Stoner Cooking: Veggie Edition

Thanks to Aunt Shlee for the following...

West African Vegetable Stew

From: Campbell's Kitchen
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Serves: 6

Tired of making the same old meat and potatoes stew? Here's a delicious different vegetable stew that features an usual combination of sweet and savory ingredients that blend together beautifully with mouthwatering results.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 large onions, sliced (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 large tomato, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Chicken Broth
1/2 cup water
1 can (about 15 ounces) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
4 coarsely chopped fresh spinach leaves
Hot cooked rice or couscous

Directions:

Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion is tender.
Add the potatoes and tomatoes to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the raisins, cinnamon, red pepper, broth and water and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
Stir in the chickpeas and spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted. Serve with the rice, if desired.

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Sutéed Greens with Pine Nuts and Raisins Recipe

Collards and kale lose less of their volume when cooked than do spinach or turnip greens, so if cooking them, chop them a bit smaller than you would the spinach or turnip greens.

Ingredients

1/4 cup pine nuts
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup golden raisins
1 bunch kale, chard, collards, or turnip greens, etc., about 1 pound, tough stem centers removed (if any) and discarded, greens chopped
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Roughly 1/2 cup white wine or water
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1 Heat a large sauté pan hot on medium-high heat and add the pine nuts. Toast them until they are fragrant and begin to brown. Pay attention as pine nuts burn easily. Stir or toss the nuts frequently. Once they are toasted, remove from pan and set aside.

2 Add the olive oil to the pan and swirl it around. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds; the pan should already be hot, so it won't take long for the garlic to begin to brown. Add back the pine nuts, add the raisins and the greens and mix well. Sauté, stirring often, until the greens wilt and begin to give up some of their water, anywhere from 1-2 minutes for spinach to 4-5 minutes for collards or kale.

3 Sprinkle a little salt and red pepper flakes on the greens. Add the white wine (can substitute water)—use a little more wine if you are cooking collards, a little less if you are cooking spinach. Toss to combine and let the liquid boil away. Once the liquid boils off, remove from heat. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2, can easily be doubled

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Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts and Sage Butter

Ingredients

4 thick slices crusty baguette sliced on an angle
Salt
1 pint or about 12-14 large Brussels sprouts -- if the sprouts are not looking good, substitute a bundle of Tuscan or dinosaur kale, stemmed and sliced
1 large, starchy potato
1 pound whole wheat, farro or whole grain spaghetti or other long-cut pasta
6 tablespoons butter
2 large cloves garlic, grated or thinly sliced
12 leaves fresh sage
Pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Yields: Serves 4

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F. Toast bread in hot oven to golden brown. Pulse the bread in food processor to make fresh, large breadcrumbs.

Using the tip of a very sharp paring knife, remove the core of the Brussels sprouts and separate leaves. You should yield 3 cups loosely packed leaves.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt water.

Peel the potato and cut into thirds horizontally, then slice the thirds of potato across lengthwise, into about 1/4-inch slices. Boil potatoes 5 minutes, add Brussels sprouts leaves after 2 minutes. Remove potatoes and cabbage from water with a spider or strainer and transfer to a serving bowl.

Peel the potato and cut into thirds horizontally, then slice the thirds of potato across lengthwise, into about 1/4-inch slices. Boil potatoes 5 minutes, add Brussels sprouts leaves after 2 minutes. Remove potatoes and cabbage from water with a spider or strainer and transfer to a serving bowl.

Cook pasta in boiling water to al dente in the same water. Reserve a little starchy cooking water just before draining.

Meanwhile, heat butter, garlic and sage in small pot over low heat, do not brown.

Add pasta to potatoes and cabbage in the serving bowl. Pour butter and sage over top and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add some cheese – a couple of handfuls, toss pasta to combine and taste to adjust seasonings. Use a splash of starchy cooking water if pasta gets too tight while tossing.

Serve spaghetti in shallow bowls topped with more cheese and the breadcrumbs.

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Chili Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients

About 2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Fresno chili pepper, unseeded, very thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon cumin, a scant palmful
1 tablespoon turmeric, a scant palmful
1 tablespoon coriander, a scant palmful
1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom, 1/3 palmful
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 cups red lentils
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 pound spinach leaves, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup mint leaves, a couple of handfuls
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, a generous handful
1 cup thick Greek plain yogurt
Plain or garlic Naan bread or other flat bread, brushed
Melted butter, for brushing

Yields: Serves 4

Preparation

Heat oil, a couple of turns of the pan, or butter in a soup pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, onions, garlic and chili pepper, and season liberally with salt and lightly with black pepper. Cook to soften, 8-10 minutes.

Add spices and stir a minute or 2 then stir in tomato paste and cook a minute more. Add lentils and stock, and bring soup to a boil. Cook until lentils are very tender, 40 minutes or so, wilt in spinach, turn off heat.

While soup cooks, process mint, cilantro and yogurt in food processor or blender into a sauce. Add salt to taste.

Griddle-toast the bread according to package directions then brush bread with melted butter.

Serve soup in shallow bowls topped with cool yogurt sauce and buttered Naan bread alongside.