Bone broth times two

Meat is very expensive where we live. We don't have meat daily, especially red meat, which is more like an occasional treat rather than a daily necessity for us. So when we do have meat, I want to take advantage of it to the fullest. Part of that includes making bone broth. Not only is it a very tasty drink, it's also very nutritious, and a great way to flavour up many otherwise meatless dishes. I rather don't think of all those years of bones being thrown out when I didn't know there was such a thing as saving bones to make broth... But then again, it's just a learning experience. And perhaps I can inspire someone wherever they might live, who doesn't have a clue about what to do with bones to start making their own broth. Isn't that the fun thing of blogging? 🙂

So in June we butchered a lamb, and it wasn't until past Sunday that I used up the very last bag of lamb meat. I already made bone broth with around half of the bones a few months ago, but there still was a bag of bones in the freezer, waiting to be used. Everytime I wanted to make broth there was something that came up, and since it's supposed to be on the stove for hours there obviously has to be someone present in the house all day. It also has to be good weather- not terribly cold so that my north African tiled cuisine walls won't fog up too much, and preferably not even windy, so I can open a windows during the process. Yes, I'm a bit demanding I guess! 😉

But on Monday, I figured it was the perfect day to do some bone broth making - perfect weather circumstances, and not a lot of other food prep planned (or it wouldn't fit on the hob). You essentially don't have to do a lot - apart from being there, just in case. So that day the entire house smelled lovely. My children would disagree, but I absolutely love the smell of lamb broth. Most people when making bone broth apparently leave it to simmer for 24 hours, but that doesn't seem possible for me, so I put the heat off when I went to bed. Since it's quite a large pot and steaming hot, I just left it to cool down overnight. The next morning, when I came in the kitchen it was still a bit warm. So I just strained it (because of the seasonings I added) and transferred most of the broth into bottles to freeze for later use. I also kept some in the fridge to use right away. For some reason, it feels very reassuring to have those bottles there in the freezer - always being able to make a nice pot of soup out of that lovely broth! 

But here's where it's getting a bit extra frugal . After straining the broth, I put the bones back into the put, added seasonings again, filled the pot with water and there I had yet another day of making bone broth! Yes, apparently those bones can be reused. I found this out not that long ago and I knew I had to try it. This was actually Mt 2nd time of reusing the bones, and both times the 2nd batch of broth came out fine, albeit a bit less strong, but still good enough worth all the hours of simmering that broth. Perhaps it could be used a 3rd time even. That's what others tried with beef bones anyway, but I figured that since beef bones are obviously much bigger than lamb bones, it wouldn't be worth the effort and will come out too watered down, so I think for the time being I'm just sticking with only reusing the bones once. 

So that was a bit about making bone broth - why I do it, and how I make it extra frugal. Today, I'll be cooking up a pot of rice for my family, using the "2nd batch" of broth. And I'll enjoy a nice mug of broth for lunch. 

Saving on meat expenses

Most of my readers must have noticed that we're not big on eating a lot of meat. I was pretty much raised as a vegetarian, so I'm familiar with vegetarian/vegan eating. My husband, on the other hand, was raised with a more meat heavy diet and not eating meat for a day was out of the question in my MIL's home! So you can image that was a bit of a shock for both of us when we first got married. It took a while, but after some time we did find a good balance of meat, fish, vegetarian and vegan meals. Now, my husband says he couldn't eat meat everyday anymore - regardless of the price. And this goes the same for me; I couldn't go back to completely vegetarian. 

The thing is, meat can be very expensive so for most people, it's typically the biggest expense of all their groceries. We're certainly no exception to that! (Although olive oil is getting more expensive every year and will eventually become an even bigger expense... But that's another topic.) I remember when we went through hard financial times, meat was the first thing to cut back on. There are so many people in the world for whom meat is a rare treat. And for me as a former vegetarian, it was a logical thing to do anyway, as meat is so expensive and you technically don't even need it. Not that much, anyhow. We still had it every so often though, and really enjoyed it when we did. But it was a good way to cut back on our spending. As time went by, I've just stuck with my "less meat policy", as it just hurts to pay that much for foods. There are other ways to spend the money I would have spent otherwise on all that extra meat - but that's just me, I do realise that others value meat more than we do, and that's ok. Throughout the years, I've come up with many tricks to save on meat expenses. 

First of all, the quantity: try to have meat as an ingredient, instead of the main meal. We usually have meat as a side, with carbs (grains/legumes) and vegetables being the fillers. You really don't need that much even to satisfy yourself taste wise, in my experience. There are also many examples of dishes where  meat is stretched a lot. For example, mince (ground beef) in pastas- just use a bit less. A baked chicken/rotisserie chicken can be used for at least a few meals worth of meat - you can use shredded chicken in about everything; soups, salads, rice and pasta dishes, on sandwiches, etc. And then just try to stretch the meat as much as possible. When I make pulled chicken, I stretch it by adding low cost vegetables, such as onions and shredded carrots. That way you don't even notice there isn't as much chicken in it.

The kind of meat: red meat is most expensive, so that's obviously a thing to keep in mind. In a lot of dishes, red and white meat can be used interchangeably- it will affect the taste somewhat obviously, but it's still as good. You can even use fish instead - I like using sardines instead of beef/lamb mince for making kofta, and even fish haters don't notice it's fish. I've heard that turkey is the best replacement with mince. I've never tried that, as my husband doesn't like turkey, but I'm keen to try it. Texture changes the taste so I guess turkey mince should taste different from, say, a part of the leg. You can still splurge on red meat once in a while if you want to obviously, but it's good to realize that there are cheaper options and can splurge just every so often on the more expensive favourite meat. 

Vegetarian options: I obviously had to mention this one, but I really makes so much difference in your budget! Even when I compare our local legume prices with the cheaper meats or fish, legumes are much cheaper. One kg of lentils is about €2, whereas chicken is around €5 per kg. But, a kg of dried legumes will stretch a lot better than a kg of chicken, as the lentils will expand whereas the chicken not only just doesn't expand- it actually will shrink when being baked. So you'll even save more if you take that into consideration. You obviously don't have to eat only vegetarian meals, but a few times a week will make so much difference already. What I like to do is when I batch cook, we'll have one meal with meat and the other batch without. That way it still has the flavour- meat can be such a flavour enhancer. I do this too with legumes; when I make lentil stew in advance, for example, I cook some chicken in it for extra flavour. And then I take out the chicken to have with the meal we're eating that day. You can obviously cook lentils without chicken, but it does give the dish more flavour. I also like making my own tofu and seitan, which I hadn't done in a long time but recently started doing again. I know not everyone likes tofu, but I think seitan is definitely adaptable for meat eaters compared to other plant based alternatives, as it has a bit of a meaty texture. 

Nose to tail: I've talked before about how we love nose to tail eating, which essentially means to eat ALL the parts of the animal, not just the more popular parts. Not only is it healthier but it's usually cheaper too. You don't necessarily have to buy organ meats (although I would highly recommend it!), but there are many alternatives for the more expensive cuts of meat. And that's not just the case with red meat. When I want to use chicken breast, I never ever buy a chicken breast, but instead I buy a whole chicken of which I cut the breast off, then use the remaining parts for other dishes. I usually use the legs/tighs/wings together a dish and then what remains are the frames and the necks, which makes a very good base for any soup. My husband also likes to eat the necks as is, so if I have a lot of them I might cook them up separately and only use the frames for soup. 

Using everything: we're very big on not wasting anything, and this applies even more so for meat. As it's so expensive and does have quite a big environmental impact, I just can't not be frugal with meat. I really use everything - the bones (for making bone broth), chicken skins to render, sheep fat to render, etc. Scraps also make good cat food. When I make broth with chicken necks/frames, I take off the meat after cooking which our cat obviously loves! 

Easy and delicious pasta recipe

The other day I made a scrumptious pasta dish with boneless lamb and vegetables. It was quite an easy "recipe" (I find it hard to call a bunch ingredients thrown together a recipe though), but it was delicious! Since we had a lot of tomatoes that I wanted to use, I thought pasta would hit the spot. 

Lamb meat, cut into small pieces, about one kg 

Around 8 large tomatoes and 3 large onions

Some carrots and bell peppers, depending on how vegetable-y you want the meal. You can use other veges but this is what I had on hand and what I thought would suit this meal best

Seasonings used: sage, parsley, basil, oregano (all dried), black pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, olive oil 

2 heaped spoons of tomato paste 

About half a cup of water 

Chop the onions in whatever size you wish, I diced them. Then saute and in the meantime chop your tomatoes. Now add the seasonings to your onions, saute for some minute or so and then add the meat, keep sauteeing for a few minutes. Now add the tomato past tomatoes and water, stirr well, then let it simmer on a low flame. Now peel and dice your carrots and slice the bell peppers. Stirr every so often. When the sauce is simmering for about half an hour, add the carrots. Then after half an hour or so, add the bell peppers. My sauce simmered for almost an hour and a half. It depends on how young the lamb is, so it might need more or less cooking time. By the end my sauce had the perfect consistency, not too thick but not runny either. If you like olive oil as much ad I do, you can add some more olive oil a few minutes before turning off the heat. 

Now cook your pasta - I used fussili/rotini. I used 1.5 package (750 grams) because I was cooking for our neighbours too. It was exactly the right amount, with some leftover sauce, so I could have used one kg exactly to use up all that sauce (but that didn't fit in the pan I was using... 😆🫣) When the pasta is done, drain and mix with the sauce and serve. 

I have no idea what this is called because it's really some ingredients that I had on hand and that I threw together. But apparently it comes close to what some people would call goulash. My husband liked it that much that he was happy to have some leftover sauce and he's already planning how to have the leftovers, and my children asked if I could make this again! I love it when I try something new and everyone loved the dish. 

Nose to tail

On monday, DH and I decided to do some shopping at the souk, the north African equivalent of a wet market. I love going there every so often. Everything is divided by category- vegetables, fish, etc. There's also a large meat section. We wanted to see what the butchers sold that day- as they don't always sell the same meats everyday. We were all craving an organ meat dish, which I'll go to in a minute. I also wanted to see if they had some fat to render. 

Coming from Europe, it's quite interesting how it all works here when it comes to meat. First off, meat is very expensive here, hence, it's not something that's eaten a lot. Most people here won't eat meat on a daily basis, especially red meat. And we are no exception to that. Since meat is so expensive, people are in general not very picky, so they won't just eat only certain cuts of meat. They don't shy away from eating the "weird" parts - or which is considered weird in western societies, anyhow. Everything of the animal is appreciated equally, it seems. Since I was raised as a vegetarian, I think this is why it's not that big of a deal to me. I wasn't used to eating only chicken breasts and mince, like many Europeans, rather all meat was foreign to me anyway. So when I did start to eat meat, because of that, I didn't differentiate between a chicken breast and sheep lungs. It's not to say that people here eat the "weird" parts just because it's more economical. In fact, some parts are truly considered a delicacy. 

I wanted to make douara (a stew with offal meat), something which we realized we didn't have in a long time and is one of our favourite dishes. There is absolutely no reason to look down upon organ meat; organ meats are super nutritious, and delicious. If the picky eaters would only get over their initial hesitation! The fun thing is, that even if it's not insanely cheap, the "regular" meat is 5 times as expensive, or 3 times as expensive when it comes to very old meat that requires a long cooking time. It's interesting that organ meat is becoming more and more popular in certain circles, especially those that focus on eating a nourishing tradition kind of diet, also known as ancestral diets. 

Honouring the whole animal and being appreciative for the nutrients that all of the animal has to offer, is also known as 'nose to tail eating'. Where we live, one can take that quite literally! When we walked by some of the butchers (there are a lot to choose from) there were several butchers selling heads: goat, sheep and cow's heads. I was amazed by how massive that cows head was though! I must probably be integrated quite well, because I don't have a problem seeing this. I do eat meat, so I have no problem to see that it actually came from an real animal. I would have a problem eating meat from a factory, but I know these animals were raised at the countryside, which is probably also why they're expensive. 

Hopefully I'll be posting my douara recipe soon.