Vegetarian Chili

In return for letting me share her amazing gluten-free cornbread recipe, Basha asked that I post my vegetarian chili recipe.  Which I'd be happy to do, if I had one. Like many good dishes, it started with a recipe (in this case the original Moosewood's) but then devolved to a rough formula kept in my head.  So for now, here's a rough cut:

Ingredients

• Beans (approx 2 cans, preferably kidney, but cannelini and/or black beans work, too)
• 1 Onion (medium to large, chopped)
• Green pepper (chopped - substitute a sweet red, if necessary)
• 1 Carrot (chopped or sliced with a mandolin)
• Chili powder 
• Cumin 
• Cayenne
• Garlic
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Beer (approx one cup)
• V8 or tomato juice (water if necessary)
• Steel cut oats (approx quarter cup - can sub. wheat berries or barley, if gluten doesn't bother you)
• A touch of honey or other sweetener (agave, orange juice, etc)

Steps

• In a large, heavy saucepan, saute the onions. 
• Add the garlic and the beans (drained).
• Add the green pepper and carrot bits.
• When all these are seasoned and starting to stick to the pan, add a half bottle of beer.
• Left the beer cook off slightly, then heat the V8 and soak the grain in it.
• Add the softened grain and V8 to the pot, and simmer.
• Taste and add more spices or the honey, if needed.  (if too salty, dice some potato and throw it in).

Serve over baked potatoes, or with cornbread.  Top with grated cheese, sour cream, nothing, or ?

Skillet Cornbread

Having tried a plethora of cornbreads, I can objectively attest that Basha's is the best.
The fact that it doesn't use any wheat is a nice bonus; and her willingness to share it a total score.
Here are her exact instructions:

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups cornmeal 
• 2 cups buttermilk, warmed 
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil 
• 4 T butter 
• 1 t baking powder 
• 1 t baking soda 
• 3/4 t salt 
• 2 large eggs 

Steps

• First, place your 10” or 12” cast iron skillet in a 400º oven to heat, with the vegetable oil. 
• Spread the cornmeal on a baking tray and toast in the oven until it begins to turn more golden. This will set the smoke alarms off, even if you don’t let it burn (Small price to pay). 
• Mix the hot cornmeal with the warm buttermilk and let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes. 
• Meanwhile, melt the butter, and set a Tbsp aside.  Add the rest of the butter to the cornmeal.  Swirl the 1/4 cup of oil around the hot skillet, and add it to the cornmeal too. Add the eggs and salt and mix slightly (don’t overbeat).   
• Add the baking powder and baking soda, and mix just a little bit more - don’t overbeat (I add about a cup of roasted corn, or other optional tidbits, noted below, at this point too). Pop it into the 400º oven until it develops cracks on top – no longer, if you want it to stay nice and moist. 
• Take it out of the oven, but let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes to develop a nice crisp crust.  Then invert on a cooling rack, and turn it over on a cutting board. 

Optional Items:

 8 oz. creamed corn, 3 oz cream cheese, 3 oz grated 

cheddar, and 2 oz diced jalepenos or ancho chilis, or any combination of the above.

Thai Bluegrass

Mango Shrimp Salad

Though we never need an excuse to visit Sweet Basil, possibly the best Thai restaurant on the Peninsula, this weekend's Bluegrass festival in Redwood City drew us in for more than just the sublime menu.

Accompanying an excellent meal was Windy Hill, a five-piece band with an old-time sound.

Afterwards, we wandered over to Tartine for coffee and chocolate and the harmonies of 27 Strings.

Watermelon Radish

When the basket comes from the CSA, we almost always recognize the items of produce - carrots, bok choy, cabbage, etc. Obvious staples of winter.  But this week, we received a mystery. Maybe turnips?

Cutting them in half revealed the truth - watermelon radish!  Very pretty, and quite tasty too.  Mild, crisp, a little sweet.

Organic Mold

Finding a bunch of green fuzzy bumps on the inner rim of the glass jar of organic strawberry jam reminded me of two things:
1. Products with fewer preservatives have a limited shelf-life.
2. Everything we buy to eat should be thought about as a this-week item, not a some-day item.

With the exception of emergency supplies, getting in the habit of buying fresh food and using it up promptly is just a good general rule. If I did it more, I'd less often find myself in a fuzzy jam.

Dinner with the President

I try not to eat in front of the television - I really do.
But the State of the Union started at 6 pm, for us Left Coasters.
So I had salad with a pep-talk about American innovation, gluten-free pasta with an entree of a hard bi-partisan road ahead, and the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell for dessert.
When down pretty easy, over all.
Even chasing the meal with a glass of red whining didn't hurt my digestion.

Course, an hour later I was hungry for change again; but apparently that's up to all of us to cook up. I'll be back in the kitchen tomorrow.