Meet the taxman with frugal elegance

Gas and grocery prices are creeping northward, and the tax man returns on Friday. This week seems a fine time to resume the hunt for elegant dishes that don’t cost a fortune. It’s a subject especially close to me, since staying within a respectable food budget remains a big-time personal challenge. Some women like jewelry. I like a bottomless grocery basket. I know I’m not alone, so let’s spend this week focusing on a versatile dish that’s inexpensive, stunning on the plate and a terrific vehicle for fresh, Louisiana produce: timbales.

“Very French. . . very much home cooking,” wrote Julia Child in the introduction to her famed corn timbales recipe in The Way to Cook (listed below). In a nutshell, you’re merely taking beaten eggs, bits of meat and vegetables, herbs and cheese and pouring the mixture into custard cups, which are then baked in water bath — a roasting pan with enough water to reach halfway up the custard cups. Unmolded and topped with breadcrumbs, sauce or herbs, timbales can be served as an attractive side or classic main. In the spirit of kitchen thrift, there’s no need to run out and buy custard cups. Cover a filled muffin tin tightly with aluminum foil before placing in the water bath.

Timbales are grounds for serious creativity. Fennel Timbales is a fabulous springtime dish that makes this flavorful bulb the star, while Buttery Rice Timbales is an eggless recipe for molded rice with the addition of little more than chicken stock and fresh lime juice that works great with grilled meats.

Julia Child’s Corn Timbales, from The Way to Cook

Ingredients:

3 cups grated fresh corn (about a dozen ears)

6 large eggs

two-thirds cup breadcrumbs

3 Tbls grated onion

1/4 cup minced parsley

2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs

2/3 cup grated Swiss, cheddar or mozzarella cheese

2/3 cup heavy cream

salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste

Directions:

Scrape the corn into a big mixing bowl, then beat in the eggs and the rest of the ingredients listed. Taste for seasoning. Pour into the custard cups, filling them by no more than five-eighths. Arrange them in a roasting pan.

Bake about 30 minutes (total) at both 350 and 325 F. Preheat oven to 350F. Set the pan in the middle level of the preheated oven, and pour enough boiling water around the cups to come halfway up their outsides. Bake 5 minutes at 350, lower the thermostat to 325, and bake 25 minutes more. The water in the pan should barely bubble, but never actually boil.

The timbales are done when a skewer plunged in the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let the timbales settle for 10 minutes before unmolding. Top with buttered crumbs, fresh tomato sauce, a light béchamel or fresh herbs.