Let's talk 'slow' food on a fast-food budget

I really appreciate a meal that is tasty, healthy and inexpensive. So I was intrigued when I was invited to a $5 Meal Challenge dinner.

The potluck was hosted at the home of Pete and Claudia Davidsen in Ruskin.

Slow Food USA, a group advocating a return to less processed foods, threw down the gauntlet with its nationwide challenge on Sept. 17. My friend Anita Jimenez accepted.

As a member of the Slow Food Tampa Bay chapter, she organized the Ruskin event.

About 40 of us were asked to cook a complete meal with at least four servings to share, and to bring our own creative place setting. Our slow-food meal could cost no more than $5 per person, the average price of a typical not-so-healthy and not-so-fresh fast-food meal.

I've been saying it for years: Cooking, even with great ingredients, can be s-o-o-o cheap.

So how did folks fill a plate for five bucks or less?

Forget dorm room, multi-pack ramen noodles here.

The haul was mouthwatering. It included rigatoni with spicy sausage and beans; Moroccan chicken and vegetable stew; pan-seared chicken breasts with chipotle, lime and cilantro rice; prosciutto-wrapped figs; watermelon salad with feta and mint; and Pete Davidsen's homemade cornbread, which was made in a Texas-size cast iron skillet and served with his homemade guava jelly.

Actually, when Kate Hamilton priced items for her chicken Caesar pasta salad, the final cost per person came to $2.42, she said. So, for less than $5 per person, she served her family's favorite chilled pasta salad tossed with creamy Caesar dressing, fresh parsley, smoked sun-dried tomatoes and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

How's that for a cheap date?

As my potluck contribution, I prepared polenta lasagna, fresh-herb tomato and zucchini salad, and coffee meringue cookies. I came in a penny under budget. No kidding.

It was a delicious evening, made more special by the fact that virtually everyone had a hand in preparing it. And I got a bunch of scrumptious recipes to boot.