So here it is, in all its unglamorous glory: my cheap meal. Not just a cheap meal, but the ultimate one. This is the dinner or lunch I turn to constantly when money is tight. The great thing about it is it’s simple to adjust the flavor to match what you feel like at the moment. Basically it’s just rice, some frozen veggie you have on hand, and as an option some old frozen protein. Toss those three items in a bowl with some sort of flavor profile that you find appealing and you have yourself a meal fit for a king, but paid for from the pockets of a pauper.

I’ve been baking my broccoli for months now, and I just can’t see myself going back to the old boiled or steamed ways of the past. I decided my signature cheap dish was a perfect way to take this side item and make it shine in a full on meal. What I did was take the spices I’d normally put on the steak or pork going into the dish and throw it on the broccoli. Hence the use of cumin and coriander in tonight’s baked broccoli. Please don’t forget the lemon zest and juice, as that is what takes the broccoli over the edge into culinary greatness.

It was also easy to change the seasoning on the broccoli because I brined the pork chop. I did my best to give measurements for the brine I use, but honestly I just toss things in a bowl and dissolve it in warm water before adding in the cold water and ice. The important thing is to make sure it is very salty, and has the seasonings you enjoy most.

The other consideration was going for a sauce or treating tonight’s cheap meal as a salad option. Normally I do up a quick pan sauce to add to the dish and make it moist. This time I used heavy flavors and tossed the cooked rice in it to create a zesty base for the pork and broccoli. It worked better than I imagined and was a huge hit.

I don’t normally dwell on the economic crisis, even though money is tight all around. Actually that’s possibly more to do with deciding to spend money on a new macro lens for the Canon, and other assorted items over the past few months. The lesson there is that sometimes the economic crisis we suffer is of our own doing. I still have my same job, as does my wife. We have our writing gigs for the extra cash, and in general we’re doing the same now as we were a year ago. That doesn’t mean we can have lobster every night, or in anything except the infrequent special occasion. So my ultimate cheap meal comes in handy.

Try it out, or if you have your own cheap meal you turn to don’t be afraid to change things up. Next time I think I may go Mediterranean for the flavor profile.

Recipe this week:

Baked Broccoli And Pork Laying On Rice

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