Garbanzo Curry, Grilled Polenta & Sweet Potatoes with Tahini-Yogurt Dip

Mom has been here visiting us for just over a week, it has been wonderful to visit with her, but also wonderful to have her cook and share recipes with us!

Tonight we had a pepper-cleaning session and while the boys were outside working Mom was whipping up an amazing meal. I suggested that we grill some polenta that was hanging out in the fridge and she suggested we also grill a sweet potato.

Mom also transferred a thumb-drive full of recipes onto our computer, so we can share them with you (and more importantly make them again ourselves!)

Here is the Garbanzo Curry recipe. The original called for curry paste but Mom wanted to use PunJab instead.


African Chick-Pea (Garbanzo) Curry
From Elvera Blake

Makes 8 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
2-3 tablespoons Homeward Bound Hot Sauce: PunJab
3/8 teaspoons cloves
3/8 teaspoons cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
3 cloves garlic, minced

Stir spices, hot sauce and garlic into oil, and allow them to heat through.

Stir in:
3 15-oz. cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (unless they are Trader Joe's brand, no need to rinse)

Mash some with a fork or potato masher—enough so that a sauce can form. Add enough water to cover - ½ cup to 2 cups.

Cook to reduce liquid and form sauce: about 10-20 minutes.

Stir in:
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 large fresh tomatoes, chopped
¾ cup golden raisins
Kosher salt to taste.

Heat through.

We served this over rice, half brown and half basmati. (Mom says that Trader Joe's basmati brown rice is "AMAZING".)


Grilled Polenta and Sweet Potatoes

1 17oz log Marjon Polenta, Basil & Garlic flavor
1 large Sweet Potato
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 1/3 inch rounds. Place in a microwave-safe bowl with a small amount of water in the bottom, cover tightly with plastic wrap to create steam. Microwave for two or three minutes at a time ONLY until fork-tender (total time will vary according to your microwave power).

While the sweet potatoes being microwaved, cut polenta into 1/3 to 1/2 inch rounds. Place onto a cookie sheet in a single layer and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Once sweet potatoes are fork-tender, place onto cookie sheet in a single layer and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Place polenta and sweet potato rounds onto a hot grill that has been brushed with additional olive oil (more high heat than medium). You can check the done-ness of the potatoes, but do not move the polenta until at LEAST three minutes, or they will stick to the grill and fall apart.

Once rounds have a nice char and grill marks, flip them over and brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and continue to cook until slightly charred and crispy on the edges.

We dipped both in the Tahini-Yogurt Dip.



Yogurt Tahini Sauce
Yield: 1 ½ cups


1 garlic clove
¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice and grated zest of 1 lemon


Pound the garlic, ¼ teaspoon salt, and tahini together in a mortar to make a mushy paste. Gradually stir in the yogurt, lemon juice, and lemon zest. (WE DIDN'T HAVE A MORTAR AND PESTLE, so she just minced the garlic very very finely and smashed it with the side of the knife)


Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone
Deborah Madison
Copyright © 1997 Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

This meal was AMAZING, and all three boys were totally satisfied and happy with it (Mom and I were, too... but we knew we would be).

Mediterranean Veggie Wraps

We've been having dinner with our neighbors at least once a week, and I decided that since Scott usually cooks when they come here, Saturday evening was my turn.

Coming back from New York on Friday I had a grilled vegetable sandwich from a vendor in the LaGuardia airport that was delicious, and gave me grilled vegetable cravings for the next 24 hours.

We had some tomato-basil tortilla wraps already, so I bought a bunch of veggies and we fired up the grill.

I made a fresh pesto from the basil plants in the backyard, steamed some asparagus, and grilled the rest of the veggies.

We put together the wraps by spreading pesto on the tortilla, then layering in asparagus, grilled squash, zucchini, portabello mushrooms and red pepper, sprinkled with feta.

You can find the various prep methods for the components below.

Pesto
fresh basil leaves
several cloves fresh garlic
olive oil
kosher salt
pine nuts
parmesan cheese (shredded)

Start with the basil leaves, I used probably 8 cups and still have a TON of pesto leftover, but I really eye-balled the whole thing. Blend basil leaves with about 1 tbsp of olive oil to start with in a blender or food processor. Add garlic, a clove at a time and taste in between (I like it strong). Add equal parts pine nuts and parmesan cheese (about 1/3 of the amount of the basil) and pulse until pretty well broken down. You may need to use a spatula to scoop the paste from the sides back into the middle. Add olive oil if mixture seems too dry. Add kosher salt (and fresh pepper if you like) to taste.

Pesto will be strong and a little bit goes a long way!

Steamed Asparagus
1 bunch asparagus
about 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
kosher salt

Break the stalk-end off of the asparagus - they should break naturally when bent toward the end. Place in a small baking dish with balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of salt. Toss to coat, cover with tin foil and let rest until you are ready to start the grill.

Once the grill is starting to heat, place the covered baking dish on the upper level of the grill. Check periodically and remove from heat once asparagus is tender. Stir periodically for even cooking.

Grilled Yellow Squash and Zucchini
2 yellow squash
2 zucchini
olive oil
kosher salt

Slice the very ends off of the squash and zucchini and discard. Slice on a diagonal to create long, ovular shaped slices. Layer into a deep baking dish and top each layer with a little drizzle of olive oil and a little sprinkle of salt. Cover with plastic wrap that will seal and turn upside-down a few times to coat well. Let rest until ready to grill.

We transferred the slices into a grill-basket with tongs to keep the veggies from falling in between the slats of the grill. Grill until tender.

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
3 Portobello mushroom caps
olive oil
kosher salt

Take stem out of center of mushroom caps, rinse and pat try. Drizzle olive oil on a plate and sprinkle lightly with salt. Set mushroom caps down and slide around a bit to coat. After about 5 minutes, flip caps and repeat. Place on grill and cook until tender and easy to cut with a sharp knife.


We also had corn - I placed each cleaned cob on a sheet of tin foil, spread lightly with Smart Balance, sprinkled with Red Robin seasoning salt and drizzled with lime juice. Roll up the cob in the tin foil and twist the ends. Place on upper grill until cooked, turning periodically.

Dip Dip Dip

I have become the go-to Guacamole maker in our household. It's a pretty easy recipe I've developed, but it comes out awesome pretty much every time.

Reese's Guacamole
4 Haas avocados
1 tbsp Homeward Bound PattyCake Hot Sauce
1 tbsp lime juice (fresh squeezed or "Real Lime" brand)
a sprinkle of Red Robin seasoning salt
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped (if you like cilantro)
1/2 fresh jalapeno, very finely diced (if you want to add a little heat)
*If you like it a little spicy you can also add about 2 tsp of SparkPlug as well

Spoon avocado into a small mixing bowl. Add PattyCake and lime juice, mash until mixed well. Add cilantro and jalapeno if using, mix again and then add seasoning salt to taste.

We like to serve it with Tostitos Multi-Grain chips.

Reese's Jalapeno Dip (based on a recipe by Katie M.)
2 pkg Cream Cheese or Neufchatel cheese
4 or 5 fresh jalapenos, cleaned of seeds and membranes, finely diced

Place cheese in a microwavable bowl and microwave for about a minute. Stir and microwave for another minute if cheese is not soft enough to stir easily.

Add diced jalapeno and stir until combined. Refrigerate for at least a half hour before serving.

This dip is great with Tostitos Hint of Lime chips.

Vegetarian Meatloaf - #2

We had the neighbors over for dinner last night (no fava beans or chianti, thankyouverymuch) and Scott decided to make a fake meatloaf for me and a real meatloaf for them.

He based it on this recipe, but made a few changes (of course!).

2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Bob's Red Mill Veggie Soup Mix
1 small onion, diced
1 cup quick-cooking oat
3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar/jack mix)
1 egg, beaten
4 1/2 ounces Classico Carmelized Onion & Roasted Garlic spaghetti sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
"A few sprigs" each of fresh basil, oregano and parsley
1/2 teaspoon Red Robin seasoning salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbs Homeward Bound SparkPlug Hot Sauce

Add salt to water and boil in a saucepan. Add soup mix and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until beans are soft and most of water is evaporated. Remove from heat and transfer to bowl.

Allow to cool slightly, stir in onion, oats and cheese until mixed. Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, herbs, seasoning salt and pepper. Mix well.

Spoon into loaf pan that has been greased lightly with a Smart Balance stick. Smooth top with back of spoon.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes until top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown. Cool in pan on rack for about 10 minutes.

This made a FANTASTIC meatloaf sandwich the next day.

Vegtetarian Stroganoff, UPDATED

Pretty much the same recipe as before, but I have sped up the preparation considerably and can now usually whip it up in about 15-20 minutes.

1 large package button mushrooms, sliced
1 package Morningstar Farms burger crumbles
dill (I use fresh when I can get it)
1/2 white onion, diced

1 pkg neufchatel cheese
1 8oz container lowfat sour cream
1 can mushroom soup
1 soup can skim milk

salt
pepper
mrs. dash herb & garlic

In LARGE saucepan start sauteing the onions. When they start to turn clear, add the mushrooms.

Cut the top off the burger crumble bag and microwave for 1-2 minutes until mostly thawed.

Add burger crumbles to mushroom & onion, add half the dill (finely diced). As soon as mushrooms are mostly cooked, make an empty spot in the middle of the pan and add the cream cheese, sour cream, soup and milk. Stir it all up, add salt, pepper and the rest of the dill. As soon as it is heated through and the cream cheese is all melted, it's done!

Makes 4-6 servings.

We eat it the first time around over egg noodles and then as leftovers on toast.

Deviled Eggs... AGAIN!

I enjoyed the eggs from Easter Sunday so much that I used up the last of our eggs today to make another batch. I varied the recipe a tiny bit, because I only had 11 eggs and because I just like to mess with things!

Here's today's version:
12 large eggs (11 since I was 1 short)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1.5 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1/2 shallot, minced
2 tablespoons SparkPlug (Homeward Bound Hot Sauce)
2 leaves fresh basil
4 or 5 leaves fresh oregano
very small sprig of fresh rosemary
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Paprika, for garnish

I followed the regular instructions for preparing the eggs, but then I left the yolks in a separate bowl and put the shallot, vinegar and fresh herbs into our mini-food-processor. Then added the mustard and mayo, mixed again and then added the yolks.

I added the hot sauce and salt & pepper last and then spatula'd it into a ziploc bag with a tip cut off to pipe into the egg white halves.

I probably used a little more hot sauce than it says above, just because I wanted to spice them up a bit more.

They are VERY good.

The Devils Eggs on Easter...

We were invited to our neighbors' house for Easter lunch today and decided to take some deviled eggs as our contribution.

We base our recipe on one by Martha Stewart with our own variations.

Here is basically how we do it:

12 large eggs
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 tablespoon minced shallot
2 tablespoons Homeward Bound Hot Sauce (today we divided the eggs into two batches and used SparkPlug in one and PunJab in the other)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
Paprika, for garnish

Place eggs in a medium saucepan; add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a rolling boil. Remove pan from heat; cover, and let stand 13 minutes. Drain, transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, shallot, and hot sauce.

Peel eggs, and halve lengthwise; remove yolks, leaving whites intact. Transfer yolks to bowl with mayonnaise mixture, and season with salt and pepper. Mash with a fork until smooth.

Spoon yolk mixture into piping bags and fill egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika just before serving, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 8 hours.

These were a big hit (I'm still craving them and may have to make more)!