Moosewood Mediterranean Cannellini Patties

Another recipe-following success! Not so much a pattie-sticking-together success, but they were yummy!!!

First you saute 2 c minced onion and minced garlic in warm olive oil with a tsp of salt, then after 5-10 minutes you add 1 c chopped bell peppers and 2 tsp cumin, and cook for 5 more minutes. Turn off the heat. In a mixing bowl, mash 4 c cooked canellini (or other white beans) by hand. It got messy!

You then stir in 1 c minced fresh parsley, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, 2 c cooked brown rice, and black pepper to taste. Introduce sauteed veggies, and mix well. Shape into patties (the recipe says you get 18 but it depends on the size) and cook on medium heat 5-10 minutes a side, until golden brown. If you're lucky, they'll stick together (I wasn't, but they were super yummy nonetheless!).

You can eat them straight up, with yogurt tahini dressing, or as part of a pita sandwich. I imagine you could also make them with lots of other spice and veggie combinations, and maybe garbanzos instead of white beans.

Red Bean Love

This why you should always have canned red beans, cooked brown rice, and frozen onion and bell pepper on hand. And half a tablespoon of honey, for the very end.

Cheap, healthy, and out-of-this-world-delicious. All hail broccoli Gavroche!

Recipe for red beans, Cuban style: saute garlic and onion and green pepper for a few minutes.

Typical sensationalist story-telling Cubans masquerading as Italians! The nerve!

Then add tomato sauce and oregano; after a few minutes add beans and a bay leaf or too. Cook for 45-450 minutes, adding more water if things dry out. Add a little bit (about 1/2-1 tbsp) of honey after you turn the heat off and stir well. Serve hot (or cold to college students) over brown rice. Make lots and lots and lots or they will disappear insantly.

Untitled Improvisations

Here are two delicious fast things to do with a saute pan. They're somewhere between risotto and stir-fry, and have infinite flexibility. The 28th and 29th saw improvisational cooking at its best.

Day 1:

Saute some of the minced garlic in olive oil until fragrant, then add chicken. Cook until just brown on the outside and set aside. Saute more minced garlic, then chopped onion, carrot, and celery (about a cup each?) and saute some moe. Without adding water, add about 1 c chopped tomatoes and boil with 1 tsp oregano, dried basil, rosemary, thyme, and a bit of black pepper.

Add chicken and rice (how much depends on how many veggies you use). Cook, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and everything is nice and hot and well blended. Serve with heavy whole wheat bread. :)

(Sorry it's a crappy picture; the flash was misbehaving and I was hungry!)

Day 2:

Brown the chicken in sauted minced garlic like day 1, but with the addition of Famous Dave's Country Roast Chicken Seasoning. Remove, add more olive oil and minced garlic to the pan, and saute the already cooked broccoli for a minute, then add cooked brown rice and browned chicken to the pan. In lieu of canned cream of whatever soup, I added a 1/4 c (skim) milk and about 3/4 c grated cheese (mostly cheddar, but also some romano to use it up), and lots more of the chicken seasoning.

(Easy, efficient way to grate cheese. These guys are infinity times better than the box kind.)

(This guy reminds me of  Gavroche singing "Little People" from Les Mis)

Cook, stirring often, until the chicken is cooked through and everything is nice and hot and well blended to creamy deliciousness.

Cuban Black Beans & Rice

Beans- Saute garlic in olive oil, then add onion and bell pepper. Cook for a few minutes, then add tomato sauce, oregano. Cook more, then add beans and bay leaves. I left it in the crock pot overnight on warm. Using three huge yellow peppers = overpowering, so they didn't taste quite normal but were still good. Had to boil off lots of water ( = lots of stove cleaning) because the crock pot doesn't let water out.

Also made quinoa to play with tomorrow. Interesting finding that quinoa is better behaved than rice when cooking (didn't try to burn like the rice did). Somehow it got splattered all over the lid and made a cute speckled pattern. Easier than I thought to pour out rinsing water; easier to use finger than another lid like when draining spaghetti.