Three Course Meal for $30!

Sometimes gourmet food looks too pretty and that makes it seem unattainable both in price of ingredients and in appearance. With this easy guide on how to make your own 3 course meal in $30, you’ll impress all your guests with your mad skills.
The main keys in making affordable gourmet food are sales and discounts! In my local grocery store we usually have a nice rack that has sale veggies, fruits, (there's usually one for breads too). Get to know your local store to see what days they usually have their sales (typically when they get new food and discount the older - still yummy - leftovers).

At my local Kroger I was able to get enough food for a 3-course meal that feeds four to six people.

I was able to find berries at a really nice deal so I decided to use those in my vinaigrette as well as in my dessert. It’s possible that you might find other combinations cheaper so feel free to just modify recipes to whatever you have available to you. Don’t feel tied down to my recipes if berries aren’t as cheap for you or if there is a better option available in your own grocery store!

For vegetables I bought potatoes (3 large potatoes for .49 cents total!), salad, and asparagus. I chose to make mashed potatoes and to saute the asparagus, but you can find whatever vegetables are cheapest for you and cook them to your liking.

Triple Berry Vinaigrette Dressing

Ingredients:

• Triple Berry syrup **See here for recipe
• ¼ c. oil (of your choice, I used canola because that’s what I had on hand)
• ¼ c. vinegar (your choice as well. I used balsamic, but white or apple cider should be fine)
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper

Instructions:

1. Whisk ingredients together, or use blender, until emulsified.

Note: Feel free to adjust the seasonings and vinegar. I’m a vinegar chick, but I went lighter on this recipe for my non-vinegar loving husband. And that’s it! Toss it into your salad or arrange it on the plate with your desired greens.

Roasted Chicken

A nice golden brown chicken is a great way to impress your guests - and it’s so easy to make! I found a whole six pound chicken at my grocery store for 6 dollars, but if you want a larger or smaller chicken, go for it! All the measurements in this recipe will be for a six pound chicken.

Ingredients:

• Whole Chicken 6 lbs
• 1 stick butter
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp rosemary

Instructions:

1. Set your oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit. Clean your chicken. Make sure the neck and giblets are removed from inside the chicken if they’re there. Rinse chicken in cold water and pat completely dry.
2. Soften butter. Combine butter with all spices (salt, pepper, oregano, basil, rosemary).
3. Place chicken in roasting pan. One of the secrets to a nice moist, crispy skinned chicken is butter underneath the skin as well as on top. Near the cavity of the chicken stretch the skin on top of the breasts and run your fingers under to open it up for the butter. Once it’s all ready, slather with 1/2 of the butter mixture under the skin of the breasts of the chicken. After that, rub the top of the chicken (legs and wings included!) with the other half of the butter mixture.
4. A good rule of thumb is to roast your chicken 15-20 minutes for every pound. For example, I had a 6 pound chicken and ended up cooking for about an hour and a half. Obviously everyone’s oven is different so keep in mind that chicken is safe the internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165 degrees (Food safety guidelines here!).

Note: Butter has a low smoke point so you’ll see smoke in your oven most likely. Keep an eye on your chicken in case of fire, but you should be fine. Just open a window or two if it gets too smokey for you.

Dessert (Berries and Shortbread)

I love berries! I was so happy to see them on sale in my local grocery store. I’m so ready for spring and summer when I can finally get local berries in season. Like the other recipes, I used what I could find cheap. That meant blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries for this recipe, but feel free to mix it up to your liking.
**Be sure to get extra berries for your toppings! I had another 6 ounces of blackberries, 1 pint of blueberries, and ½ lb. of strawberries that I cut up and placed on top of pastries.

Ingredients for triple berry sauce:

• 6 oz blackberries
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1/2 lb. strawberries
• 1 c. sugar
• ½ c. water
• 1 tsp lime or lemon juice

Instructions:

1. clean berries, slice strawberries into smaller pieces. Add to medium saucepan with water, sugar, and lime or lemon juice.
2. bring to a boil and cool for about five minutes.
3. In a large bowl place a sieve over to catch the fruit and allow the sauce to run into the bowl. Strain sauce. Feel free to keep fruit, but I felt like I had too many seeds in mine and I didn’t want to have seeds in my sauce so I set mine aside and kept the sauce.

Shortbread

Pastry can be complicated and can get expensive (especially if you use that good vanilla)

I wanted to have something really easy with just some basic ingredients that most people already have in their pantry. This pie recipe from the Cincy Shopperdelivered! It’s flakey enough to fall apart in your mouth, but it holds its own under the weight of the fruit and sauce. One recipe made enough for me to make six rectangles with borders all around.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. flour
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 6 tbsp. Butter
• 4 tbsp. Water (or more if needed)

Instructions:

1. heat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Mix the flour and the salt in a medium bowl with a fork or even clean fingers if you wanted.
3. Using a pastry cutter (https://www.target.com/p/kitchenaid-174-gourmet-pastry-blender-stainless-steel-red/-/A-14296035) or a fork, cut the butter into the flour and salt mixture until the butter is the size of little balls or pebbles.
4. Add water until dough is enough to hold together, but still a tad bit sticky.
5. Roll dough out on floured surface until about ⅛ - ⅙ inch thick.
6. Cut into rectangles and decorate how you like. I added a little lip around mine to catch the sauce and fruit a little better.
7. cook for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Note: I tried mine with a glaze (and I ate one without a glaze - still delicious!). The glaze was just powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla mixed until a thin consistency. I glazed both sides and let them set. Glaze or no glaze, your dessert should be super yummy!

Plating is a big part of the eating experience. To make my food look more gourmet and appetizing I did a few things in my plating.
Garnish is key! It can convey color, flavor, and texture. I like to use sauces and herbs to accomplish this. Like how I used the a dropper when I made my honey caviar, utilizing a dropper to get your sauces and liquids more accurately is a great way to make everything look nicer. You can also use a rotating cake plate or a lazy susan to get a nice even circle around the plates.