Your Best Dirt Cheap Dinner
Forget your dorm room austerity measures. We're not talking multi-pak ramen here: food52 is teaming up with Phoebe & Cara of Big Girls Small Kitchen to find out how you eat well at dinnertime for dirt cheap. Bonus: The winner will get a copy of BGSK's new cookbook In the Small Kitchen!
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Contest Slideshow
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You just need a few simple ingredients: kale, sausage, butter, flour, egg, white wine, basil, onion, ricotta and garlic.
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We thought the texture of this kale (we used lacinato) was so beautiful.
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Starting with a smile!
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The crust is a straightforward butter, flour, salt and water affair -- whizzed up quickly in the food processor.
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Amanda makes sure she adds JUST the right amount of water.
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Perfect!
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We patted the dough into a disc, wrapped it and chilled it for about 30 minutes.
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See the droplets of water collecting in the folds of the kale? They look like jewels.
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Amanda cuts out the spines of the kale leaves, which are tough.
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We sliced the kale into thin strips.
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Sauteing some onion and garlic to start the filling.
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Next, browning the sausage. (Check out Amanda's fridge disappearing act!)
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After removing the sausage from the pan, it's time to wilt the kale in all those yummy juices.
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A little wine never hurts. This recipe only calls for 1/4 cup -- perfect for using up that open bottle in the fridge.
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Amanda used her trustworthy plastic wrap technique to roll out the dough, which is very easy to work with.
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Docking the crust.
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We've got some pretty new baking beans after all of those bulk bin photo sessions!
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Perfectly blind-baked.
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To finish up the filling, you add an egg and some ricotta to the kale, sausage and onion.
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We found it best to use our fingers to distribute the filling evenly in the tart shell.
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Just 15 short minutes in the oven, and dinner is served!
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Contest Slideshow
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The ingredients: bread, cucumber, lemon, egg, garlic, yogurt, onion, cilantro, mint, pitas, cumin and chickpeas.
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After soaking the chickpeas overnight, we dried them on paper towels for a few hours.
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Amanda cheerfully throws ingredients into the food processor -- we love that you just toss everything in together!
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Could we possibly fit anything else in here?
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Yes, we can!
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It's alive!
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We decided to finish the job in batches.
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Forming the falafel patties. It's kind of like going back to kindergarten.
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Aren't they cute? And such a pretty green!
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Amanda fries up the first batch of falafel.
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Neither of us had ever actually made falafel before -- so much fun!
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Meanwhile, the tsatziki is a similar dump and whirr operation.
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Lots of mint, and lots of cucumber, makes this version really fresh.
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Now, that's some beautiful falafel.
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