$25 in a restaurant? Or to make yourself?

Bì cuốn chay (you can skip the step with the MSG).

I'll keep it simple with meat and potatoes. get a decent cut of meat (strip loin or something like that. even better with tenderloin, but lets keep the budget low). rub it with garlic then lightly cover with both worchestershire sauce, soy sauce & fresh cracked pepper. let sit for an hour or two. when youre ready to cook add salt and then throw it on whatever heat you have (best on bbq, but frying is ok too). cook until your doneness preference , then cover with a dab of butter and let rest for 5-6 minutes.

as a side take advantage of fresh new potatoes and green beans. just boil then season with butter salt & pepper

Bon Appetit !

Tuna and Tomato Pasta Sauce
from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking:

Ingredients: 4 T. EVOO
1//2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
1-1/2 C. canned italian plum tomatoes, with juice
12 oz canned tuna, (recipe calls for Italian tuna, in olive oil, not drained).
Salt, Ground Pepper
1 T butter
1 to 1-1/2 lbs. pasta (spaghetti or penne)
3 T. chopped fresh parsley

Saute olive oil (EVOO) with garlic until gold. Add tomatoes with juice, then simmer for 25 minutes.

Drain tuna and crumble with fork. Add tuna to tomatoes, mix thoroughly. Add pepper, butter, salt to taste.

Toss with pasta and parsley. Season to taste.

There is very little better than a perfectly cooked roast chicken (eat the skin!), teeny tiny new potatoes just out of the garden, boiled with a little butter on them, and a green salad.

If it's all done right, nothing will be more satisfying.

Onion rings (with a slaw dog) at The Varsity in Atlanta, a Georgia Tech staple. Forget the ranch dressing.

Enchiladas!

Creme Caramel (very simple)

Melt 1/2 cup caster sugar to straw-toffee in a non-stick pan. Pour into an 8 inch greased cake tin. Set aside.

Mix together 2 cups of powdered full fat milk , 3 cups warm water, 1/2 cup caster sugar, 4 large eggs and vanilla to taste (2 beans, gloop of essence, etc). Strain through fine sieve into the cake tin.

Bake in a water bath for 1 and 1/2 hours at 160C (or until centre is no longer jiggly). Let it cook longer rather than turning the heat up - too much heat will make the mixture boil and ruin the texture.

Refrigerate overnight. Loosed edges by running a sharp knife around the inside of the tin and turn out into a deep flat dish. Devour.

The powdered milk is the secret because you can control the moisture content. More milk or another egg will give you an almost cheese-cake stiff custard.

Sformato di Caciofi. It takes a lot of work. But the end result is sublime. Make two. Save one for you.

The perfect Fall Food: Roast Duck and long grain/wild rice with nuts and raisins/dried cranberries.

Get a duck. Remove giblets. Pat dry. Arrange an oven pan with a rack above a collection pan. Collecting the duck drippings is important. I put an inch or so of water into the pan to stop smoking and to steam the duck a little. Grease the rack slightly. With a fork or sharp knife, stab the duck all over in the fatty sections and score the breast with a fork, not going too deep into the meat (it will dry out otherwise). Heat your oven to 270, you're not really cooking the duck yet, you're rendering fat. Let it sit there for about four hours or so, rotating it at the 2 hour mark. If making wild rice from scratch, now is a good time to let soak. After bout 4 hours (give or take, can be longer) put the duck breast side up and pour on a mixture of honey and soy sauce, maybe some pepper if you want a kick but I like the sticky sweetness of the honey to be left alone. Pop back in oven and turn the heat up to 375 and let it sit unmolested for another hour, hour and half depending on size and how done you like your duck.

Note this will make your whole house smell like roast duck well before actual roast duck can be had. Resist the urge to lick the walls.

Now make your rice, long grain ideally, from box or home-made I can never tell the difference with rice honestly. You'll want to saute some nuts in a little butter, almond slivers are good for this but so are crushed up cashews or roast chestnuts smashed into little bits. throw it together with the rice and raisins/dried cranberries (your choice I like raisins) while the rice is sitting and cooling. Check for duck doneness, it should be golden brown, oozing fat, and have legs that move freely and internal temp above 170 if you're into that kind of thing. Remove duck, split half down center and serve with the rice. Feeds two very hungry people.

And then the magic part. You now have an entire reverse of the most magical substance on earth, duck fat. Duck fat makes anything better. Drain and reserve the fat (which also has some soy and honey in it by now but who cares it just makes it taste better).

You also should have a whole pile of duck bones, perfect for making stock.

Lately I have been all about this dish we now call Unicorn Noodles (because the first time I made it for my husband, he tweeted "The house smells so good, I think my wife must be cooking unicorn meat.")

Mix a glassful of orange juice, a big big BIG splash of soy sauce, some ginger (I tend to use a spoonful of ginger jam since it's so easy), and something hot (sriracha is fine, chile paste is fine, but last night I used a glomp of prepared sweet-spicy chile sauce and it was great) and reduce until it's thick and sticky. Set aside. (That's for a two-serving dish. I now make larger quantities in advance and store a jarful in the fridge.)

Bring a pot of water to the boil and cook soba noodles for one minute less than directions instruct. (For the brands we buy, that usually works out to three minutes.)

Meanwhile, saute a huge panful of spinach or other greens in butter and garlic until it's just wilted but still deep green. You can add other green vegetables, too; blanched green beans or snow peas are particularly nice, though I've also made this with asparagus, broccoli, and shelled edamame.

Drain noodles. Toss into spinach pan, top with sauce, toss everything together, and cook on high for a minute or until noodles are perfectly cooked. Top with a knuckle of cold butter and toss until it melts.

Serve in a shallow bowl. Exxxxxxcellent.

I had this for dinner last night. I'll probably have it for dinner tonight. I might have it for dinner the next night.

I'm sure you could leave the butter out. The first time I made this, I used a sprinkle of sesame oil instead, but the richness of butter adds something special. I've also topped it with toasted peanuts or sesame seeds, or topped with fried sweet potato chunks, but I like it best as I described above.

Oh, I forgot: the sauce also wants a splash of rice wine vinegar to balance the sweetness.

Round Table's Italian Garlic Supreme pizza sans tomatoes (I love tomatoes, just not semi-warm while leaving tomato water all over my pizza). But enchiladas is a close second. Or maybe tacos. Hrm.

Thanks folks. Looking to some of these.