Catalan Chickpea Stew

a warm and hearty vegetarian meal for lunch or dinner.  Benefits from being made a day or two in advance and refrigerated until it's time to reheat and serve.  Add some sliced sausage if you wish to add meat. 

Ingredients:

1 pound chickpeas, soaked overnight in 2 quarts water
1 bay leaf
salt, to taste
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 medium red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large cloves garlic, pressed
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Drain the chickpeas and combine with enough water to cover by 2 inches in a large dutch oven.  Add the bay leaf and bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce heat and skim off foam.  Cover and simmer for 1 hour.  Drain through a sieve over a bowl, reserve 2 cups of the cooking liquid. Discard bay leaf. Set chickpeas aside.

2. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat and add the chopped onion.  Stir and cook until onions begin to soften (3 minutes).  Add the bell pepper and continue to cook, stirring often for 5-10 minutes (until the bell pepper is tender).  Add garlic and stir for a minute or two.  Stir in the tomatoes (with the juice), thyme, salt and pepper.  Continue to cook on medium for about 10 minutes (or until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly).  Add the chickpeas, red pepper flakes, and reserved chickpea liquid.  Return to simmer, stir, reduce heat to low and cover.  Cook for about 1 hour or until the beans are very tender.  Season to taste.

Warm Red Cabbage Salad with Cranberries & Almonds

This is really nice.  Super easy and fast too! 


Ingredients:

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small white onion cut into thin half moons
3-4 cloves of garlic sliced very thin
1/2 head of red cabbage, sliced very thin
salt and pepper to taste
a small sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped  (just a little bit or it will overwhelm the dish)
1/3 cup of dried cranberries
1/3 cup of roasted almonds (if you opt for salted you will want to use less salt in the dish)
1 1/2 Tbsp good balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium/ to medium high heat.  Add the onions and garlic and saute until soft. 

2. Add the sliced cabbage, salt and pepper taste, stir and toss for a couple of minutes until the cabbage is warmed through and only beginning to wilt slightly.  Don't overcook.  Cabbage is yucky overcooked.

3. Add the rosemary, almonds, cranberries and balsamic vinegar, stir to combine, remove from heat and transfer to a large serving dish.  If you eat cheese you can add some crumbled feta cheese on top. 

Zucchini "Pasta" & quick Tomato Sauce

If you like spaghetti squash, your gonna love zucchini done this way. It's silky and satisfying. Even better, it takes mere minutes to prepare! If you make up a batch of tomato sauce in advance, you can freeze it for convenience. 

Zucchini "Pasta"

(4 servings)
Ingredients:

2 pounds of green zucchini (or yellow)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper
1 cup tomato sauce (see recipe below)

Directions:
1. Peel the zucchini with a peeler to remove the skin and then continue using your peeler to cut the zucchini into lengthwise ribbons.  Peel off several ribbons from one side, turn the zucchini a 1/4 turn and peel more ribbons.  Continue turning and peeling until you reach the seeds in the center and then discard the core.  This only takes a minute or two with a good vegetable peeler.

2. Heat 1/2 of the olive oil in a nonstick skillet over med/high heat.  Cook the zucchini in 2 batches.  When the oil is hot, add 1/2 of your zucchini slices, some salt and cook, tossing and stirring.  The zucchini will not take long to reach al dente.  Just 2 or three minutes (until the zucchini is softened and just beginning to turn translucent) and the zucchini will be ready. Transfer to a serving dish and repeat with second batch.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with tomato sauce.



Quick Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
(Tomato Sauce)

6 large tomatoes, processed in a blender quickly
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, pressed
2 shallots, chopped fine
1/2 tsp. chili pepper flakes
1/2 handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 handful of fresh oregano leaves, chopped
2 Tbsp. red wine
salt, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Heat a med sized pot (or sauté pan) over med/high heat and heat oil. Add garlic, shallots and chili flakes, cook for 2 minutes. Add blended tomatoes, cook for 4 minutes and add basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook for another minute, add red wine and cook for another 5 minutes to reduce a bit.

Fried egg, avocado, hash browns & hot sauce

My flickr friend Shutterbean posted this recipe and well, I had to make it myself!  You should too! She has given step by step instructions.  Here is the link to her blog 

Malaysian Red Curry of Beef

 Red Curry of Beef (or Daging masak merah)

 Very delicious.  Read the directions carefully.  you may wish to have everything measured/chopped and skinned before starting as the recipe is quite involved for newbies.


 Ingredients:
2 tsp. chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp. ground tumeric
1/2 tsp. course sea salt
1 1/2 lb sirloin steak cut into pieces (2 pieces per person)
3 Tbsp peanut oil
3 Tbsp thick tamarind water (1 oz tamarind paste placed in hot water and strained)
6 ripe tomatoes, peeled and chopped (blanch them to peel)
1 1/4 cups coconut cream (the thick creamy stuff in the tops of the cans)
handful of mint leaves and cilantro leaves, roughly chopped

Red Paste Ingredients:
3 shallots, chopped
6-8 garlic cloves, chopped
4 large red chilies, seeded and chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 Tbsp peanut oil

Garnish Ingredients:
4 Tbsp deep fried shallots (slice very thin and fry quickly until brown in peanut oil) (drain on paper towel)
2 oz unsalted cashews, fried in a some peanut oil until brown (drain on paper towel)
2 oz raisins, fried very briefly in oil until plump (drain on paper towel)

Directions:

1. Grind the ginger, tumeric and sea salt in a mortar to make a paste. Rub the pieces of beef all over with this paste and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

2. Make the Red Paste- blend all of the red paste ingredients together with 3 Tbsp water until smooth.  Transfer the paste to a large saucepan and simmer over med. heat for 6 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat and set aside.

3.  Heat the oil in a fry pan and fry the pieces of beef, a few at a time for 2 minutes per side. Set aside.

4. Reheat the paste in the saucepan, stirring well for a couple of minutes, then add 1/2 cup HOT water and the tamarind water.  Bring to a boil.  Add the beef, stir and cover.  Continue cooking over medium heat for 6-8 minutes.

5. Add the tomatoes and stir to mix with beef.  Cook for a few more minutes, now add the coconut cream and continue cooking, turning meat several times, until the sauce has reduced.  Just a few minutes.  In the final minute add the cilantro and mint leaves. 

6. Serve hot with garnish of fried shallots, cashews, and plump raisins.

serve with coconut rice