Quinoa the Reich -- The Naked Vine's Quinoa Chili

My happy cooking accident led to a new vegetarian favorite.

This little bit of deliciousness started out as a humble side dish. Between not having a couple of the original recipe's ingredients, a misread of a couple of amounts, and several "You know, I bet adding this would taste gooood" inspirational flashes, I ended up with a big potful of vegetarian-friendly chili that I'll happily recreate.

Since we're in the low 60's in the beginning of frickin' August, I didn't even have to wait for football to crank this up:

The Naked Vine's Quinoa Chili

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
6-8 garlic cloves, diced
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 large sweet potato, cut into 1/2 cubes
1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
3 chipotle chilis from a can in adobo, diced, plus 1 tsp. adobo sauce
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano or 1 tbsp. fresh, diced
1 roasted red pepper (jarred is fine), diced
4 c. vegetable stock or chicken stock
1 bottle stout beer
salt to taste (I start with 1 tbsp, but YMMV)
1 tsp. sugar

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium  heat. Add the onion and celery and saute until the onion starts to brown, 5-6 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Cook 1 minute. Add chili powder, coriander, and cloves. Stir and cook 1 minute.

Add everything else. Bring to a boil. Cover and cut the heat back back to a simmer. Cook for a couple of hours, until quinoa is done and the sweet potato and beans are very soft. Add additional liquid if your quinoa is extra-thirsty.

Top with sour cream, chopped cilantro, and some diced chives or scallions around. If you've got a bottle of something Bordeaux-ish with a slight chill on it around, crack it. You'll thank me.

Repurposing Basil, Part IV (Mediterranean Roasted Eggplant & Barley Salad)

Another way I’ve been using basil lately is simply to substitute it for other herbs. In recipes like this one, the zing of the basil works well with the yummy roasted & earthy flavors. This started as an Epicurious recipe:

1 1/2 pound eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

3/4 pound zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 bunch chopped scallions

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

1 1/4 cups pearl barley (8 oz)

1 3/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

3/4 cup water

juice of a 2 lemons

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 pound cherry tomatoes, quartered

1/3 cup Kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted and halved

1/4 cup diced red onion, optional

1 1/2 c. chopped basil

Preheat oven to 425. Toss eggplant and zucchini with 2 tbsp. oil and salt and pepper to taste. Spread in single layer in two shallow pans. Roast 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies are turning golden brown. Remove from oven and transfer all vegetables to one pan to cool.

Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp. oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute scallions, cumin, coriander, and cayenne for 1 minute. Add barley and saute for 2 minutes longer, until barley is well-covered in the mixture. Add broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30-40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes and empty the barley into the now-empty baking pan to cool further.

Whisk together lemon juice, garlic, sugar, salt & pepper to taste, and 1/2 tbsp. oil in a large serving bowl. Add barley, roasted vegetables, and remaining ingredients. Toss to coat. Serve at room temperature. (You can make it ahead and refrigerate it, but it really needs to be served at room temperature.)

 

Technorati Tags: recipes,vegetarian

Egg[plant] Man (Roasted Eggplant with Tomatoes)

I love me some eggplant.

I have a hard time pinpointing exactly when I fell in love with those tasty purple critters, but I’ll use just about any excuse to cook with them now. One my the recipes that the Sweet Partner in Crime requests for special occasions is my Eggplant Parmesan, which I make from scratch. Yummy.

Today, though, we’ve got a more Middle Eastern take. This recipe takes a little time to put together, but a good chunk of the cooking time is hands-off, so you can find other things to do while you’re putting it together. This is my take on a recipe from a recent issue of Food & Wine. Here’s what you’ll need:

2 small eggplants (1 3/4 pounds)

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 tablespoon sweet smoked paprika

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin

Pinch of cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons cilantro leaves

juice from 1 lemon

Get a good, heavy pot. Prick the eggplants on all sides with a fork. Put the pot over medium-low heat, add the eggplant, cover and cook. (Yes, you read that right. Nothing in the pot but the eggplant.) Cook for about 40 minutes, turning a couple of times, until the outside is charred and the inside is soft.

When cooked, transfer the eggplants to a colander. Cut a lengthwise slit in each and allow them to drain for 10-15 minutes, or until the eggplants are cool enough to handle. Cut the eggplants in half and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Take a mashing utensil (potato masher, bottom of a glass, phone book) and pulverize the eggplant.

Put the pot back on the stove and heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium heat. Add the eggplant mush, garlic, and spices. Cook until most of the water has evaporated and the tomatoes start to break down – 10-15 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the herbs and lemon juice. Turn the heat down to low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes or so. While this is simmering, make the couscous. Plate it up and chow down.

If you’re looking for a wine pairing with this, a red from the Rhone region of France is a good bet. I opened a nice Chateauneuf-de-Pape with it, but a good Cotes du Rhone would do nicely.

    

 

 

 

One Slip (Chicken & Chickpea Curry)

I mention “victories and defeats” in the Man Who Cooks intro. I should have probably used a weaker word than “defeat,” since when something starts to go awry, I need to be able to call an audible.

I was planning to do a “cobble together stuff from around the pantry” sort of entry. I’d had a curry jones for a little while, and I thought tonight I’d get my fix.

This is a curry I put together with some staples in my cupboard. Your staples may differ – but it’s my cupboard, dammit! Anyway…the ingredients are nothing fancy.

• 1 lb boneless chicken breast or thigh, trimmed of fat and cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 small onion, minced
• 2 tsp. olive oil.
• 1/4 c. flour
• 3 c. or so chicken broth
• 1+ tbsp. curry powder
• 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 can diced tomatoes, drained – or 2-3 med ones, chopped
• 1/4 c. well-chopped parsley
• garlic, ginger, salt, pepper depending on your seasoning desires
• cooked rice

Things started off innocuously enough. Cut everything up. Toss the chicken in the flour until coated. Heat the oil over medium-low heat. Easy.

Add the onions. I like to cook onions slowly. Cooking them too fast makes them bitter. I like to use lower heat and let the sugars start to caramelize (which is  what happens when onions start to turn golden). Better flavor. So, sauté that onion until it just starts to brown in a few places (usually 7-8 minutes).

Add the curry powder. 1 tbsp. gives you a medium-level curry flavor. I used about 1 2/3 or so. Stir this in with the onions and stir this up for a couple of minutes. If the curry really starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, throw in a splash of white wine that you  have in your glass on the counter to deglaze. All’s well. And then…it happened.

This is the inevitable result of spending time in the kitchen. You’ll have a recipe in your head, and you’re following along…you get a little bit distracted…and suddenly you’re faced with an “Oh, sh*t!” moment.

This was where I was supposed to tell you to add the chicken and cook it until it was just brown all over. Instead, yours truly brainlocked and threw in the chicken broth by mistake…

Suddenly, I’m faced with a pot of curry flavored broth with some onions floating around in it. Quick! Think! What can I do here?

First off, I grabbed the biggest bowl in reach. I poured the liquid off into that. I splashed a little more olive oil in the bottom of the pot, raised the heat to medium and then added the chicken.

Once the chicken was about halfway browned, I added a generous amount of ginger (jarred) and garlic (minced). Probably a tbsp. of the first and 5-6 cloves of the second.

I sautéed this for about 3 minutes, until the chicken was more or less browned, then I added the liquid. Stir well, and scrape the bottom of the pot to loosen any cooked flour. Bring almost to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally and scrape the bottom of the pot.

While you’re in Simmersville, get your rice ready. Different types of rice take   different amounts of time, so you can judge this as well as you can. In our case, we use a rice steamer. Best $15 you can spend. If you don’t have one, go get one. I’ll wait…

…I set ours up, went to the pantry, and [insert spit-take here] I realized to my horror that we were out of rice. White? None. Basmati? Nope. Not even some risotto rice. Thankfully, the SPinC had run the Flying Pig Marathon relay over the weekend (YEAH, SWEETIE!) and in her “gift bag,” she’d been given a little thing of brown rice. It ended up as our rice for the evening. 

Anytime I make rice for something Indian-ish, I always stir in about 1/2 tsp. of cardamom and 1/2 tsp. salt to the water. Gives it a nice flavor. (A container of cardamom will last you just this side of forever.)

After the 45 minutes are done, add the tomatoes, chickpeas, and parsley. Stir it in. Raise the heat slightly and bring it back to a simmer. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Fluff up the rice, put it in bowls. Ladle this yummy stuff over it. Garnish with a few chives. Chow down.

 

 

 

Blue Rondo a la Turkey Burger (grilled turkey burgers with guacamole salad)

A bartender friend of mine once told me, “I like making drinks with vodka, because I get to show off. Rum, gin, tequila – they’ve all got flavors of their own, but vodka is the blank canvas where I can create…”

So it is with the humble turkey burger.

I love a good burger. One of my guilty pleasures is the Hardee’s mushroom ‘n’ swiss. Just love me some of that. But there’s a reason that it’s a guilty pleasure…

In the interest of waistlines, we end up cutting back, but that doesn’t mean that we have to eat tasteless, does it? Hell no! But turkey burgers? That almost defeats the purpose, no? There’s not much flavor inherent – especially if you’re getting the really lean stuff (usually 93/7). Doctoring up some ground turkey meat gives you the chance to eat healthy and make something very tasty.

This is another recipe where the Sweet Partner in Crime takes center stage. She’s got the touch with burger making. I handle the grilling part. So, round up:

• 1 lb. or so lean ground turkey
• 1/2 a diced onion
• Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper
• diced fresh herbs (we had some great fresh basil from our friend Rachel)
• 2 avocadoes, diced
• juice of a lemon
• tomatoes for slicing, plus a couple more diced
• minced garlic, cumin
• lettuce, mustard, or other desired toppings

Put the turkey meat in a bowl. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Add the onion, salt & pepper to taste, and the herbs. You know, kind of like this: Knead this all together. Then start adding the Worcestershire until it gets, in the SPinC’s words, “kind of meatloafy.” Coat form into patties, coat lightly in olive oil, and put it in the fridge for an hour or more. Make sure you get a chance to take it out to let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes or so before you start grilling. During that time, slice your tomatoes, get your lettuce ready, toast your buns and whatnot.
Light the grill. When it’s good and hot, toss the burgers on there.
Grill the burgers over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes on a side or until the proverbial juices run clear.
While you’re letting the burgers rest, make the salad. Dice the tomatoes and avocado. Toss with salt, pepper, minced garlic, cumin, and lemon juice (basically, think unmashed guacamole). You’ll get something like this:
Put burgers on buns. Dress appropriately. Put the salad on the plates as a side. Serve it up and call it dinner. We decided to do a taste test with both an inexpensive New Zealand sauvignon blanc and a light red from the Languedoc region of France. Both ended up working out well:

The fun of turkey burgers is that you get to guiltlessly try different combinations of flavors. Grilling season is upon us. Give it a go.

Since you met Jessie Louise the Beagle last night, you should meet Mooch the Magnificent Mutt this evening. It’s only fair…

Simmer Overture (chicken thighs in orange-mustard sauce w/roasted potatoes, carrots & green beans)

I’ve focused a lot on meals you can make when you’re in a hurry, but what if you’re lucky enough to find yourself with a little extra time on your hand? Sure, you could go into a long, involved cooking session, but why not make something you can just check on while you’re doing other things?

I was poking around Epicurious to find something that might tickle my palate and I stumbled across a chicken thigh recipe that looked fairly interesting. I snagged the ingredients for it and a couple of sides.

In case you don’t know, chicken thighs are the bomb. Any recipe that calls for chicken breasts, I often will substitute thighs. Why? The meat’s juicier and more tender. Sure, you have to deal with an extra 70 calories, but pull the skin, trim the fat, and take a walk around the block afterwards. It’s one of the few things in the world that’s cheaper but tastes better. Worth the trouble.

So, your shopping list for this:

• 6-8 chicken thighs, skin removed and fat trimmed
• 1/2 c. orange juice
• 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 2 tbsp. stone ground mustard
• 2 tsp. Tabasco
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. Creole seasoning
• 1 1/2 lb. new potatoes, cut into chunks (I used gold, red would be prettier)
• baby carrots
• 1 tbsp. fresh rosemary or 1 1/2 tsp. dried
• 1/2 a small onion, chopped
• minced garlic
• 3/4 lb. green beans, trimmed and halved if large
• olive oil (I’m going to start leaving this out. If you don’t have this in your kitchen by now, there’s no hope for you.)

Preheat oven to 425. Put the potatoes, onion, & carrots in a roasting pan. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle liberally with olive oil. Stir the lot to coat. Put it in the oven for 45 minutes, stirring about every 15 .

Whisk together the orange juice, broth, mustard, Tabasco, honey, and Creole seasoning. Heat olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken thighs with salt & pepper on both sides and put in skillet. Brown on both sides for about 3 minutes, then add the juice/broth mixture. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, flipping the chicken after 10. Check for doneness. If the chicken is done, remove from heat. If not, simmer until it is. (Start this step around the time you’ve stirred the potatoes & carrots for the second time.)

Meanwhile, put the beans in a small roasting pan and add a couple of cloves of minced garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Stir it all together. When the potatoes have cooked for 45 minutes, take them out of the oven. Add a splash of olive oil and the rosemary to the potatoes. Stir. Put both the potatoes and beans back in the oven for 15 minutes.

If you want, you can take the chicken out of the sauce, boil the sauce down, and make a thicker version. Myself, I just plated everything up and ladled a little of the sauce over the chicken and splashed the beans with it. Making the liquid into an actual sauce would be very tasty, though. If you take the time to reduce the sauce, throw the chicken back in there at the end for a minute to warm it back up.

You’ll end up with something like this. Looks tasty, no?