Frugal Fridays: Osso Bucco with Soup Pack Mash

Do you ever buy marked-down meat? Do you think it's a health hazard? I buy it all the time, and send it straight to the freezer. That's how we ended up with a pack of beef osso bucco, four pieces for $5. And it's the basis of my Frugal Friday entry for this week.
I bought the beef ($5), a vegetable soup-pack from coles ($2.95) and everything else was in the cupboard already. There may have been half a bottle of wine around as well, but that could just be a rumour. In the end (maybe because of the wine?) the soup veggies didn't get mashed, just eaten as steamed veggies. They were really, really good with the sauce.
Osso Bucco with Soup Pack Mash
4 pieces of beef osso bucco
1 veggie soup pack from Coles (1 onion, 2 carrots, 1 parsnip, 2 potatoes, 1 stick of celery and a lump that looked like half a swede) all chopped.
80g butter
2 Tbsp plain flour
5 Tbsp red wine
175 mL beef stock
2 Tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then cook half the chopped onion over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Dust the beef with the flour, add to the pan and cook over a high heat until browned all over. Season with salt and pepper, pour in the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated. Add the stock, 1 chopped carrot and 1 chopped celery stick. Lower the heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes.
At around 15 minutes, steam or boil the rest of the vegetables. Set aside when they are tender.
Mix the tomato paste and a tablespoon of hot water, and add to the osso bucco. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mash the vegetables together with as much milk and butter as you like.
Bon Appetite!

Frugal Friday: Vegetarian Curry Night

We love curries. At this time of year, we'll usually cook a curry once a week. Warm, fast, frugal and easy to freeze, they make the great lunches too. I try to cook at least two curries at the same time, because it feels decadent - and when you add raita, poppadums and chutney, it becomes a real feast.
This is my first entry for Frugal Fridays. According to the rules, a frugal friday entry should make a whole meal for at least 4 people, and cost around about $10. I costed this on Woolworths online, it came to fourteen dollars (AUD), and the mushrooms were disturbingly expensive. I buy my canned stuff on special (half the price) and my vegetables at the farmers market or Fyshwick wholesale markets - it really cost me around ten. So I'm hoping they'll let me stay. : )
(If somebody is feeling enthusiastic, do you want to price this out for me in the US? I'm just curious now...)
On to the recipes
Spinach Dhal
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
6 small potatoes, quartered
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
2 Cups water
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1 400g can of brown lentils, drained
80g baby spinach
Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and potato and cook, stirring until onion is soft. Add spices and stir until fragrant.
Add water and tomato paste and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes (or until the sauce is reduced by half). Add the lentils, stirring until heated through. Add the spinach and stir until its all wilted.
The other dishes were just plain rice and Mushroom Korma (from Domestic Goddess in Training). We also had shop bought poppadums - it makes me giggle when I put them in the microwave and watch them puff!