A few weeks ago I cooked too many chickpeas. Some got roasted with this Veggie Burrito Spice Blend. The rest got tossed into this concoction. The problem I have saving a recipe to revise at a later time is I tend to forget to revise and post. Then I can’t remember what stopped me from posting earlier. Like this recipe which I thought needed revisions but actually didn’t. I think.
Add the potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and chickpeas to the pot. Pour enough vegetable broth and/or bean cooking liquid to cover the ingredients by an inch.
Turn the heat up and bring to a boil. When boiling, turn the heat down to low and simmer for about an hour, lid on partially covered. Stir occasionally. Add more broth/cooking liquid as the stew thickens.
After an hour taste and adjust your seasonings. The amounts of seasonings I used results in a very mild stew that allows all of the flavors to shine.
This blend of spices is literally stolen from the chefs at https://www.badmanners.com/. The last time I took a theme on a spice blend the author tracked me down and threatened something close to legal action if I didn’t give her credit and a link to her website. So this time around I’m giving credit AND three links. I’m also not going to write down any instructions for making a roasted vegetable and chickpea filling for burritos. I suggest you go to the original recipe at https://www.badmanners.com/recipes/roasted-chickpea-and-broccoli-burrito if you need detailed instructions.
My Tips, Hints, and not too Secret Secrets
A really good tortilla makes all the difference. But today I’m going to wrap this filling in a Greek style whole wheat pita for lunch. I tend to roast vegetables for at least 40 minutes with a good stir midway through to prevent sticking. You can also add more olive oil at this point too. I hope I have a lime in the fridge. The last time I made this filling The Boss used it as a topping for a Taco Salad. She liked it. I hope she was telling the truth because when you cook up a pound of dried chickpeas it is a LOT of chickpeas. One cup dried will produce between 6 and 7 cups of beans. I used about 4 cups for today’s mix. The other 3 cups went into a Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew.
I used some metal pie pans as roasting pans because I didn’t want to use the big pan which is a pain in the ass to clean because of its size. Preheat your pan(s) before roasting. I leave the mixing bowl uncleaned and use it again once the veggies are roasted and done. Let the mixture cool for a bit, toss everything back into this bowl, mix well again to capture the spices that have stuck to the bowl and then adjust your seasonings.
From the language comments the country of origin appears to be Greece. This dish is absolutely brilliant (but try to find tomatoes like this in the US). I love the chef using the tops for bottoms. AND…wait for the cat.
Have you ever roasted frozen vegetables? Me neither. But a quick referral to Dr. Google offers up recipes and instructions for this time and money saving technique. Maybe this method actually works (because everything you read on the internet is TRUTH). So a few weeks ago during a Pandemic Pantry shopping trip I picked up a few one pound bags of frozen cauliflower ( a buck a bag). I also bought a small jar of minced garlic which I promised my younger self I would never use because fresh is better until I used some at my son’s house. Hmmm…..
One package frozen cauliflower (32 ounces) Extra virgin olive oil Minced garlic Dried thyme Parmesan Cheese Salt and black pepper
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the florets into a baking/roasting pan with sides.
Spread the pieces into the pan. Make sure they don’t touch each other.
Drizzle the cauliflower with olive oil. Toss with a spoon. You want a nice thin coating of oil on each piece.
Lightly salt and pepper, dust with Parmesan and sprinkle with a hint of thyme.
Add two tablespoons of minced garlic. Toss lightly again
Place in the oven and roast for approximately 35-40 minutes. Shake the pan or stir/toss every 10 minutes or so to ensure most of the surfaces of each floret get browned (this is why you want a pan with sides).
When nicely browned add a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese over the cauliflower. Roast for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Transfer the cauliflower to a serving bowl and add more Parmesan.
Eat.
TIPS – The amount of garlic is personal preference and dependent upon how garlicky you like your food and the number of guests at the table. Same for the cheese but you can never have too much cheese or garlic. This dish is not vegan but if you must, leave out the cheese. Don’t forget the shake and/or stir part because when you use minced garlic it can and will burn.
Lessons learned – minced garlic DOES burn but despite appearances did not taste burned at all. Also, one pound of frozen cauliflower is not a lot of cauliflower.
Unfortunately this dish is also Not Tiny Taste Tester Approved. She was not present for my roasted frozen vegetable experiment.
Guttenberg New Jersey is a tiny town on the Hudson River. Guttenberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guttenberg,_New_Jersey) was where I first tasted Guacamole. I was in my early 20’s and a restaurant on the river named The Lighthouse was reported to have the best Fettuccine Alfredo in the state. So if a restaurant had the best fettuccine I had to go. The night I went the crowd was out the door and everyone was shuffled into the bar so that the business could sell more alcohol while you waited patiently for a table that was probably empty the entire time you were waiting. As I made my way to the bar atop the counter sat a large bowl filled with green stuff.
“What the hell is that?”
The bartender gave me a look like what planet do you live on and said,
“Guacamole.”
“What the hell is Guacamole?”
Realizing I was a true Yankee who lacked any sense of cultural awareness outside of the NY-NJ area his tone softened.
“Avocado dip. You eat it with chips.”
Next to the bowl of green stuff was a bowl of chips. I still didn’t know what Guacamole was because I didn’t know what an avocado was. My educational enhancement options at the time were limited in the pre-Internet, pre-cellphone days and the bartender left to serve someone else who was more likely to spend more money on alcohol. I wasn’t getting enough information to discern what the green stuff actually was. I remember grabbing what I thought was a potato chip, took a dip, and ate Guacamole for the very first time in my life. Funny to think back on this because I recall nothing about the Guacamole. All I remember was the chip.
When the bartender came back hoping I would finally order an beverage I asked,
“What the hell kind of chip is that?”
“Corn.”
And with an attitude of this guy is asking too many questions and wasting my time he went off to serve someone else. Thus ends the story of my first encounter with Guacamole and CORN chips. I wouldn’t have any more such encounters until I moved to Texas and tried Mexican (actually Tex-Mex) food. But this is another story altogether.
BTW I love Guacamole now and I know what a corn chip is.
Asian and Alton Brown Inspired Guacamole
3 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, peeled
1 large lime for fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 clove garlic minced
2 tablespoons medium red onion, minced
1 medium sized tomato, diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Scoop the avocado into a small mixing bowl.
Squeeze most (but not all) of the lime juice over the fruit.
With a fork or a spoon mash the avocado but leave some small chunks (for chunkiness).
Fold in the remaining ingredients and mix well.
Sample for seasoning and adjust to your taste.
Serve with CORN chips.
Tips
I take a paper towel and gently drain the tomatoes before adding to the fruit. The paper towel will absorb excess juice, pulp, and seeds. This dip is basically the kid version and is very mild. The adult version can be bold. I usually add several dashes of hot sauce. Fresh garlic and jalapeño peppers will also give a nice kick. Remember the most but not all part of the lime juice? If you’re not serving immediately, squeeze some lime juice over the top of the dip (don’t mix in) and stick it in the fridge. This will help delay oxidation. No one likes brown Guacamole.
To be honest I’ve not paid much attention to the Covid-19 numbers very much for quite some time. Yesterday though, the numbers caught my attention:
Holy Crap Batman!
My initial reaction was shock. But my thoughts quickly came back to food and preparing the pantry for the next lock down. I’m using this blog to maintain my personal pandemic pantry list and it is not intended to be THE LIST to follow. (At least I won’t forget where I put my pantry list.) IMO there are several reasons to keep your pantry well stocked:
government mandated lock downs.
self-imposed periods of sheltering in place either from direct exposure to an infected individual, becoming infected or living with an infected person, rampant uncontrolled viral spread in your community and/or social unrest.
Panic buying/hoarding.
Supply chain disruptions due to Covid-19 outbreaks at various points in the supply chain and/or panic buying behavior.
We just survived the worst ice storm imaginable and several days without electricity teaches you a thing or two. So I’ve started a list of non-food pantry items which over time will consist of stuff you need to have around when the lights go out. My shopping the past several months included picking up one of this and one of that to build up and back up the pantry. So here’s what the Pandemic Pantry looks like today with the supply on hand in parenthesis. Zero = no backup.
Pandemic Pantry Items – Last Updated 11.08.20
Mayo (1) Mustard (0) Salsa (1) Ketchup (0)
Pickles (1)
Canned tomatoes in 14.5 and 28 ounce cans. Diced, crushed, diced with green chilies and stewed (8)
Extra virgin olive oil (1)
Brown and white sugar (0 and 1)
Bay leaves, dried oregano, basil, and parsley (0)
Onion and garlic powders
Salt (1) and black pepper (0)
Baking powder, baking soda, corn starch (0)
Parmesan cheese (1)
Bread crumbs (plain, Panko, seasoned) (1)
Dried pastas (10 lbs)
Dried beans such as brown and green lentils, pinto, black, adzuki, mayocabo, yellow and green split peas, black eye peas and cranberry (5 lbs)
Canned beans such as garbanzos, black, black eye peas, pinto, great northern, navy (10)
Broth, vegetable, beef, chicken (3)
Rice – multiple varieties like basmati, brown, Texmati, arborio and plain long grain white (6 lbs)
Flour and corn tortillas (0)
Wheat germ (1)
COFFEE ground (0) — K-cups (50ish)
COFFEE FILTERS (0) — I suggest owning a single cup drip cone.
Tea (120 tea bags all green decaf plus a few normal ones for me)
Nuts (1)
All purpose and whole wheat flours (or alternative flours if you’re into that sort of thing)
Canned tuna (6)
Canned green chilies (1)
Oats (0)
Cornmeal (0)
Dried fruits (1)
Whole grain and fruit/nut bars (20ish)
Dry cereals and granola (0)
Crackers (3)
Vinegar (red wine, white wine,Balsamic, white Balsamic, apple cider, etc.) (1)
Hopefully you’ll find this list useful. Personally while updating the list I’ve thought of items to add to this list and to my shopping list. Stay safe, stay well.
Well I pulled one off the griddle and tried it. I froze the rest and heated one up for lunch today. It was good…but not great hence the RIP (recipe in progress) tag. I made a sandwich on whole wheat and swirled some Sriracha mayo on it and the burger tasted better than last night. The burger is missing something and we’ll just leave this as a RIP and keep experimenting. Definitely needs more heat. Maybe some corn kernels to balance the heat. I’m also thinking of fresh onion and garlic, not the powders which would make this burger less of a pantry mash up but oh well. Here’s where we stand today.
Update 10.08.20
I ate the last of probably five or six of these “burgers” which were in the freezer. The good news is they freeze well and taste OK. The bad news is they taste just OK so now this recipe is being retired. RIP now stands for Rest in Peace. I’ve decided they are not very “burger-like” and more like sweet potato and black bean cakes with herbs and spices. This is the final update as this recipe goes up on the shelf along with any recipes from The Stack Project – Lasagne Stack Update 04.15.15. The Stack Project contained just one experiment Lasagne Stacks which also were just OK.
I can’t remember the last time we finished a large jar of mayonnaise prior to its expiration date. We don’t use a lot of mayo and most of the time half of the jar gets tossed.
Then Covid-19 happened. We started eating more mayo. Tuna salad the way Grandpa Jack made tuna. Egg salad. Chicken salad. And coleslaw. But many recipes change over time. This coleslaw is updated for 2020. Here’s my original Rocky Top Coleslaw which also contains a link to the original inspiration recipe from Bobby Flay.
It’s coleslaw so keep it simple.  Use a bag of pre-shredded coleslaw from the market.  The quantities for the dressing in 2020 have been reduced. I find the slaw tastes just as good with less dressing (and less calories).
We’ll be grilling some Pandemic Burgers tonight with a little Rocky Top on the side.
Cole Slaw Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
garlic powder (to taste, about a tsp)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon celery salt
Pepper to taste.
Everybody in the pool (large mixing bowl) except for the cabbage.
Whisk until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Add your slaw and mix well.
Chill for at least one hour before serving.
Can you visualize a huge scoop of this coleslaw on top of a cold turkey meatloaf sandwich? Me too but I don’t have any leftover meatloaf. Guess I’ll have to make Italian Meatloaf or Turkey Meatloaf this week.
