Purple and Orange Winter Dinner

Welcome back! Along with general tips, and sources, tasty, inexpensive, seasonal menus are a must, in my opinion, for making local-organic-cheap happening. Here is a slightly fancy dinner that totaled (if my calculations are right) ~$7 for all four of us.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Beets

~ 1 pound sweet potatoes (Somerville Winter Farmers' Market, ~$1.50)

~ 1 pound red beets (SWFM, ~$2)

juice of 2 lemons (WholeFoods, from Florida* $5 for a bag of ~10 lemons)

salt and pepper

olive oil (Sophia's Greek Pantry, from Greece*, pennies worth from a large can)

oregano (back yard, dried and crumbled)

Dish Total: ~$4.50

Dice sweet potatoes and beets. Toss with lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil and oregano. Put in a baking pan and cover (I use tin foil for lack of a lid). Roast in 400F oven for about an hour.

Skordalia (Greek Garlick Dip)

~ 1 pound yellow potatoes (SWFM ~$1.50)

3-5 cloves garlic (SWFM, ~$0.50)

juice of 1 lemon (same bag of lemons, ~$0.50 for the one)

olive oil (same large can from Sophia's)

salt

wine vinegar

Dish Total: ~$2.50

Steam potatoes until very cooked. Grate (on the fine-tooth side that you use for hard cheeses) garlic. Mix the garlic, lemon juice, oil, salt and vinegar in a medium sized bowl. When the potatoes are done, add them to the same bowl. Mash the potatoes (a fork or hand potato masher is best), mixing with the other ingredients. Add some oil to get about the same consistency as mashed potatoes. (This recipe is especially good with finely crushed walnuts, but we didn't have any. You can also find recipes for skordalia that call for bread instead of potatoes. They are both authentic; I just don't like soggy bread very much personally.)

Orange-Cranberry Salad

2 oranges* (received as a gift for the Chinese New Year)

~1 cup of whole-berry cranberry sauce (left over from Christmas, actually -- mellowed, but definitely still good)

Dish Total: $0

Peal oranges and slice in rounds. Place rounds in a single layer on plate. Sprinkle liberally with cranberry sauce. (Cranberry sauce is made by boiling a cup or so of fresh cranberries with a little water and as little sugar as you can stand. It is done boiling when the cranberries stop popping open.)

This picture is after we had eaten quite a bit and decided it was so tasty we should share it.

Meal Total: ~$7

* I know a major point is local, and I'm still working on that. Lemons and oranges are in season at this time of year, and Florida is as close as they grow (that I know of). Oranges are a special treat for us, and the lemons and olive oil are such a part of Greek cooking, that they are some of the few foods we make an exception for. (At least I can get the olive oil from a local store.) I apologize to all purists, and welcome suggestions!