Fancy Knock-Out Dinner Made Cheap

This is the perfect pasta when you want to blow your guests out of the water. Cook this at home instead of a pricey meal at a restaurant and you'll be amazed how much money you will save. It has the kind of buttery, salty flavors that aren't easily duplicated with jarred sauces and the comfort food appeal which makes it perfect year round. If you have a few extra dollars to splurge on prosciutto instead of ham and white wine instead of chicken broth, it will make the dish extra special but it works great either way. I think it's best with fresh pasta and I used a trick I saw recently on Jamie Oliver's new show: buying fresh lasagna sheets and cutting them into the desired thickness just before cooking. If you'd rather use dried pasta stick with thicker pasta like tagliatelle or linguine.

Buttery Pasta with Prosciutto
2 oz prosciutto or ham
1 tablespoon butter plus 1 teaspoon
1/2 medium onion
3 sheets fresh lasagna or 6 oz dried pasta
1/4 cup white wine or chicken broth
Grated Parmesan cheese

Add 1 tablespoon butter to a medium sized pan until melted. Add onion and cook until soft but not browned. Add prosciutto or ham, stir to mix and add white wine or chicken broth.
Cook until liquid has reduced by half. Meanwhile, use a sharp knife to cut the fresh pasta into desired thickness. Cook until al dente and reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.Once liquid in the pan has reduced by half, turn off heat, add fresh cracked pepper and 1 teaspoon butter. Toss with hot pasta and add pasta cooking liquid if sauce seems too dry. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and serve.

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Used books are cheaper than Amazon

Tomorrow marks the yearly used book event put on by the Housing Works Used Book Cafe in Soho. Whether you're a book addict or you're always meaning to read but never have the time (I'm somewhere between these mindsets), you'll find everything from the latest paperbacks to dusty old French cookbooks. All books (plus cds and records) are $1 each. I've seen people show up to haul books off with suitcases, so buy to your heart's content. Housing Works Used Book Cafe
126 Crosby Street
10 am - 6 pm

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Food on a stick and other summer entertainment

Nothing marks the beginning of summer like a good NYC street fair. If you scoff at the street closures and disruption to your neighborhood you may need to find your own street fair favorite booth. I enjoy the strange live infomercials, the endless array of cheap "cashmere" pashminas and the random food. There's usually a good crepe stand, lots of fried dough and at least a few foods on sticks. Starbucks even set up a booth at last week's fair on Amsterdam on the UWS and passed out free coffee gift certificates. Too bad they expired the next day. I guess that teaches me for grabbing six of them. Check out the NYC Street Fair Schedule photo from Ed Yourdon on Flickr

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Like regular delivery, but even less effort required

When I first discovered menupages.com I was ecstatic. Now I could check the offerings of hundreds of restaurants across the five boroughs without moving from my bed. I threw out my stack of delivery menus and browsed to my stomach's content. But I soon learned that not all restaurants on menupages delivery and not all the menus are current. And, when it came to picking up the phone I always felt apprehensive. Did I really want to speak to a human? Enter seamlessweb.com and delivery.com. Just browse their ever-expanding list of participating restaurants, make a few clicks, enter your credit card information and you've got dinner, human-contact-free.
Bottom Line: Ordering dinner has never been more lazy
www.menupages.com
www.seamlessweb.com
www.delivery.com

photo from devinlynnx on flickr

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GMA Summer Concert Series

It might be a little early to see Boyz II Men (really? are they still around??) at 8am on a Friday morning, but considering it's free, why not stop by on the way to work? Good Morning America is holding their annual summer concert series as usual in Bryant Park. Check the schedule here or the detailed list after the jump.

Friday, June 6 -- Ashanti and guest

Friday, June 13 --Cyndi Lauper

Friday, June 20 -- Boyz II Men

Friday, June 27 -- Maroon 5

Friday, July 4 -- Chaka Kahn

Friday, July 18 -- Miley Cyrus

Monday, July 25 -- Feist

Friday, Aug 1 -- Broadway cast of the hit musical "Rent"

Friday, Aug 8 -- The Jonas Brothers

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Hummus Manifesto

I am a hummus snob. Growing up outside of Detroit, I took for granted the creamy simple hummus at the Lebanese restaurants around town. I never liked grocery store hummus but the hummus I found at my college cafeteria brought the dish to new lows. It looked like concrete paste one might use to lay bricks.

So I took to making the lemony, garlicky stuff myself. This hummus blows the store-brought variety out of the water because fresh garlic gives it a spicy taste that can't be duplicated through mass-production. I found that not only is making hummus cheaper than buying it pre-blended, it only takes five minutes. Really.

Bottom Line: I am a hummus snob and so can you

Recipe for the best hummus ever
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and cut into chunks
2 tablespoons lemon juice (ideally fresh but from concentrate works just fine)
1/3rd cup tahini
water, as needed Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. If you're using a mini food processor (like I did), reserve 1/2 of the can of chickpeas and add them back in after the rest of the ingredients have been blended.
Process until smooth, adding water as needed.

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