A recipe to remind you of summer – Black Bean Cabbage salad
The weather here in Minneapolis, MN has been weird. A week ago, it was cold, chilly & windy… typical Fall weather. This past week, it’s like things have receded back to Summer-like temperatures! Bright blue skies, breezy and cool (70-80 degrees Fahrenheit), with some pretty Fall colors to go with it. While I was moping about the cooler weather and cooking up warming dishes a few weeks ago, the last few days have made me more thankful of the warmer temperatures, prompting me to cook up summer-y dishes all over again.
Sue Doeden’s blog All About Food is one I follow pretty diligently for easy, inventive and delicious recipes that use tons seasonal veggies. Sue was one of the first Mid-western bloggers I connected with when I started out OneLifeToEat. I later found out that she is a food columnist for The Bemidji Pioneer and was thrilled to be connected to a professional food writer.
So when I came across her Black Bean Cabbage salad with Avocado Cream dressing post, I was drooling before I could finish reading it. I couldn’t wait to make it at home! The recipe is really simple and includes some of my favorite ingredients like Garlic, Avocado, Sour Cream and Cilantro. I’m not such a big fan of cabbage but something told me the dressing and Red bell peppers would make it a pretty yummy salad. The beans add an interesting texture, an ingredient I would’ve never thought would go with Cabbage. Paired with some warm toasty bread, the salad made a meal on its own.
I urge you to go check out the recipe on Sue’s blog and browse around for some pretty neat cooking ideas too.
What’s the weather like where you live? What are some new recipes you’ve been trying?
Cooking with Rachael Ray – Hearty cool weather ‘Stoup’
I’ve never told you how much I love soup… yes, I’m that strange person who gets a weird look from the server in a restaurant for ordering soup when its HOT outside 🙂
The reason I love soup so much, lies in the fact that my dear mum loves soup too. She used to make the yummiest soups for me and my sisters when we were children. My favorite was this broth-y germinated pigeon pea (yes, pigeon pea!) soup, with soft, chunky veggies and oats, simply flavored with cumin, salt and pepper. Having a mug of that with a slice of buttered toast when we were ill with fevers and coughs and colds was all we needed to get back on our feet. And the getting back on the feet part meant we couldn’t miss school when we were ill, which is probably the only thing about this soup that I used to hate 😉
Now that the weather is cooler here in Minnesota (and the rest of the country too, I suppose?) I have one more excuse to make my favorite soups and eat them as a meal. So last week, after putting away all my fun cotton t-shirts and shorts and capris in the storage closet to fill my dresser drawers with last year’s woolens, I felt so sorry for myself, and so depressed about winter being just around the corner (Sorry fellow Minnesotans. I am from India after all). All there was really left to do was make a large pot of thick, yummy soup, cut up some chunky bread, and make myself feel all better. And so, I began looking for recipes.
I’ve told you before how much I admire Rachael Ray. I had bookmarked her Red & Green Winter ‘stoup’ recipe from her cookbook and realized I didn’t have all the ingredients needed. The stoup (mixture of the words ‘soup’ and ‘stew’) calls for a few veggies like kale, potatoes, canned tomatoes and roasted red peppers, all cooked together with a few simple ingredients. Depending on what I had in the refrigerator and pantry, I changed a few things around and also added a bigger punch to the soup by adding a mixture of my own spices. What I love about this recipe is that its all in one pot, you plop everything in, let it simmer and without much effort, it comes together very nicely. The starch from the potatoes thickens the soup very well too. Paired with chunks of some good baguette to dip into the liquid-y part of the soup, its a yummy, hearty meal on its own.
As I settled into the couch with a bowl of the stoup with pieces of bread soaked in, Mad Men season 3 episode 8 (The one where Don & Betty take a trip to Rome) playing on the TV via Netflix (which will be making wayyy too many changes to my account 😦 ), and a blanket on my feet, I felt like everything would be fine with the world again 🙂
Here’s Rachael Ray’s recipe for Red & Green Winter stoup, slightly tweaked by me (adapted for 2 people):
Printable version of recipe!
Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 medium sized potato, peeled and sliced
- 1 medium sized white onion, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp fresh or dried parsley or 1 tbsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh or dried rosemary (whichever you have at home)
- 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- 1/2 packet of baby spinach salad, or equivalent amount of kale
- 1 (28 oz) can of fire roasted tomatoes, or a can of diced or crushed tomatoes
- 1 roasted red pepper (get it pre-packaged from the grocery store), well drained and finely chopped
- Salt & pepper to taste
- A pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- Any shredded cheese you like
- Any crusty bread to go with the soup.
Method:
Heat the Olive oil in a large pot and add in the sliced onions and potatoes. Allow to cook until they are lightly brown and soft. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and herbs.Add the chopped garlic and cook for another minute or so.
Add the stock and bay leaf, bring to boil, then wilt in the greens. Then add the tomato and the pepper. Mix well, allow everything to simmer together on medium to low heat for about 8-9 minutes.
In the mean time, prep the bread the way you like. You could slice up the bread thick, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and toast it or broil it in the oven. If you’re feeling indulgent, sprinkle some cheese on each slice, and place back in the oven to let the cheese melt.
Tear bread, dunk in stoup, eat hungrily, slurp a spoonful of the stoup, repeat.
Iron Chef Vinegar – Recap of the second Iron Chef competition
The big spoon is the Iron Chef trophy
Last Saturday, my friends and I held one more Iron Chef style cooking competition. After the success of the first Iron Chef ‘coconut’ event, where all of us were awed by each others’ cooking prowess, we eagerly awaited one more opportunity to show off our inventive cooking skills. Although this time’s secret ingredient was intimidating to say the least, everyone came up with some very impressive dishes! From mango vinegar, to white balsamic vinegar to cider vinegar, we all incorporated some type of vinegar in all our dishes.
Yes, we really are that serious about this competition. Engraved name of the winner of the last Iron Chef (secret ingredient - coconut)
I have to say, EVERYONE seriously got very competitive this time around. I for starters struggled with what to make with this secret ingredient. Not only was I pressed for time to research recipes, the imaginative part of my brain had taken a pretty long vacation, owing to all the crazy amounts of studying I’ve been doing lately. In the end, I decided to make my version of Strawberries & Cream – Strawberries marinated in apple cider vinegar, topped with a syrup made of cider vinegar, sugar and sherry vinegar, and then topped with a dollop of mascarpone & ricotta cheese whipped together with chopped basil and a dash of cider vinegar.
I have tried my best to give you an idea of how much effort everyone made. It was so much fun and I can’t wait for the next one. The following is a list of dishes everyone made, with prizes that they won.
1. Winner of the Iron Chef Vinegar – Vinegar fish and coleslaw tacos by Sameera Kapasi Soni
Sameera seriously got the big guns out with this dish. Her fish was marinated in vinegar and spices, cider and white vinegar were incorporated in the tangy-sweet coleslaw, and she got special taco chips made with vinegar too! Other categories Sameera also won were: 2nd place in Creativity, Tie on 1st place in Presentation and 2nd place in Taste.
2. First Runner-up – Vinegar Pecan pie by Sheila Wheaton
None of us even imagined that we could incorporate vinegar into a pie! Sheila has a reputation for being a fantastic baker in our group so when we learned she’s made pie, we weren’t surprised. The pie was perfectly cooked, with a delicious crust and a very nice filling with just the perfect hint of vinegar-y flavor in it. YUM! Sheila’s pie also won other prizes – Tie on 1st place for Presentation and 1st price for Taste.
3. Second Runner-up – Peach and Apricot compote by Huzefa Gandhi
Huzefa’s dish was another unexpected, delicious, taste-bud-tingling delight. He used a combination of various vinegars, the most prominent being Mango vinegar. The whole spices added a wonderful warm note to the dish that really reminded me of Fall. This dish had to be the most innovative fruit preparation I have tasted. Huzefa’s compote also won 3rd place in the Taste category.
Other delicious preparations that we enjoyed but which didn’t make it to the top 3:
Scott’s Vinegar-marinated Beef. I’m really not much of a beef eater, but this dish made me want to kill a bovine then and there and eat it whole. This was so so so delicious… I must ask Scott to make this for me again. The pineapple added an interesting tartness to each bite.
Huzefa’s Balsamic vinegar and sweet potato Risotto. This dish tied in 3rd place under the Creativity category. I loved the creamy sweetness of this dish, whose flavor went really well with a reduced Balsamic vinegar sauce.
Scott’s Chicken & Potatoes. Scott’s dish was an adaptation from a traditional Italian dish where meat and potatoes are browned in a skillet before they are baked together slowly for a long time. Loved the hearty, familiar flavors of this dish.
Sheila’s Chicken Adobo. Sheila’s dish was a take on a traditional Vietnamese dish that is actually eaten with sliced banana. The sauce from this dish was to-die-for. Loved drizzling it over my rice and eating spoonfuls.
Sameera’s Warm Taco Salad. Delicious, comforting and vinegar-y, in just the right way.
Rob’s ‘Grandpa’s’ Salad. Rob’s salad seemed simple but had tons of interesting flavors. His dressing was vinegar based and complimented the tartness of the fruits very well.
My entry into the competition – Strawberries & Cream. I tied in 3rd place in the Creativity category and won 2nd place in the Presentation category.
What’s your favorite vinegar-y dish?
One Life to Eat 