Vegetarian Quinoa Chili

It was snowing today when I left for school, and it wasn’t much warmer when I came home for lunch and paper-writing. On such a grey day, I needed something warm and colorful--and the answer came in the form of this delicious vegetarian chili, thrown together from whatever I had on hand. It’s packed full of vegetables and protein, with two kinds of beans as well as quinoa, a South American grain that’s becoming more and more popular lately. For good reason: quinoa has tremendously high protein content (12%–18%), is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus, and is high in magnesium and iron. It’s gluten-free, too! In its natural state quinoa has a bitter coating that protects it from birds, but most quinoa sold in North America is pre-washed (you may want to rinse before using anyway, just to be sure).

I used an assortment of whatever vegetables and spices I had on hand--often adding a seasoning just because I could. I’ve starred the spices I consider essential. Pick and choose which seasonings you like, tasting frequently.

Vegetarian Quinoa Chili

Ingredients
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 - 1 1/2 cups chopped bell pepper (red, green, yellow)
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can sweet corn
*Cumin
*Red pepper flakes
*Ground chili powder
*Ground mustard powder
*Paprika
Cinnamon
Ground ginger
Dried basil
*Ground black pepper
*Kosher salt
Celery salt
Mesquite seasoning

Instructions
in a large pot, heat a little olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions 1 - 2 minutes. Add garlic and chopped bell pepper and continue to saute until onions are soft and translucent. Meanwhile, rinse quinoa if desired. Add quinoa, 1 cup water, and 1 can diced tomatoes. Simmer about 10 minutes. Drain and rinse beans and corn; add to pot. Add seasonings as desired and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until chili has thickened and quinoa are transparent in the center, about 10 - 20 minutes.


Serve with grated cheese, small cubes of avocado, crumbled cornbread, or Fritos corn chips.

Servings: around 6.

Zucchini & Mushroom Udon Soup

In September I went back to Oregon for my sister Mandy's wedding reception. It was lovely, of course. I also made the time to jaunt up to Uwajimaya, a wonderful Asian food grocery store. It is there that I bought some difficult-to-find-in-normal-grocery-stores ingredients, and that is what made this delicious meal possible.

This recipe is modified from The Essential Asian Cookbook. The original called for pork and leeks, and I had neither. (I also lacked spring onions and shimichi togarashi, but who's counting?) Instead, I substituted zucchini and mushrooms, and the results were divine.


Zucchini & Mushroom Udon Soup

Ingredients
6 1/3 oz dried udon noodles
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp dashi granules
1/2 small zucchini
2 large mushrooms
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp non-alcoholic mirin

Instructions
Slice zucchini into thin strips. Slice mushrooms in large, but thin, pieces. Set aside.

Follow instructions on udon packaging to cook. Do not rinse. Drain and cover to keep warm.

Bring water and dashi to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add zucchini and simmer for five minutes. Add mushrooms, soy sauce, and mirin and simmer for two minutes.

Divide noodles into three medium bowls. Spoon soup over noodles and serve.

I have been craving Japanese food lately, and this made my evening. Udon is readily available at most competent grocery stores. The dashi (dried fish granules) and mirin (sweetened rice wine) are harder to come by, and they are absolutely essential to this dish. The non-alcoholic mirin was especially difficult. I went through an entire display of bottles at Uwajimaya until I found one that said non-alcoholic in English.

But now I have an entire liter of the stuff, so I'm hoping that I'll be able to post many more Japanese cooking adventures in the future.

Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque and Old English Oatmeal Bread

Three weeks into this blog, and we’ve already fallen down on the job. Well, partly. Audrey and I did manage to meet our Pantry Challenge goal to a certain extent: we cooked from our pantry and from the Bountiful Basket produce without buying anything more than a can of pumpkin and a bag of chocolate chips, both of which went into the pumpkin chocolate scones I made for the Law School Singles Pumpkin Palooza Bake-off. On the other hand, we didn’t eat at home nearly as much as I’d expected. On Sunday I had dinner with my sisters; Tuesday night I had dinner at a legal society function; on Wednesday and Thursday I had lunch catered by various law school functions; on Thursday I had dinner at the Pumpkin Palooza. All other meals were home-cooked but upon consulting with Audrey, I’m not sure we ever actually ate a meal together (so long as you don’t count Friday night, when we made sweet potato and parsnip fries--very tasty, but not exactly a meal). Obviously the next time we do a challenge like this, we need to do a better job of it!

To make up for last week’s failure, I have two recipes today: Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque with Carmelized Onions, and Old English Oatmeal Bread. The bread recipe is one I’ve been baking with great success for a couple of years; the soup I made up today. Both are absolutely fantastic and make a wonderful, healthy light dinner packed with fall flavor.

Roasted Butternut Squash Bisque
Ingredients
2 medium butternut squash
1 Yukon gold potato, diced
1 quart (32 oz) good chicken or vegetable broth
Olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 shake red pepper
2 tsp dried chives, plus more to garnish
Whipping cream and caramelized onions, to garnish

Instructions
Heat oven to 400°F. Lop off top and bottom of butternut squash; slice in half and scoop out seeds and stringy innards. Rub the cut surfaces with olive oil and place, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Roast for 40 minutes or so, until squash is soft and pierced easily by a fork. Remove from oven and let cool until easy to handle. Scoop flesh out with a spoon and discard skins.

Meanwhile, boil potato in a little water until soft and easily pierced by a fork; drain. Combine squash, potato, and chicken (or vegetable) broth in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour soup into a pot and add salt, black pepper, red pepper, and chives. Heat gently over medium to medium-low heat.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with whipping cream, extra chives, and caramelized onions.

(The onions may sink, as mine did in this picture. Don't despair! They'll taste even better in the soup than on top.)



Caramelized Onions
1 medium onion
1/2 Tbsp butter
1/2 tsp raw sugar
Salt

Slice onion thinly. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat; add onions. Saute onions for 45-50 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle sugar and a little salt over onions when they start to brown and continue cooking over medium-low to low heat until onions are well-caramelized, with deep color and sweet flavor.



Old English Oatmeal Bread (adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Baking cookbook)
Ingredients
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats, plus extra for sprinkling
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp dark molasses
2 - 2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp yeast
1 egg yolk, beaten mixed with 1 tsp water

Instructions
Place the oats in a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the milk and 3/4 cup water and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Pour over the oats and let stand until lukewarm, about 30 minutes; stir often to hasten cooling. Stir in the molasses, 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the salt, and the yeast. Gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape.

Knead by hand or with a dough hook, adding flour as needed. Kneed by hand until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes; knead by hook until the dough is not sticking and pulls cleanly from the bowl sides, 6-7 minutes. (If I have the time, I always knead by hand; it develops the gluten better, gives a more pleasing texture, and allows me to judge the condition of the dough much more easily.)

Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, 45-60 minutes.

Dust a baking sheet with flour. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and press flat. Cut in half, knead briefly, and form each half into a ball, stretching the sides down and under. Place well apart on the prepared baking sheet and flatten slightly. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise until doubled, 20-30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Uncover the loaves, brush with the egg-yolk mixture and sprinkle with oats, if desired. Using a sharp knife, make two 1/4" deep slashes on the tops of the loaves. Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes; the loaves should sound hollow when tapped on the bottoms. Unmold the loaves and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes two 13-oz loaves. Total preparation time: about 3 hours.