Good. Local. Cheap.

I've been meaning to write a post featuring nutritious, inexpensive dinner ideas which feature local produce for a while now. Because processed foods (cheese, meat products, cereal, frozen dinners) are often the most expensive on Saipan, assembling cheap, healthy dinners can be cheap and easy if you know where to look.

Aside from the farmers' markets on Tuesday evenings (Garapan Fishing base) and Sabalu Market on Saturday mornings (across from the courthouse), I like to get local produce from Vegetables Plus in Puerto Rico or Saipan Fresh Market in front of Century Hotel in Garapan. Another good place for produce (though maybe not local) is San Jose Mart across from Joeten Superstore. 

 Quinoa Chickpea Burger with Baked Sweet Potato Fries

A mostly locally sourced meal: Quinoa Burger with baked sweet potato fries.

Chickpea Quinoa Veggie Burger

Ingredients

2 cups drained and rinsed canned chickpeas

1 cup cooked quinoa (or brown rice)*

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper

1 egg

2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil  

Instructions

Mash chickpeas and quinoa until a thick paste forms. Stir in the garlic, salt and pepper. Stir in the egg. Form into four 1/2" thick patties. Heat oil over medium high heat and cook patties for about 4 minutes on each side. 

Top with mustard, mayo, onion and local tomato, lettuce and avocado. I recommend using whole wheat buns from Himawari.

I love mine with tinian hot pepper sauce!

*Joeten Superstore carries 4 lb bags of quinoa for around $15. Joeten Susupe sells a 1 lb bag for around $12. You do the math. Quinoa keeps well and 4 lb of quinoa will make A LOT of meals.

 

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

4 medium sweet potatoes, cut into wedges

salt and pepper

coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss the potato wedges in the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in one layer on a baking sheet and bake for 35-40 minutes.

Rosemary Chicken with Quinoa Salad and Local Greens

 Quick Rosemary Chicken

Ingredients

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I buy frozen in bulk at Joeten Superstore)

1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

olive oil

1 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Instructions

Slice the chicken breasts like a butterfly cut to thin out the chicken breast. Put the chicken breast slices on a large cutting board. Mix the rosemary, salt and pepper and sprinkle over the breast halves. Cover the breast halves with a piece of plastic wrap and beat the chicken with a rolling pin. This beats the flavoring into the meat and thins the meat so it cooks quickly and stays moist. (see photo) 

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium high heat and saute the chicken breast pieces in batches for about 4 minutes on each side. The chicken should cook fairly quickly. Cover chicken and set aside and rest.

Quinoa Salad

Ingredients

1 half local pumpkin, roasted (see recipe below)

2 cups of cooked quinoa

1 half of an avocado, large-chopped

roasted chickpeas (see recipe below)

3 green onions

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper 

olive oil

black pepper

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together and add olive oil and black pepper according to taste.

 Roasted Pumpkin

Ingredients

1 whole local pumpkin (I sometimes roast 2 for extra leftovers)

coconut or olive oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut pumpkin in half and remove the seeds (Roasted Pumpkin Seeds). Cut the pumpkin into 1-2 inch slices. Rub all cut sides with oil and place in a single layer on a baking sheet (or two baking sheets). Sprinkle with salt and other seasoning if desired. Roast the pumpkin for 45 to 1 hour until lightly browned and soft when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and let cool. The skin will peel off easily.

Note: This amount of roasting can really heat up the kitchen. I like to do this on a cool(ish) evening right before bed. I also try to bake some sweet potatoes at the same time to have on hand for the week. That way, I only need to heat up the kitchen once. Roasting things like pumpkin and potatoes all at once makes an easy-to-grab food for later.

 Pan-Roasted Chickpeas 

Ingredients

1 can of garbanzo/chickpeas

coconut oil

 3-4 peeled garlic cloves (or more if you're feeling saucy)

salt and pepper

powdered tinian hot pepper

Instructions

Rinse and lay beans in an even layer on a clean towel for about 20 minutes to help them dry. Heat some oil in a pan over medium-high heat and when the oil is hot, add the garlic cloves. Let the cloves brown on each side for a couple of minutes and add the chickpeas. Shake them in the pan occasionally and let them get really brown and crunchy. This takes about 10-15 minutes. 

Season to taste though you may not need much salt as canned beans are already packed with sodium.

  Stir-fried Local Greens with Garlic

 Ingredients

2-3 tablespoons olive or coconut oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

6 cups local greens (bok choy, kang kung, mustard greens, other hardy greens)

salt and pepper

1 half of a local lemon

Instructions

In a large pan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add garlic and brown. 

Add greens and quickly sear them for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Season to taste.

How do you use local produce? Post a comment or leave a recipe in Recipe Share!

Clafouti-sy

I just found my new last minute dessert in the French dish, clafoutis. The texture is somewhere between cake and custard and, though it was originally meant to include black cherries, works well with many different kinds of fruit. I used thawed frozen blueberries for the clafoutis in the picture though any kind of berry would be awesome. I also plan to try mangos and soursop, as both of these local fruits go great with sweet dairy.

Clafoutis is unique, delicious and easy to throw together last minute with simple instructions and basic ingredients. It's also great as a breakfast food.

I have tried two different recipes for clafoutis and prefer the cakier texture of Julia Childs's. If you are looking for a custardy version, add less flour and more cream or milk. Below is the adapted version of Julia Childs's sour cherry clafoutis.

Clafoutis 

1 1/4 cups cream (or milk for a lighter version)

2/3 sugar, divided (or less depending on type of fruit used)

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup flour

2 cups fruit (any type of berry, soursop, mango)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk together the cream (or milk), 1/3 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour. Lightly butter an 8-cup baking dish (a large pie pan works). Pour 1/4 inch of batter into the dish and bake for 10 minutes. While that is baking, add up to 1/3 cup of sugar to whatever kind of fruit you are using. I used thawed-out frozen blueberries which only needed a few tablespoons of sugar. Berries like mulberries or tart raspberries may need a little more sugar. Soursop or mango is probably sweet enough already.

After the ten minutes, remove the pan from the oven and distribute the fruit on top. Then pour remaining batter slowly so as not to displace the fruit.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the clafoutis is puffed and brown and a knife in the center comes out clean.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired and serve warm.

Voila!