Chili Power

Drunken Lentil and Pumpkin Chili

My 15-month-old son rides the airwaves. The little channel surfer makes it impossible for either of us to watch a show, constantly turning the channels from PBS' Dinosaur Train, creating a cacophony of radio frequency activity. I rarely get to see more than a couple seconds of any given show, but it keeps him busy so I rarely care.

A few days ago, as the channels whirled by, I saw the words "Drunken Pumpkin-Black Lentil Chili" printed on the screen. Whoa buddy. Stop right there. I was able to see about three seconds of the Today broadcast and Googled it to find the recipe. The show featured Souper Jenny, who runs an awesome cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. Has anyone ever flown to Atlanta for soup? I am seriously considering it. 

Here is a link to her restaurant: http://www.souperjennyatl.com/

There was no picture attached for the recipe on the Today website about Souper Jenny's awesome chili, and without a picture, it's not really satisfying to Pin it. So I made it, took pictures and here it is. Pin away.

What intrigued me most about this chili is its use of delicata squash.

It's one of those cool looking ones you always see at the grocery store but don't quite know what to do with. Mystery solved. It's a lot like butternut squash, but you can eat the skin, too.

So here is Souper Jenny's Drunken Black Lentil and Pumpkin Chili, minus the black lentils and using green lentils instead because that is what I had. Serves eight.

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 large sweet yellow onion, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large zucchini, chopped

1 large yellow squash, chopped

1 delicata squash, seeded and chopped (no need to peel!)

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

2 15 ounce cans pumpkin

2 cups black lentils (I used green lentils)

2 28 ounce cans chopped tomatoes

2 12 ounce beers (I used a Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale)

Heat your soup pot. Add oil and heat for 30 seconds. Saute onions and garlic until soft. Add squash, zucchini, delicata squash, chili powder and cumin and stir. Saute for 5-10 minutes. 

Add lentils, tomato, beer and pumpkin.

Simmer and keep stirring for 45-60 minutes. You may add water if the chili gets thicker than you like. This is particularly a good idea if reheating leftovers. At the table, we added everything from hot sauce to feta or colby jack. 

And as I always do, I rocked. It seemed fitting to add Smashing Pumpkins to the night's playlist. We've been listening to a lot of Lithium on Sirius/XM, which is such a strange flashback at times. The '90s just don't seem that long ago to already be retro and have a special station dedicated to the decade's hits. Those of us in our 40s and older now have an oldies station that we think is cool. We are officially our parents.

Smashing Pumpkins were sort of a fluke. They were so different than most of the bands at the time, which makes them even more perfect for this chili that not only omits beans, but meat as well—and yet it calls itself chili. It's scrumptious, so everyone has let that slide.

The band crammed its songs with heaps of fuzzy guitar with equal parts rock, psychedelic and shoegazer and no one seemed to bat a lash. Billy Corgan's band of misfits were lumped in with every other alt rocker of the day, and it was pretty fabulous.

But when I see the bald Corgan, who always struck me as a little too fetus-y, I can't help but think of Naboo from the British cult classic show The Mighty Boosh. 

Naboo

Below is Episode 1, from Season 1 of The Mighty Boosh. You will become addicted to this show. I own the box set. You're welcome.

Strangely, I never even owned a Smashing Pumpkins CD. I never needed to. The music was constantly around one way or another.

I wasn't a huge fan, but looking back I can see the merits of the music beyond the band's personalities, which were volatile, depressive, erratic and at best just weird. Apparently the band, with only Corgan left from the original lineup, released Oceania in June 2012. I missed it.

Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) and Noel Fielding (Vince Noir)

But Smashing Pumpkins were good. So is this chili. And so is The Mighty Boosh. 

Pogue Mahone Cottage Pie

Some people hear the words turnip and rutabaga and turn up their noses at a scrumptious roasted root vegetable dish. 

To them, you can say "Pogue Mahone," and carry on making a roasted root vegetable cottage pie with your leftovers while listening to the London lads themselves. The recipe for the roasted root vegetables is the previous post on this blog. 

The Pogues, famous for their singer Shane MacGowan who is known for being as twisted as his teeth, are a great companion for this twist on a British classic. 

The band was originally called Pogue Mahone, but then the BBC started censoring the band's name. Seemed some Gaelic speakers knew the name was really an Anglicization of the Irish "póg mo thóin," meaning "kiss my arse." Those Pogues. 

Seeing how Christmas just passed, I thought this 1987 Pogues song featuring Kirsty MacColl, "Fairytale of New York," fitting. It's considered one of the best Christmas songs ever in the U.K.

MacGowan co-wrote the ditty about an Irish immigrant on Christmas Eve dreaming of Christmases past while sleeping off a whiskey-fueled stupor in a NYC holding cell for the especially celebratory. When a pissed old man starts singing a passage from the Irish ballad "The Rare Old Mountain Dew," our protagonist begins to dream about the song's female character. 

If you're missing some of the lyrics, click here for the karaoke-style version:

The rest of the song is a call and response between the couple, as they recall their youth wasted on alcohol and drugs between some good old fashioned bickering: "Happy Christmas your arse / I pray God it's our last." 

Result!

But hey, nearly all British people like shepherd's pie, even the Northern Irish, so I am pretty sure they could have agreed on some variation of this dish. Cottage pie goes back to the late 18th century, when potato became king in Ireland, appealing to the less-wealthy, which was nearly everyone at the time. 

The pie consists of taking whatever savory leftovers are in the fridge, dumping mashed potatoes on top and calling it pie. By the 19th century, it was interchangeably known as shepherd's pie. 

Shepherd's pie can be made with nearly any type of meat, but I chose soya crumbles and lentils for a vegetarian version. You can choose whatever you want. 

For this cottage pie, warm up the leftover root vegetables (this recipe is based on a 9-by-13-inch casserole pan of leftovers) in a saute pan, adding a little more olive oil to help them brown a bit. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

In a large stock pot, boil water. 

Peel and cut about eight potatoes into large slices. Put them in the boiling water and cook until soft. Drain. Dump potatoes into a large kitchen mixer (or use a hand mixer or masher, whatever your preference). 

Add buttermilk, butter and minced garlic to taste. Once blended to preferred consistency, add course country dijon mustard and Colman's English Mustard to taste, along with some grated cheese. 

A vegan version can be made by using olive oil instead of butter and soy milk instead of buttermilk. 

In a separate large stock pot, boil a cup of lentils and cup of soya (if you don't have dried available, buy the frozen kind made by Boca or Morningstar) in a about eight cups of veggie broth. Once the lentils and soya are softened, add the roasted root vegetables. 

Pour lentil-vegetable-soya mixture into a large casserole dish or two (you can freeze one for later). Spread evenly. 

Spoon on the mashed potato mixture. 

Use a fork and drag it across line by line back and forth, making a criss-cross pattern. Sprinkle the top with the remainder of the shredded cheese. 

Stick in the oven. The cottage pie is done when the potatoes are browned a little on top and the sides show gravy bubbling around the corners. 

When serving, you may want to top it with a little vegetarian gravy, either make your own with veggie broth and and corn starch until you get the correct consistency. Be sure to dilute the corn starch in water first. Or buy some mushroom gravy at the store. And don't forget the Guinness. 

Cheers. May your neighbors respect you, trouble neglect you, the angels protect you, and heaven accept you. Happy New Year. 

Root Down

Roasted Root Vegetables (minus the roasting)

Catchy name, eh?

This dish is one of my favorite holiday potluck offerings. The recipe is pretty loose and fairly hard to ruin. I start by buying whatever root vegetables I can find at the market.

Here's the usual lineup:

Sweet potatoes or yams, potatoes, onions, butternut squash, turnips, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, celeriac and fennel. Plus throw in some fresh garlic.

How much you cut up depends on how much family you have, I suppose. I always make extra because people want to take some with their leftovers, and I like to have some at home, as well. Sometimes I make a Root Vegetable Shepherd's Pie with the leftovers. I will post that recipe next. 

  

Cutting all the vegetables is the hardest part, but it's a great time to pour a glass of wine and crank up the tunes. Fittingly, I chose, you guessed it, The Roots. 

The Roots first caught my attention when they released Things Fall Apart in 1999, named for Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's novel of the same name. This is also a good match for this recipe because of the prevalence of yams in the story. Mmmmm, yams.

The book is one of my favorites, a must-read companion book for anyone taking on Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. They can also then say "The Horror" whenever it lends itself to a snappy punchline. Both are a great precursor to watching Apocalypse Now, as well. 

The stand out song from The Roots' Things Fall Apart was "You Got Me," featuring Erykah Badu and Eve (above). But the song that renewed my love for the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon house band is "The Seed 2.0" featuring Cody Chesnutt. 

I truly never get sick of "The Seed 2.0," because of lyrics like "If Mary dropped my baby girl tonight / I would name her rock 'n roll." I am surprised a couple hasn't named their little girl Rock n Roll yet. I named my son Keith, after Keith Richards. That is pretty much the same thing.

Chop the veggies fairly small, but not diced. A small to medium chop is best so they cook fast. 

The key to this dish is cooking it all on the stove top in a saute pan (or saute pans, depending on your quantity) instead of roasting it in the stove. Or you can do a combination of both. The saute pan just speeds things up, and it cooks more evenly. So feel free to dump it all in a casserole dish or roasting pan and stick it in the oven at the end at 375 degrees.

Start out with olive oil (or nonstick cooking spray) and cook the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for a few minutes, but make sure not to let it burn. Then dump in the veg. Cook and stir, cook and stir, cook and stir until they start to soften. Then add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and let it cook some more.

Add fresh herbs, including thyme, rosemary, oregano and parsley. If you want to use dried herbs, that will work, too. When the tubers, squash and the rest are starting to look a little browned, add basalmic vinegar to taste, plus salt and pepper.








This is what they look like when they are getting close to being done. 

And, here they are when they're ready to transport. I have one of those cool casserole dishes that comes with a heat pack and carrier bag. They are swell for potlucks. I like to eat mine with a side of mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, along with whatever else is at the buffet. And then I name it Rock 'n Roll, like I will now do for everything that is awesome.

Red Friday

Tis the Season for Gluttony Detox

By Jeff

Traditions are a huge this time of year. Like the big pickle said to the little pickle: “I’m sort of a big dill.”  

On Thanksgiving night, I had so much tradition that when they asked me if I would like another piece of pumpkin pie I almost blogged all over the turkey carcass. Man, I was FULL, in fact I was FULL before they brought out three Marie Callender pies, hugely chunky cookies and Arrissia’s amazing pumpkin spice cake. Like the Washington Redskins I soldiered on just to show everyone what a champ I was. Ugh.

So, almost 24 hours later, I was prepared to introduce my guts to food again. So what was for dinner? Lots of turkey, ham, potatoes, and roasted vegetables in the fridge…THAT’s when I remembered the Other Thanksgiving Tradition!!! My overwhelming desire that night for something RED. Salsa would be fine, but here’s what I had handy—the $5 standby, spag and sauce.

Red, red wine.

Sauces have come a long way. Classico in a jar is tough to beat. Heat it up in a saucepot (not a microwave), but add some olive oil and red wine. I splash a bit of water in the jar and shake to get it all out. Use the same spoon to stir the sauce and the spag, that little bit of sauce in the noodle water is good for flavor.  Even when you add a fine solid parmesan and fresh bread $11 feeds everyone.

But most importantly, it’s RED, delicious, and the antithesis of a turkey dinner. 

RED!

Tomorrow's dinner? Turkey sandwich on a dinner roll with cran, of course!

Tonight, the girls are watching the traditional favorite, A Charlie Brown Christmas. We're going to try our best this year to not get caught up in the over-commercialization of Christmas and focus more on family, friends, the reason for the season and, of course, food. 

From Arrissia:

When A Charlie Brown Christmas originally aired, CBS executives were certain it would be a flop because of its technical errors, as well as Linus' reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke. The network suits felt that viewers would be bored by the Bible passage, but Peanuts creator Charles Schulz wouldn't budge. He reportedly said: "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"

The result was huge. Audiences loved it. 

Another concern was the Vince Guaraldi jazz soundtrack. The special's producer Lee Mendelson, heard Guaraldi's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio while riding in a taxicab on the Golden Gate Bridge. 

Mendelson contacted Ralph Gleason, a jazz columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle who got him in touch with Guaraldi. He jumped at it. Guaraldi went on to compose 17 Peanuts specials for TV, even though the execs originally thought the compositions were too complex for children's television. They were wrong. A Charlie Brown Christmas has aired every year since its premiere in 1965. 

The special's other classics, "Christmas Time is Here" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" were performed by the choir of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California. Our favorite version of "Christmas Time is Here" is by Scott Weiland (click below). 

“Snowflakes in the air, Carols everywhere, Olden times and ancient rhymes, Of love and dreams for all to share…”

The Eggy Cheesy Man

Inside-Out Omelette

An Inside-Out Omelet is a dish Jeff invented after talkin’ food with a friend.

From Jeff:

It came up that we shared a love of cheese-in-the-crisp…you know, that blob of cheese that slides off your grilled cheese sandwich and blackens in the butter on the skillet. That delectable morsel sometimes found on the edge of a jalapeño-cheddar bagel, or stuck on the paper wrapper of a cheeseburger? Yeah, that stuff.

Normally I would sauté my omelet fillings and transfer them to a bowl. Cook the whipped egg thin, toss the fillings back in, add cheese and fold. Now how’s that cheese going to get crispy, stuck inside there?

Well try this: Leave those cookin’ veggies in the skillet (broccoli, mushrooms, onion, whatever), pile the cheese on and around ’em and let it sizzle baby. 

Just the veg and cheese to start.

The eggs go last (you must cover the skillet to get it to cook right). Then fold…crispy cheese and veggies brilliantly displayed on the outside with a clean egg center. It’s faster, too, because you’ve removed that bowl part.

Important tips:

1. Use a non-stick pan.

2. Use about a tablespoon of butter AND a tablespoon of olive oil to sauté the veggies.

3. Give the veggies and cheese a scrape and lift before you put the egg on top. It will make the fold much easier. Salt and pepper the egg. Maybe even top with avocado if you have one.

The drip.

The flip.

Finis.

4. Always listen to good music when cooking.

From Arrissia: We chose Beastie Boy’s “Egg Man” for obvious reasons.

When they say a dozen, you know what they're talking about.

Hey Ladies!

Paul’s Boutique famously the group’s best and most underrated album, or at least it was at the time. In 1989, on the heels of the band’s breakout hit License to Ill, most of their fans just did not know what to make of the hip-hop trio adding to their wiseass raps by playing their own instruments. 

The Dust Brothers’ signature multi-layered samples ripped everything from Curtis Mayfield to The Beatles. Even Miles Davis was a fan of the album. It was no less than brilliant and continues to be hailed as one of the most influential hip-hop albums ever.

(RIP MCA.)

Maybe the egg is underrated in the same way that Paul's Boutique was, written off as a one-time-of-the-day wonder. But it’s a versatile protein that shouldn’t just shack up with bacon and sausage. We’re up for a frittata, omelet or quiche anytime of day.

What we don’t like is egg on our face, or as the Beasties would call it: “an egg moustache.” Not even in Mo-vember.

Soup's On

Great Northern White Bean-Tomato Soup

Mmmm, good.

This is my pantry standby, and one of our family's favorites. It's one of those few meals that everyone can agree on. So to kick off the start of winter—in our home it's whenever the snow starts and the tall, strong one goes back to work on Ski Patrol—I made our favorite fast soup. 

As I started thinking about Great Northern beans and snow, I couldn't help but get an urge to listen to some Portugal. The Man., a hard-rockin' sorta psychedelic "indy" band that is no longer indy now that they're on Atlantic Records. 

Their most recent album, In the Mountain in the Cloud, stole my heart earlier this year. The live shows transform the delicate songs into muscle-clad rock anthems. 

In the Mountain In the Clouds

Lead singer John Gourley and guitarist Zach Carothers grew up in Alaska, but now reside in Portland. Picturing Gourley as a kid in a two-room schoolhouse freezing his mukluks off has a way of making me feel warmer by comparison, despite the below-freezing temps outside. 

There wasn't much exposure to pop culture where he grew up, yet Gourley managed to become the lead singer of a rock band and tour the world. His parents were dog mushers who competed in the Iditarod! His dad picked him up from school sometimes by dogsled. 

"I always knew what the world would be like, but it was leaving and then going back home that I realized how different it was," Gourley once told me.

So what did a young Gourley spend time doing as a young Alaskan lad? When his dad wasn't getting him out of bed at 5 a.m. to build houses or saddle up to a dogsled, Gourley listened to his parents' records quite a bit. 

“For the most part, I was shy and just listened to what my parents listened to,” he said, name checking Sam Cooke and Ray Charles along with rock stalwarts like The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. Then he moved onto Nirvana and the Gourley (some of) the world knows started to emerge. 

Elaborate light show at the Fox in April. They are great live.

I like to think Gourley would like this tummy-warming soup. It's like swallowing a blanket fresh out of the dryer. 

Great Northern White Bean-Tomato Soup

Serves 8

1 tbsp. olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

6 cups veggie broth

4 cans of Great Northern (or Navy) white beans, drained and rinsed

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 tbsp. minced garlic

Cholula chipotle flavor (optional)

In a large stockpot, heat the olive oil and then add the chopped onions. Cook 5 minutes, occasionally stirring, until the onions are a bit translucent. Then dump everything else into the pot. 

Simmer down.

Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes. I like to add a little Cholula chipotle in at the end, or just put it on the table and let the fam add it if they want. I use a handheld blender to emulsify the soup and thicken it. A blender or potato masher could do the trick, as well. 

We served the soup with grilled cheese paninis, but crackers or sourdough toast work other nights, or even an everything bagel. 

Panini press utilized.

I always make this big of a batch because everyone wants seconds, and sometimes there is enough left over for lunch the next day. 

Warming up after the first day of Ski Patrol.

This Bread is B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Hazelnut-Chocolate Banana Bread

There was a little speech. After a disastrous take on Stephanie O’Dea’s five-layer crock pot brownies that nearly made me retire my apron and my slow cooker, I rallied to try something new.

Don't ask.

My family stood there, waiting to see the baked goodies under the cake pan cover. The tension was mounting, and I could see they were in no mood for longwinded explanations of how I had almost packed it in. They smelled banana bread, and I was about to get shoved to the floor if I didn’t hurry things along.

So I did it anyway, pontificated about the joys of baking and how important it is to pick yourself up and try, try again. These were impressionable young minds, completely ignoring everything I said the moment it came out of my mouth. It was as if in one of those cartoons where you can literally see images of food in people’s pupils.

The wait was worth it, they said, even the boring talk. They got to dig into hazelnut chocolate banana bread, and they didn’t care one ounce that it was technically a light recipe. It was decadent, in all the right ways.

There something about slowly rotting bananas that inspires me to bake. The hardest part is narrowing it down to which recipe to transform the bananas into. For my son’s first birthday earlier in October, I made the Best Banana Cake Ever recipe from Food.com (http://dessert.food.com/recipe/best-ever-banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting-67256), and I can testify that it was absolutely the best banana cake ever.

I often make a scrumptious chocolate-banana bread that is also a Cooking Light recipe from a few years back. But when I started browsing through the new issue of Cooking Light and saw this little rascal, I had to go for it, even though I don’t care for Nutella much. The kids do.

Here’s the recipe:

Chocolate Hazelnut Banana Bread

5 tbsp chocolate hazelnut spread (I used Jif’s new one instead of Nutella)

3 tbsp plus 1 tbsp canola oil, divided

3 tbsp butter, softened

½ cup packed brown sugar

2 medium ripe bananas, sliced

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

¾ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2/3 cup buttermilk (I used low-fat)

baking spray with flour (I used Pam)

¼ cup hazelnuts, chopped

1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

To get things going, I put on some Gwen Stefani. Nothing like a little “Hollaback Girl” to get you moving in the kitchen.

Did you know that song was written in response to Courtney Love calling Stefani a “cheerleader” in an interview with Seventeen magazine? Now you do. In Love’s defense, Stefani did dress in a cheerleader uniform during early concerts, one of which I saw at Cal State Fullerton.

Hot. 

So anyway, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chocolate-hazelnut spread and 1 tsp. oil in a small microwave-safe dish. Heat for 30 seconds at a time. Stir until melted. 

Combine 3 tbsp. of oil, butter, brown sugar and bananas in a large bowl. I do this directly in the bowl of my stand-mixer. Mix on medium-high speed until well blended.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each is added.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. I always do this in a separate bowl and whisk. It’s important to mix the dry ingredients first in a separate bowl because it prevents clumping.

While the mixer is on low speed, alternately add some of the dry ingredients, then the buttermilk, then the dry, then the buttermilk, you get the picture… until you end with the dry ingredients.

Spray the 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with the nonstick spray. Pour half the mixture into the pan. Spread the hazelnut chocolate melty goodness over it. Then pour the rest of the mix on top.

Use a wooden skewer stick and swirl the batter. This is easier than it sounds. Do not overswirl. Just go back and forth a couple of times. Sprinkle the top with the hazelnuts.

Not yet!

Put it in the oven and wait patiently for about 55 minutes. It’s done when you insert another wooden skewer stick and it comes out clean. Put on a baking rack while the loaf is still in the pan and wait for 10 or 12 minutes.  

Use baking mitts and flip it over to get it out, then flip it again to put it on the baking rack where it will mock you as it cools. Do not put the glaze on it until the bread is completely cool, like Gwen Stefani cool.

Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a microwave-safe dish for 30 seconds on high. Drizzle onto the bread. Let stand to set. E-A-T. 

OK. Now.