artichokes between the highway and the sea.


I heard Alton Brown on the Food Network say that 100 percent of artichokes grown in the US are from Castroville. Not quite; our two plants may not equal one percent of the nation's product but it seems like it.

By the way the first Castroville Artichoke Queen was a young actress named Norma Jean Mortenson, soon to be known as Marilyn Monroe.

Artichokes are amazing plants. Once the season is over you cut them back to practically nothing. The first time my wife did it I was sure she killed them but they come back vigorously.

Artichokes are nutritional powerhouses! One large artichoke has 25 calories, 6 grams of fiber (more than a cup of prunes) and lots of nutrients.

I was shocked the first time I saw a cook on TV describe how to deal with artichokes. He cut off the outer leaves, chopped the top off, peeled the base and wound up with the heart, some stem and a bit of the leaves. Heresy!

In my house growing up you cooked artichokes by dropping them whole into boiling acidulated water. The leaves were the best part! For a kid what better food could there be than something you picked up with you hands, dipped in butter and lemon juice then scrape the meat off the leaves with your teeth. You get to the bottom and easily scrape out the choke and eat the heart and as much of the stem as you can smoosh with your teeth.

How to cook artichokes
1) Get the freshest, best artichokes you can. If you pick it up and squeeze on it should squeak. Now they sell 'frost kissed' artichokes and claim they are the best ones. Nice try, artichoke marketing people. Look for nice firm green heads.

2) Start a big pot of water boiling. When it is boiling squeeze the juice of a lemon in there but do not drop the whole lemon into the pot which makes the artichokes bitter.

3) Sometimes artichokes house insects. While the water is heating up get a big bowl of cold water and add a handful of salt. Put the artichokes in and weight them down for 5 minutes. Take them out, rinse them well and check between the leaves for insects.

4) Have a cut lemon ready and wipe it against any surface that you cut. Cut off the end of the stem to get rid of the brown part. If you want take a large serrated knife and cut the top off to get rid of the spines. If I am cooking for myself I don't bother.

5) Drop the artichokes into the boiling water and cover. The cooking time will vary but it's not hard to tell when they are done. As soon as you can easily pull one of the leaves out it is done. Don't over cook them or they will be soft and tasteless.

If  you are going to eat them later cool them immediately in an ice bath or cold running water.

We like to eat them with lemon juice or melted butter. I like a good vinaigrette with them.

You know you have done it right if everybody produces a big pile of leaves.

If you get the tiny artichokes that grow lower down on the plant they are good stuffed. The choke hasn't developed and if you cut the tops off frequently you can eat them whole. I used to stuff them with bread crumbs, garlic (we are close to Gilroy, too), mushrooms and pine nuts.

And I leave this for last, the bad news. They are so much better right off the plant and cooked right away it is like a different food. And I mean right away. Cooked ten minutes later they don't taste the same and the texture is not as good. We are so spoiled...

Grow your own garlic, bay leaves and rosemary!!

So many things we can grow and enjoy. Edible plants look beautiful and taste glorious.

We love to grow our own garlic. Once you have used it right out of the garden you'll realize what you have been missing  We love to use immature plants that have not developed a bulb yet. They look like scallions but are a little tougher and have a mildly garlickly flavor. They are great pureed into a black bean dip or soup.

Just break the cloves apart

 If you harvest them after they have developed a bulb but are not quite mature they will have a water chestnut type of texture and a mild garlic flavor. They will not have the dry papery cover they develop later.

It's easy to grow.  You can use store bought garlic to get started as long as it hasn't been irradiated or totally dried out.


Just take the cloves, paper and all and plant 1/4" deep. Just push them in the ground. Push the flat end into the soil and leave the pointy end up, just below the surface.

We use old plastic containers.

You just fill the container with fairly rich soil and plunk the cloves in there. The green tops are tougher than scallions but they have a nice light garlicky flavor.

Mediterranean bay leaves have a wonderful fragrance

We like real Mediterranean bay leaves which are not the same as the bay laurel we get from California.

The California laurel has a eucalyptus aroma but the Mediterranean ones are mild and flowery.

Rosemary is really pretty when the little blue flowers show up!