Grilled Chicken with Tomato Chutney Chickpeas, Cucumber Radish Salad, and Tahini-Yogurt

there's a tiny pocket of commerce in the middle of our residential neighborhood called "tangletown" where you can find one, and only one, of pretty much everything. one pub and brewery, one coffee shop, one doughnut joint, one sushi restaurant, one dentist, one general market, one dive bar, one chiropractor, and, oddly enough, one kingdom hall are a part of our little hood. (it makes our area feel just like small-town america, until you head a couple of blocks south and catch views of the towering seattle skyline.)

tangletown also has one nice restaurant, and, since 1) we can walk to it and 2) we consistently have great seasonal food and drinks there, it's the seattle restaurant we refer to as "favorite." it's called Eva, and one of their characteristics is that all of the elements on the plate are great, but when they are compiled into one bite, the dish is pretty perfect. a few weeks ago i had a dish of roasted duck with tomato–garlic chickpeas, tahini yogurt, and a salad of cucumber and radish with sumac. i was blown away by this dish. i rarely try to recreate restaurant dishes at home, but this one was so impressive and flavorful, yet fresh and unfussy, that i decided with a couple of modifications we might be able to pull it off. 

it WORKED! first modification--chicken breast instead of duck. it's a completely different texture and flavor, but i am in no way ambitious enough to cook duck. besides, eva does it so well i'll just let them cook it for me. also, i couldn't find sumac anywhere! there are a couple of specialty spice shops around town i'll hit up when i have the chance, but for this dish the sumac was just left out. i found recipes for the components of the dish on various websites, and hoped that when they all came together on the plate they would feel at home with each other. the components went together beautifully, but each is awesome on its own, so mix and match!

for chickpeas with tomato chutney
from quick tomato chutney on mistress-of-spices.com
*vegan *gluten-free

1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (i used yellow)
1/4 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped ginger
3 medium tomatoes, chopped (i used some from our garden that i'd frozen whole at the end of the season last year. thawed for a few minutes and the skins slipped right off!)
1 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
15 oz cooked chickpeas

heat olive oil over medium heat in a small pan. add mustard seeds. when seeds stop popping, add onion and ginger. saute 3-4 minutes.

add tomatoes and ketchup. stir and cook until tomatoes thicken and reduce. add spices and continue to cook over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens up quite a bit. you want it to cling to the chickpeas. when thickened, add chickpeas, stir to combine, and warm through.


for cucumber-radish salad
from avocado & bravado
*vegan *gluten-free

2 medium cucumbers
4 radishes
1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp mint, chopped
chopped parsley to taste
salt and pepper, to taste

peel cucumber (i usually leave on about a quarter of the peel), slice into thin coins, then chop into small pieces. using a mandoline, slice the radishes thin and the chop into strips. (you can slice the radishes by hand, but a mandoline makes it so much easier...) combine cucumber and radish with diced onion in bowl.

whisk the vinegar with the olive oil and pour over the veggies. toss together with the herbs and taste for seasoning. add salt and pepper to taste, and more vinegar or herbs to your liking.

for chicken with mediterranean marinade
from the wannabe chef
*dairy-free *gluten-free

3 Tbsp balsamic
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 bay leaf
2 Tbsp herbes de provence (can substitute other italian herbs)
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin (not super-duper thin, just pounded out to be a fairly consistent thickness)

combine first 8 ingredients well. put chicken in ziploc bag and pour in marinade and close bag. refrigerate. normally i like to marinate chicken overnight, but this time it only sat for 3 hours and was super flavorful.

here's where it gets tricky--i don't know exactly how we cooked it. rob grilled it, and every time we fire up the grill we do quick web searches for how long to cook chicken, to what temperature it should reach to be safely cooked, then we toss it on the grill, turn it after a few minutes, check it a few minutes after that, and pull it off the heat when we're happy with it. this time i think we cooked around 5 minutes on each side? (again, the chicken had been pounded out a bit so didn't take very long.) so, i'll say this--cook your marinated chicken however works for you!

for tahini-yogurt sauce
from food & wine
*vegetarian


1/8 cup tahini paste
juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup whole milk plain yogurt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

blend tahini paste, lemon juice and olive oil in food processor. add yogurt and blend to mix thoroughly. scrape into bowl and add pepper. taste and add salt, if desired.

to serve
serve chicken, chickpeas and cucumber-radish salad drizzled with yogurt sauce and sprinkled with plenty of chopped cilantro. 

sources:
chickpas from alzarez organic farm
tomatoes, cilantro, and mint from our garden
radishes and onion from stoney plains farm
cucumber from river farm

jerry traunfeld's spiced chickpea salad

i first heard about this recipe last fall when i attended a "holiday preview" of sorts at interbay whole foods. they had invited a group of foodie folks to sample their new thanksgiving dinner offerings and, la-di-da, i got to go because jill lightner, the editor of edible seattle, gets invited to this kind of thing and sometimes invites me to come along. at this particular event, food photographer, writer, preparer, eater (not sure what her professional title is, but she seems to do pretty much everything when it comes to food!) myra kohn, who writes the "recipe box" column for edible seattle, came by our table to chat with jill. they talked about recipes she was testing for upcoming issues of the magazine, and one that sounded particularly exciting was a chickpea salad from chef jerry traunfeld. i had to wait until the may/june issue to try it out, but it was worth the wait. 

these chickpeas get a super-yum rating. some even call them addicting. they are spiced but not hot, creamy but not heavy, and are a perfect side dish for spring and summer meals. they also come together really fast. try them as an alternative to potato salad at your next barbeque if you want to serve something deliciously unexpected! 

jerry traunfeld's chickpea salad

from edible seattle, may/june 2011

2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 tablespoons peanut oil, or other vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seed
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1/4 teaspoon ajwain seed, or substitute fennel seed or celery seed (i used celery seed)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon chili flakes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro1/2 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt (i've tried with low-fat and whole milk yogurt, and the whole milk was definitely better!)

put chickpeas in a bowl.

pour oil in small skillet over medium-high heat. when oil is hot, add the mustard seed, cover the pan (the seeds will sputter and pop and be launched out of the pan otherwise), and turn heat to low. when the seeds stop sputtering, uncover and add the cumin, ajwain (or fennel or celery seeds), and chili flakes and cook for about 10 seconds, until spices are fragrant and browning. immediately pour the oil and spices over the chickpeas.

add the lemon juice, salt, cilantro, and green onion and toss to coat. stir in yogurt. serve immediately, or refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

sources:

chickpeas from alvarez farms

all-day baked beans with bacon, rum, and honey

i flew home to georgia last week to surprise my parents for their birthdays. i'd coordinated with my brother and cousin to arrive undetected and make a grand entrance, and, thanks to a flawless execution, they were, indeed, surprised. we had so much fun for the week.

during my visit, my favorite aunt jane made it clear that she USED TO enjoy reading my blog, but obviously i wasn't cooking anymore, because i hadn't updated the blog in SO long. but i have! so, aj, this one is for you!

i decided one cold, drizzly day not too long ago that i wanted a good ol' southern barbeque experience, but i didn't want to cook any meat. enter this recipe for baked beans from edible seattle, plus some cornbread and chopped cabbage slaw, and the meat was not missed at all.

IMPORTANT: these are called "all-day" because they cook, well, all day. seriously. 8 hours. don't think that you'll magically speed up the process, as i did, and ended up cooking them over two days. no, just take my word for it. they're going to cook all day.

the recipe is absolutely fantastic. i was skeptical at first, that the flavors were too mild and the results would be bland. i was wrong. so very wrong. they are rich, creamy, sticky, and perfect. they cook so long that the bacon melts away into the gooey sauce, which is pretty decadent. recipe makes 6 servings, and you'll be glad to have the leftovers.

all-day baked beans with bacon, rum, and honey
from edible seattle, march/april 2010

1/2 lb thick-cut bacon
1 lb red or red kidney beans, cooked until tender (this is roughly 6 cups, roughly 4 cans)
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup dark rum
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup honey (recipe calls for spicy honey, which i didn't have, but it would be great in these beans)

preheat oven to 325 degrees. in a bowl, mix the beans with molasses, rum, mustard, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper to taste.

chop the bacon and add it to the bottom of a dutch oven. pour the beans on top of the bacon, and add water to cover the beans to about twice their depth and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours. the liquid should barely simmering.

stir beans, and continue cooking, checking every half hour and stirring the caramelized bits back under (you can scrape the sticky bits from the sides, too), until all of the water is absorbed. (i was shy with the amount of water i added at the beginning, so i actually added water throughout the cooking process as the beans absorbed the liquid. worked out just fine.)

the recipe says the beans will cook 3 to 8 hours. as i said, mine cooked for a full 8, over the course of 2 days since i'd planned poorly. the beans will be done when the liquid is absorbed, the beans are plump and creamy, gooey and soft, and the top is caramelized.

stir in honey, season to taste with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

sources:
bacon from skagit river ranch
red beans from alvarez organic farm
honey from sweet as can bee honey farm

black bean soup and cornbread

black bean soup. everyone has their own recipe, and anyone who doesn't certainly has easy access to any of the millions out there. i used to make this soup a lot, and tried out several different recipes until i found the one. unfortunately, the last few times i've made black bean soup, i've not been able to locate my magical recipe! it lives somewhere on epicurious.com, but i can't remember which of the dozens available is the one i loved. so, i gave up and made up yet another black bean soup recipe to toss on the pile with the rest. 

this is a pretty basic soup-- thick and savory with not a lot of heat. thankfully, it also uses some of my preserved summer and fall ingredients-- i've noted the abundance in the freezer and the countdown to having some of those ingredients fresh again means i need to get on the ball.

another black bean soup, for your consideration
about 3-4 servings

4 slices bacon
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 of a red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

1 4-inch piece of a mild dried chili pepper, chopped (i used dried numex joe e. parker from the farmers market, because it's what i had on hand. i'd use a whole fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced, if i had it.)

1 Tbsp+ cumin

4 cups fully cooked black beans, or 2 15 oz cans
1 cup chicken broth (more if you want a thinner soup)
2 cups, or 15 ounces, diced tomatoes
3 tsp kosher salt, and more to taste
juice of 1/2 lime (optional)
cracked black pepper

chop raw bacon (i use kitchen shears), and cook it over medium heat in heavy-bottom soup pot until well cooked but not crispy. remove from pot and reserve. pour off all but 2 Tbsp bacon drippings. (reserve the rest in case you need more oil when cooking the vegetables.)

over medium heat, cook onion and carrot until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. add garlic and red bell pepper and cook a few minutes more, stirring frequently. don't let anything burn or brown. add dried peppers and cumin and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to one minute.

add beans, broth, tomatoes, and salt, and bring to a boil. lower heat and simmer over medium/medium low, covered, for 15-20 minutes, or until the carrots are cooked through. 

remove from heat and puree with an immersion blender until thickened and chunky. stir in lime juice, and reserved bacon. taste and season with salt and black pepper and cook a few minutes more to warm the bacon. serve with sour cream, chopped cilantro, chives, lime wedges, whatever sounds good. like maybe cornbread...

this is a great cornbread recipe. i found it from another blogger at userealbutter.com. it's just sweet enough for my taste (which is not very sweet), and it stays nice and moist. and it's so, so easy. my only change from her recipe was to add about a cup of corn kernels to the batter-- again, gotta use up all that stuff in the freezer!

cornbread
from userealbutter's recipe, originally from "pie in the sky" by susan g. purdy

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, room temp
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour
1-1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

heat oven to 425 degrees. butter and flour an 8x8 inch pan. in a large bowl, mix together butter, egg, milk, sour cream and sugar until well mixed. add cornmeal, flour, and corn and mix just until well blended. don't overmix. pour batter into prepared pan and bake 20-22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. don't overcook!

sources:
alvarez farms, tonnemaker farm, caity's eggs, skagit river ranch, and our garden

quillisascut farm's bean, kale, and chevre soup

in desperate need of new reading material a few months ago, i picked up this book. it turns out to be one of the best purchases, desperation or not, i've made in a long time. it chronicles a year in the life of a holistic and integrated goat farm in eastern washington, quillisascut farm. broken down by season, the book beautifully details how each season is dependent on the previous, and contributes to the next, in the garden, in the kitchen, and for the farm residents, both animal and human.

not only is quillisascut a working goat farm and artisanal goat cheese producer, they host the "quillisascut farm school for the domestic arts" where chefs and food staff from all over come to study the life cycles that eventually put food on the table. (seattle chef's collaborative raises money every year for a student chef to attend, so keep an eye out for their fundraisers!)

i knew right away that i would love this book-- i am truly enamored with the subject matter, and the poetic photography of harley soltes perfectly tells the year-long story. (plus, there are tons of photos of goats! just knowing goats exist in the world brings me more delight than perhaps all else. i keep declaring that i want some one day, which i'm sure has rob plotting that we will never live in a place with a piece of land larger than a postage stamp...) but, best of all, quillisascut's book features recipes for each season, using fresh ingredients, and preserving fresh ingredients for the pantry to be used in meals long after their season on the farm has come to an end.

at the ballard farmers market about a month ago i noticed several varieties of totally charming dried organic heirloom beans from full circle farms. i'd never heard of any of them, and selected one variety based solely on it's lovely wine-stained skin-- heirloom cranberry beans.

as luck would have it, the winter chapter of chefs on the farm has recipes using cranberry beans, as well as jacob's cattle beans, a variety also available from full circle farms. quillisascut's cattle bean, kale, and chevre soup sounded like a perfect use for my cranberry beans, though i suppose i should have been prepared for the soup to turn a little pink! no matter-- this is a delicious, hearty soup that definitely belongs on a big ol' farm table. and i'm so glad to learn that goat cheese has a place in bean soup!

jacob's cattle bean* (or cranberry bean), kale, and chevre soup

from chefs on the farm, recipes and inspiration from the quillisascut farm school for the domestic arts

authors shannon borg and lora lea misterly

used here with kind permission from skipstone publishers

serves 8

(their note: canned beans won't work for this recipe because as the dry beans cook, they make their own stock.)

2 cups (12 oz) jacob's cattle beans or other white beans, rinsed and soaked overnight. 3 parts water to 1 part beans, soaking water reserved (i used cranberry beans)

2 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp (1/4 stick) unsalted butter

1 medium carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups tomato puree (i used 2 cups of diced tomatoes)

1 cup chopped roasted red peppers

1 bunch kale, about 8-10 leaves stemmed and chopped

2 dried bay leaves

1 Tbps dried thyme

1 tsp red chili flakes

1 cup heavy cream (i used less)

1 1/2 cups (about 3/4 lb) soft goat cheese

salt and freshly ground black pepper

in large stockpot, bring soaked beans and soaking water to a boil over medium-high heat. skim foam. reduce heat, add 2 Tbsp salt, and simmer gently for about 1 hour, until the beans are creamy and soft. add water if necessary to keep the beans covered. (start checking them after 30 minutes to make sure to not overcook. also, beans cooked at anything above a simmer will split and become mushy, so be patient.)

in small saucepan, melt butter and saute carrot, celery, onion, and garlic until softened, but not brown. add the tomato puree, red peppers, and kale, and cook 5 minutes over medium heat. season with salt.

when the beans have finished cooking, add the vegetable mixture , bay leaves, thyme, and chili flakes. simmer soup for about 20 minutes, then stir in cream and goat cheese. taste and season with black pepper and salt.

it's pink, but it's also tangy, warm wonderfulness on a soggy winter night. use tomatoes and roasted peppers from your summer preservation and you can probably find the rest fresh!

* p.s. this is what cattle beans look like, if you're interested.

spectacular winter minestrone

one january day in college i got it in my head that i wanted to make minestrone. i didn't, however, have a recipe and wasn't sure what to do about that fact. (this was pre-internet-- for me, anyway.) when i arrived home from class that very afternoon i found the apartment complex monthly newsletter hanging on my doorknob. on page 3 was a recipe, presented by a corpulent, cartoon italian chef, for a warm and cozy escape from the january inclemency-- minestrone. sweet!

i headed out to the store immediately with my grocery list of fresh vegetables. carrots, celery, even a whole head of cabbage, for pete's sake-- i was thrilled to get home and make honest-to-god food out of these colorful raw ingredients.

sadly, the recipe was terrible. i wasn't savvy enough to realize it in advance, and was too new to cooking to know how to improve it. (now i know that 11 cups of water, chopped veg, and no seasoning does not a good soup make...) even worse, it was a bad recipe that made an ENORMOUS amount.

still, i've learned when the minestrone itch strikes, it must not be ignored. it can't be ignored. in fact, the universe wants you to have minestrone. i got a craving last weekend and this time i found a fantastic recipe. one thing that makes minestrone such a special soup is that it can always be made with what's in season, and this one, with winter veggies, is phenomenal.

i was able to get almost everything i needed from the stoney plains farm booth at the farmers market, including the cannellini beans. the bacon (the best in the world, as far as i'm concerned) is from skagit river ranch. the tomatoes and chicken stock came from my freezer.

winter minestrone

adapted from gourmet, january 2009

4 slices bacon, chopped

1 cup chopped onion (about 1/2 medium onion)

2 small carrots, chopped

2 small ribs celery, chopped with leaves

1/2 bunch kale

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp tomato paste

2 cups (or 14 oz can) diced or whole tomatoes

3-4 cups homemade chicken stock (or water)

1/2 small cabbage, chopped (about 2 cups)

1 rind from a parmesan wedge, about 2x2"

1 cup dried cannellini beans (or 1 14 oz can)

2 cups cooked ditalini pasta

if using dried beans:

sort beans and throw out non-bean material (rocks, sticks...). rinse, and soak overnight. drain, rinse, and cook in plenty of water, simmering until cooked, anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour. start checking them after 20 minutes to make sure they don't overcook. drain and set aside.

cook bacon, onions, carrots, and celery over medium heat in a heavy-bottom soup pot until bacon is cooked through. it won't be crispy. (i added no fat to this recipe at all-- the bacon was plenty.)

cut the stems off of the kale and chop. chop and reserve leaves. add kale stems to pot with garlic, and season with salt and pepper. cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes or so. (the original recipe calls for a 45 minute cook time here, but i was afraid to burn the garlic.)

push vegetables to one side of the pot and add tomato paste to the cleared area and cook, stirring, for about 2 minutes. (original recipe calls for a browning or caramelizing of the tomato paste, but i was unsure what that exactly meant, so i just cooked it for 2 minutes.)

stir in tomatoes with their juice and cook another 5 to 10 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

add chicken stock, parmesan rind, chopped kale leaves, and chopped cabbage. cover and simmer until greens are tender, about 40 minutes.

add beans to soup, taste, and season with salt and pepper. simmer about 10 minutes longer.

stir cooked ditalini pasta into each bowl and serve with a loaf of fresh bread.

this soup is a bona fide remedy for a cold and rainy day. it's hearty, incredibly flavorful, and the bacon makes it a true comfort dish.

i made my substitutions and tweaks, but you should definitely read the original recipe. it's the kind that you can make over and over, making your own personal improvements on it, until one day you've got a special family recipe that you'll teach your grandkids. seriously.

dueling anniversaries

this day last year was the first anniversary of the day rob and i met. the one-whole-year mark was a big deal, and naturally we wanted to do something nice to celebrate together. however, we, uh, lacked funds. okay fine, we were pockets-turned-out broke. thankfully, i have quite a bit of experience in this area. you don't work for non-profit salaries for a decade without learning a few tricks for gracefully getting through frequent periods of pennilessness.

so, we scrapped our dreams of heading to ashland for the weekend and prepared for a nice dinner at home. we thawed some pork chops i'd squirreled away a few months earlier, picked up a couple of pieces of produce, and had a wonderful dinner of pork chops with plum and ginger sauce, roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, and french onion soup. we opened a bottle of wine from steppe cellars we'd purchased on a trip to yakima valley that summer. rob lit a candle and folded the napkins all fancy-like. together we enjoyed our anniversary dinner in his 3rd floor condo overlooking the changing leaves on the edge of portland's pearl district. it was perfect, and i would not have changed a thing.

a few days ago i decided to recreate that meal. not only was it a delicious nod to our upcoming two-whole-years milestone, this meal is also a way to get reacquainted with fall flavors.

i followed a recipe from gourmet magazine (which i just learned today is shutting down after 70 years! nooo!) for the pork chops, and a recipe from bon appetit for the soup. the squash was just cubed and roasted in olive oil, salt and pepper, and since brussels sprouts aren't available just yet, i made some simple sauteed green beans with toasted pecans.

pork chops with gingered plum sauce, gourmet 1997 (note-- the recipe gives a cooking time of 50 minutes which is about twice as long as they need!)

french onion soup, bon appetit may 1991 (great recipe, but i think i'm going to shop around for another. though really, you can't go wrong with french onion soup...)

green beans with toasted pecans

(serves 2)

2 handfuls skinny green beans, washed and trimmed

1/4 cup pecan pieces

unsalted butter

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

saute the beans in olive oil and butter over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until still bright green and crisp but beginning to cook through. add chopped pecans to pan and continue cooking just a few minutes, allowing the nuts to toast. add a splash of balsamic vinegar and cook 30 seconds longer. season with salt and pepper, and serve warm or room temperature.

mmmm... pork chops simmered in fruit makes me so happy...

tonight we will celebrate our two years together, and a future of not going out with jerks and losers anymore, by having what promises to be an unreasonably amazing dinner at a celebrated seattle restaurant called canlis. i'm trying not to spend my day just reading their menu in anticipation, but it's hard. i can't wait to see what they do with some of the same ingredients i bring home from the saturday and sunday farmers markets! we're excited. rob's wearing a suit. and, check it out-- i'm gonna wear makeup. it's going to be amazing, but i have to admit that pork chops from the freezer and fancy folded napkins will always have top billing for me in our cast of memories. there's no way to improve upon a celebration stripped of glamor and glitter, down to what's important.

(almost) the grit's vegan black bean chili

there's a restaurant in athens, georgia, the city where i went to college, called the grit. it is cheap enough for students, hip enough for touring indie rockers, and down-home enough for southerners. the twist is that they have an entirely vegetarian menu. the place is enormously popular, perhaps most especially because, though their dishes are meatless, they are soulful and comforting creations that happily and heartily contribute to many a "freshman fifteen."

my brother gave me their cookbook several years ago, and i've had a couple of their recipes make it into the rotation. i'd never tried their chili, but remembered to check into it when we signed up to provide a meal at rob's family reunion this weekend. with a big group like theirs, it made sense to me to offer a meatless option. not coincidentally, i had all the ingredients i needed on hand, including black turtle beans from the farmers market, and tomatoes from our garden.

i changed a few proportions, added some flavors, omitted the bulger wheat to have it be gluten-free, and altered the cook time from the original recipe. here goes.

vegan black bean chili

adapted from the grit restaurant vegetarian cookbook

2 cups dried black beans

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tps ancho chili powder

1 Tbsp cumin

1 Tbsp fresh oregano, chopped

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 large green bell pepper, chopped

kernels from one cob of fresh corn (about 1 cup)

1 carrot, shredded

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 large tomatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

1/3 cup tomato juice

kosher salt

1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

prepared hot sauce (optional)

good quality olive oil (optional)

sort, rinse, and soak the beans at least 6 hours or overnight. drain and rinse soaked beans, and add to pot with onion, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. add water to cover beans, plus about 2 inches. bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until soft. add small amounts of water as needed during cook time. start checking them after about a half an hour so they don't overcook.

if the beans are too soupy after they've finished cooking, you can dip some of the liquid out and reserve it in case you need to thin out the chili at a later stage.

in a separate pan, saute the green bell pepper and the celery in olive oil until softened. (you may also want to add the carrots to the saute. i didn't, but might try it next time.) add pepper and celery, corn kernels, and carrots to the beans. stir in tomato juice.

in same saute pan, heat up more olive oil and add the tomatoes, cooking until they are hot and beginning to break down but are still holding some of their shape. scrape the tomatoes and any accumulated juices into the pot of beans and veggies.

bring to a simmer. at this point, start tasting and adjusting seasonings, beginning with adding kosher salt. i probably added close to a tablespoon, but did so at such small intervals that i can't be sure. adjust cumin and chili powder to taste. if it has a slight bitter taste, as mine did, add small amounts of brown sugar to take the edge off. after about a 15-20 minute simmer, or once veggies are softening up and the soup is thickening, turn off the pot and let it sit for about an hour. it will thicken further, and the flavors will marry. i stirred in a dash of prepared hot sauce and a glug of good olive oil to richen it up.

this is a very diverse chili! serve over rice, with cornbread, make into a burrito, make into nachos, or just have in a bowl topped with onion and cheddar cheese.