This is my idea of comfort food: chewy rice noodles in velvety, punchy peanut sauce, topped with flavorful, juicy Chinese pork meatballs and a shower of crunchy carrots, chilies and cilantro. Just add chopsticks and a cold Pilsner.

• ingredients
• a drizzle of olive or vegetable oil for the pan (or use cooking spray) Pantry
• 3/4 lb ground pork $1
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped Pantry
• 1 1” piece ginger, peeled and chopped price inc. in peanut sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce Pantry
• 1/2 tsp freshly-ground black pepper Pantry
• 2-3 tsp (depending on how spicy you like it) Asian chili sauce, plus more for serving price inc. in peanut sauce
• 2 scallions, chopped $1 for a bunch
• 1 egg, lightly beaten $1.50 for 12
• 8 oz. thin rice noodles $2 for 14 oz.
• 1 recipe peanut sauce $7
• 1 carrot, grated $0.25
• 1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped price inc. in peanut sauce
• 1 jalapeño, sliced into rings $0.25

Total Cost of Ingredients $13

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil/spray a baking sheet and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine pork, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, black pepper, scallions and egg. Use your (clean) hands to mix well. Form into golf ball-sized meatballs and arrange on the prepared baking sheet, making sure they are evenly spaced. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until cooked through.

While the meatballs bake, cook the noodles in salted boiling water according to package directions. Rinse, drain and return to the pot.

Toss the noodles with the peanut sauce and divide between 2 bowls.

Top each bowl of noodles with a generous serving of meatballs, a handful of shredded carrots, some cilantro and a few rings of jalapeño.

Serve immediately.

Serves 2.

As far as I’m concerned, potstickers are the whole point of Chinese food. In fact, I might even go so far to say that dumplings are the whole point of Asian food (as well as Eastern European food, for that matter). These are the real deal; straightforward, uncomplicated and delicious. Try to find thicker potsticker wrappers, if you can (as opposed to thinner gyoza/ won ton skins).

• ingredients
• vegetable or canola oil Pantry
• 1 leek, ends removed, chopped finely $0.50
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped Pantry
• 1 1’ piece ginger, peeled and minced $0.50
• 1/2 lb ground pork $2
• 3 tbsp soy sauce Pantry
• pepper to taste Pantry
• about 15 potsticker wrappers $1.50 for 30

Total Cost of Ingredients $4.50

Directions

Heat 1 tbsp oil over medium heat. Add leek, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until very fragrant. Add pork and soy sauce and cook, just until pork is fully-cooked but not crumbly. Season with pepper to taste and spread out on a plate to cool.

Place a potsticker wrapper on a clean, dry surface. Use your finger or a pastry brush to lightly brush water around the edge of the wrapper. Place about 1 tbsp of filling on one half of the wrapper, leaving a little space at the border. Fold the empty half over the filled half and press the wet edges together to seal. Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary, fry the dumplings on one side until golden. Pour 1/8 cup water into the pan over the dumplings and immediately cover with a fitted lid. Steam the dumplings, covered for 2 minutes. Uncover and allow the dumplings to aerate until their bottoms are crisp again.

Serve hot, with soy sauce, chili paste or hot mustard for dipping.

Serves 2-3.

When I was a child, we did not eat butter. Rather, my cholesterol-conscious parents bought then-trendy I Can’t Believe it’s Not Butter, which my father creatively coined “ICBINB,” as in, “Gab, please pass the ICBINB. How was school?” I hated ICBINB, both because it was disgusting and because, unbeknownst to my well-intentioned parents, I had tasted richer, creamier pastures—and I knew that ICBINB was, frankly, a Country Crock of shit.

You see, our down-the-street neighbor Therese kept real, room-temperature butter in a ceramic dish on her kitchen counter at all times. When her son and I would play after school, she would spread thick layers of sweet, real butter on toasted white bread and serve it to us for a snack, along with glasses of icy Kool-Aid. Therese, it seemed, put butter on everything—and for good reason: it was delicious. And, unlike the white bread and Kool-Aid (which I could have done without), it tasted real.

Today, my parents know better—their days of spreading artificially-flavored whipped vegetable oil on bread are long gone. And this morning, as I slathered these sandwiches with butter (truly the key to making good grilled sandwiches), I thought fondly of Therese and her ceramic butter dish.

• ingredients
• unsalted butter at room temperature 1 for a stick
• 8 thick slices of sourdough bread $1.50 for a loaf
• 4 slices jack or cheddar cheese $3.50 for 8 oz.
• 4 eggs $1.50 for 12
• 1 avocado, sliced $1.50
• few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley or cilantro $1 for a bunch
• 1 jalapeño, sliced into rings $0.25
• 1 Roma tomato, sliced thinly $0.50
• few thin slices of red onion $0.50 for a whole onion
• salt and pepper to taste Pantry

Total Cost of Ingredients $11.25

Directions

Butter all 8 slices of bread. Place a slice of cheese between two slices of bread with the buttered sides facing out. Repeat with remaining bread and cheese.

Heat a grill pan, frying pan (preferably cast iron) or panini maker over medium-high heat. Grill the sandwiches (if using a grill pan or frying pan, press them with another heavy pan, weighted down with a few cans). While the bread grills, cook the eggs in a little butter in a separate frying pan, to your desired done-ness (scrambled, fried, over-easy, etc).

Cook the sandwiches until bread is golden-brown and crispy on both sides and cheese is melted.

To assemble the panini, open up a sandwich and slide an egg in with the cheese. Top the egg with a few slices of avocado, jalapeño, tomato, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Top with the remaining half of bread. Repeat with remaining sandwiches and serve immediately.

Makes 4 paninis.

I had been making eyes with the plump, nearly-overripe avocado in the fruit basket on my kitchen table all day. I first noticed it when I got up this morning to make coffee, languishing amongst a few apples and a lone plantain, and it caught my eye again when I returned to the kitchen to make tea in the early afternoon (at which point I almost dove into it with a spoon and some salt and pepper, but somehow resisted). When dinnertime rolled around, however, I knew it was time to make it mine. Beneath it in the fruit basket, I found 2 dark green jalapeños, threw them into the fire of my gas burner, and made this smoky-sweet guacamole. Serve with chips or atop a burger.

• ingredients
• 2 green jalapeños $0.50
• 2 ripe avocados $3
• 4 green onions (scallions), sliced $1 for a bunch
• 1 clove garlic, minced Pantry
• 1 handful fresh cilantro, finely chopped $1 for a bunch
• 1 Roma tomato, finely chopped $0.25
• juice of 1/4 lemon $0.50
• salt and pepper to taste Pantry

Total Cost of Ingredients $6.25

Directions

Place the jalapeños on top of a gas burner, under a flame broiler or directly on the flame on a grill or barbecue. Allow the chilies to roast for 7-8 minutes on each side, until totally blackened and limp. Rotate and roast the other side for another 5-6 minutes. Carefully rinse the blackened chilies under cool running water and peel off their outermost layer, revealing smooth flesh. Chop the chilies finely and set aside.

Peel the avocados by slicing them in half, lengthwise, then using a knife to carefully remove the pits. Use a spoon to scrape the flesh into a mixing bowl, making sure to get it all. Smash the avocado with the back of a large fork, leaving it slightly chunky.

Gently stir in the roasted jalapeños, green onions, garlic, tomato, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Serve or refrigerate covered immediately (the guacamole will keep, covered, for about an hour).

Serves 4-6.

I got up this morning to make toast with avocado for breakfast. Apparently, however, I can’t just make toast with avocado without doing fancy things to it.

• Ingredients
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and gently mashed (leave some chunks) $1.50
• 2 tbsp finely-chopped red onion $0.50 for a whole onion
• 2 tbsp drained capers, plus more for garnish $2 for a 4-oz. jar
• extra virgin olive oil Pantry
• juice of 1/4 lemon $0.50 for a whole lemon
• salt and pepper to taste Pantry
• 4 thick slices sourdough bread or 8 baguette slices $1.50 for a loaf

Total Cost of Ingredients $6

Directions

In a small bowl, mix together the avocado, onion, capers, 2 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Drizzle the tops of the bread slices liberally with olive oil and heat a dry grill or grill pan over medium-high heat. Grill the bread, oiled side down, for 3-4 minutes, until toasted with grill marks.

Top grilled slices with the avocado mixture and garnish with a little drizzle of olive oil and a few capers.

Serves 2.