Superbowl Champion Veggie Chili

This is not *my* veggie chili. But it bears a striking resemblance to it.

By this time, you have no doubt heard that the New Orleans Saints won the Superbowl (which, as my friend Nick points out, is like the Grey Cup, but with 4 downs and no “rouges”).  As a Louisiana native, I am extremely pleased with this development.  I vividly recall the days of bag-headed fans venturing into the Superdome to watch the “Aint’s,” and not getting to see home games on television because the failure to sell enough tickets meant a TV blackout within a 100 mile radius.  So, I really never expected this day to come, but I am pretty stoked that it finally did.

To celebrate the Saints’ competition in this, the most glorious of sporting events, I made Veggie Chili, which, as far as I’m concerned anyway, rose to the occasion.  The recipe is an adaptation of Emeril Lagasse’s Texas-style chili (which is definitely not vegetarian), and is both hearty and complex.  Here’s how it goes.

Begin by sauteing the following in a big pot with canola oil:

• 1 large vidalia onion, diced
• 1-2 jalapenos, chopped
• 1 chopped carrot
• 1 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
• 4 Tbsp. chili powder
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

After these have cooked for a couple of minutes, add:

• 1 Tbsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 2 tsp. salt
• black pepper
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes

When this is fragrant, add:

• 1 bottle of dark beer (we used a dark Belgian that we had on hand, but I’ve also used Guinness with pretty good results)
• 4 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

Bring this to a boil, and taste it.  If your beer is on the bitter side, you may want to add about a tsp of sugar or honey.  Then, add 1.5 cups of dry, green lentils (make sure that you have washed and picked these over to get rid of any dirt or stones).  Boil for about 10 minutes, then reduce head to med-low and cook, covered, for 1 hour (or until the lentils are tender, but not mushy).  When the lentils have almost finished cooking, add a can of cooked kidney beans, and allow to simmer for another 15 minutes.

We served the chili with cheddar and chive scones, like these (made by Josh, of course),

plus a dollop of sour cream.  I don’t mind telling you that I think this chili is fantastic.  It’s satisfyingly spicy without being too much, and the flavor is big and bold without being one-note.  I also really, really like what the lentils do for the texture.  I’ve previously made this dish with TVP instead, and I think the ever-so-slight al dente character of the lentils is worlds better than the texture of TVP, which can get pretty mushy in soup.  It’s also a fun contrast with all of the other veggies, as well as the kidney beans.

By the end of the night, there were exactly zero servings of chili left–this recipe makes anywhere from 8-12, depending on how much other game-grub you have on hand–so I have a feeling that my chili-feelings here are deserved.    And, thankfully (finally!), so are my feelings for the Saints.

Jerk Tofu with Rice and Beans

I love Jamaican food.  There’s a place in Nashville (located, a bit oddly, in the farmer’s market) called Jamaicaway, which has a really fantastic vegetarian Jamaican menu–think curried seitan with fried plantains–and which I miss terribly.  Most of my other take-out cravings are things I’ve forced myself to learn to cook at home, since there are only so many trips to the Thai restaurant that one person can take in a week.  But Jamaican food has been an exception, since its lower levels of popularity make finding instructions (either in print or on TV) a bit harder to come by.  BUT, for Christmas, I received the very exciting cookbook, Delicious Jamaica: Vegetarian Cuisine, and we were in business.

Since this recipe is a little more complicated than others I’ve done–and since my usual cooking method of winging it isn’t exactly an option with a cuisine I don’t know well–I’m going to be quoting a lot more directly from the actual recipe I used.  Which you may or may not enjoy.  (NOTE: Let me know in the comments!  I write only for your pleasure, obviously.)

To start, I had to marinate the sliced tofu in Jerk seasoning, while the dry black beans soaked.

Jerk Seasoning:

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 hot pepper, chopped
• 2 tsp. honey
• 2 Tbsp. tamari (I subbed soy sauce)
• 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. coconut oil (I subbed coconut milk solids)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground thyme
• 1 tsp. ground allspice

I combined all the ingredients in a food processor and blended until achieving a moist paste/puree, about half of which I used to coat the block of sliced  tofu before leaving it in the fridge to marinate, covered, for an hour or so.

While the tofu was marinating, I got started on the rice and beans.  Traditionally, the Jamaican version is really rice and red peas, but since 1) I couldn’t find these and 2) their texture is something closer to beans than green peas, I substituted black beans.  Here’s what I did:

Rice and Beans

In a large pot, combine the following:

• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 cups water
• 1.5 cups coconut milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup of dry black beans that have been soaked for at least 4 hours

Bring all of this to a boil and cook for about an hour, or until the beans are nearly cooked.  When they have just a bit of a bite to them, add the following:

• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. thyme
• 2 cups rice
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 2 bay leaves (I left these out because I didn’t have any, and it was still great.)
• About an additional cup of water (the original recipe says “as much water as needed to cook the rice”)

Bring everything back up to a boil, (and, if your tastebuds are anything like mine, add a little more salt) reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the rice is done, about 20 minutes.

Once this was going on, we were ready to get the tofu into the oven.  The book suggests cooking it at 350, but I think this is a terrible idea, since you’ll never get any texture to your tofu with such a low heat.  So here’s what I did:

• Preheat the oven to 450
• Remove excess Jerk seasoning
• Brush each tofu slab with a little BBQ sauce on top of the Jerk
• Place the saucy slabs in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet
• Bake for 15 minutes on each side, or until the outside of the tofu gets a nice texture.

When everything was done, I served the tofu over the rice and beans, and added some sliced avocado to top it, just because I like it.  In the end, I was really pleased with the flavor, especially of the rice and beans.  The coconut milk gave it a nice richness, which went well with the various spices of the Jerk.  The Jerk itself was good, but had room for improvement, I think.  The rub on its own had a pretty strong raw onion flavor (perhaps unsurprisingly), and coating the tofu with BBQ sauce post-Jerk-marinating was a bit awkward, since both were a bit sticky and we seemed to lose a little of the Jerk.  If I were going to make it again, I might try cooking the Jerk a bit on the stove top to reduce the raw onion taste, and maybe even adding a bit of BBQ sauce to it at that stage, rather than treating them as two separate sauces.

On the whole, though, I thought this new Jamaican endeavor was a success.  Stay tuned, though, since NEXT TIME: we attempt an elaborate Lebanese dish made by Josh’s grandmother.

Minestrone

Things are starting to get a little on the cool side in the evenings, which means that I’ve started to get a hankering for soup.  I love making minestrone in particular because it’s quick, cheap, flavorful, and has everything I want in a vegetarian meal (beans, veggies, and starch).  For this one, I started by sauteing yellow onion, carrots, new potatoes and garlic.  Once those started to get a little color, I added canned diced tomatoes and vegetable broth, and seasoned everything with an Italian seasoning blend, plus a little extra oregano and basil, salt and pepper.  And, in what I thought was a real bit of smart thinking, I added a handful of dried chipotle chiles to give the soup a smokiness reminiscent of bacon drippings.  After letting it all simmer covered until the potatoes were almost done, I added a can of kidney beans and some corkscrew pasta.  When the pasta was cooked, I tossed in a handful of frozen green peas for some extra color and sweetness, and in just a minute, the whole thing was done.

I love the heartiness of this soup–especially because it’s almost entirely vegetables–and the chipotle chiles really added a nice depth of flavor (plus a kick of heat) that I think had been missing from my previous minestrone attempts.  And it’s a good thing, too, since it seems that fall is not to be avoided…