For the main course, farro salad with artichoke hearts, I had to substitute barley for farro due to the failed farro hunt, so I guess it's really "barley salad with artichoke hearts."
The recipe called for the following ingredients:
- Semi-pearled farro - substituted pearled barley (used about half the package, $1.60)
- Oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (used about half the jar, $3.50)
- Artichoke hearts (used a 12 oz jar even though the recipe listed 14 oz, $5.49)
- Red wine vinegar (the bottle cost $1.99 but didn't use too much)
- Olive oil (we already had this, $0)
- Red onion ($0.63)
- Parsley leaves - substituted cilantro because I like it better (used a little over half the cilantro, $0.62)
- Toasted pine nuts - I skipped this due to an unfortunate experience with pine nuts where it screwed up my sense of taste for days
- Salt (we already had this, $0)
- Freshly ground pepper (we already had this, $0)
The total for the barley salad portion of the meal, adjusting for what we actually used, was about $13. Not too bad. We were a bit shocked at how expensive the sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts were. We thought that buying them while we were out in Queens would be cheaper than going to a grocery store in Manhattan but it doesn't seem like it was that different. Costco would have been the best but I don't need multiple gigantic jars of these things.
The barley salad came out pretty well. It definitely passed the color test and was a very healthy meal. The recipe was very straightforward - just mix all the ingredients together. The hardest part was cooking the barley since I have never done it before, didn't read the directions very carefully on the package, and spent a long time on it. But I love barley and the nuttiness of it really came through.
I would make this again but next time I would follow the instructions for the barley and also add a little more salt. A thought it was a little acidic and that some more salt would have helped with that. Also, the red onion was a little sharper than I would have liked (and I love onions), so hopefully the onion would be milder next time. I am, however, happy with my replacement of cilantro for parsley, and think that turned out well.
For the side dish, I decided to try something else for brussels sprouts instead of A's usual brussels sprouts with chestnuts and sage, and did the brussels sprouts with olive oil and lemon peel. (Although, since we skipped the lemon peel, perhaps "with olive oil and lemon" would be more accurate.)
The recipe called for the following ingredients:
- Brussels sprouts (2 lb bag from Costco, $3.99)
- Olive oil (we already had this, $0)
- Lemon zest strips - we made a decision together to skip this since neither of us particularly love lemon peel
- Sea salt (used regular salt, $0)
- Ground pepper (we already had this, $0)
- Lemon juice (we already had this, $0)
Since we had all the ingredients other than the brussels sprouts, the total cost of "new" items was only $3.99. Combined with the barley salad, that meant dinner was under $20 for 2 people. Excellent deal. Cooking vegan meals really does save money.
The texture of the brussels sprouts when they just finished cooking was perfect. They weren't tough and chewy, and were tender but not mushy. However, making the barley salad took longer than I was expecting, so they sat in the pan a little too long. The green color dulled and they got a little softer as they sat. I'm not sure we would make this again because the other brussels sprouts recipe tastes a little better. I think it's the sage which adds a lot. The lemon juice here didn't do much, even if healthier than chestnuts.
It was a good start to the cookbook project, although I ate way too much food for dinner. We are taking turns doing the cookbook project since our kitchen is way too small to cook together, and I can't wait to see what A chooses next!
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