I can’t believe I haven’t posted this one yet! This chili is super-easy and has become one of our mainstays. You can serve it over rice, but I typically serve it all on its own. As with other potentially spicy dishes, I’ve become accustomed to toning this down on the stovetop and allowing people to heat it up according to personal taste with hot sauce at the table.
The bean/lentil choice often comes down to which one we happen to have in the cupboard at the time, or what the rest of the week features. One other option is to use both and eliminate the ground round – or if you’re doubling the recipe, you can use beans, and lentils, and ground round – yummy protein!
Tonight we enjoyed this with a bottle of Petalos, a nice Spanish red, but it goes well with lots of our favourites – just choose a medium-bodied red.
adapted from Rose Elliot’s Complete Vegetarian
Vegetarian Goulash
From Carol Bowen’s The Vegetarian Cookbook
3 tbsp oil (I use a generous spray instead, and get great results)
1 onion, peeled and sliced or chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp caraway seeds
28-oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 bouillon cube or splash of vegetable concentrate
11-oz can corn kernels
19-oz can beans – cannellini, navy beans, white kidney beans…
2 tbsp fresh parsley (1 tbsp dried)
Salt & pepper
Sour cream to serve
Saute onion, garlic and celery together for about 5 minutes, then add the paprika and caraway seeds, and fry for another minute or so. Add the tomatoes and bouillon, and a little water to make a liquidy sauce. Bring to the boil and reduce heat, half-cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the corn, beans, parsley and seasoning, and simmer for another 15 minutes.
Serve with sour cream on the side. We’ve served this alone, over rice, or over egg noodles.
We enjoyed this tonight over egg noodles (although next time we’ll do half a package, rather than the whole bag of noodles) with a bottle of Pinot noir De La Chevalière vin de pays d’Oc 2007
3 points/serving, recipe serves 4.
Enchiladas
This is one of Dr. T’s favourites from his childhood, and now one of the many flat round things he counts in his culinary repertoire. We had these tonight with a very nice Grand Caumont, which is not the shiraz that might really pop with this kind of dish, but is one of our ‘drink with anything’ standbys.
Vegetable Pot Pie
It’s been a snowy couple of days, and while my outdoor adventures have been completely voluntary, Dr. T’s have been work-imposed. I figured that after a long, cold bus ride home, a little comfort food would hit the spot: enter the scrumptious Homespun Pot Pie from Moosewood New Classics. I have played with the original measurements, because the recipe claims to serve 6 but the original measures would easily feed ten!
I served this with a new Gazette recommendation, Mencia Pittacum Bierzo 2005, which was touted as good with herb sauces. There are other wines we’ve had with the pot pie in the past, notably those that go well with mushrooms.
The Mencia was a good choice, but quite intense – which, when you’re trying to warm up from the inside out, is probably a good thing. Underneath the intensity I tasted overripe strawberries, and Dr. T claims there was some red currant.
For those that count, this is 10 points for a generous serving, less without the topping – and you can always sub reduced fat/calorie margarine for the butter.
Recipe:
Simply Supper
Tonight, the last night of the Christmas vacation, was a simple affair: bread and soup.
I am a big fan of comfort food (as I assume everyone else is, too, given the term). On a winter night, one of the most comforting suppers is a good, hearty soup with a loaf of fresh bread. In this case, I doubled Rose Elliot’s Golden Lentil Soup recipe and halved the Kitchenaid French Bread recipe*:
*if, like me, you don’t use yeast in packages, the equivalent is 4 1/2 tsp; I used 2 1/4 tsp for my halved recipe and it was just right.
We opened up a bottle of Rosemount Estate Diamond Label Shiraz with tonight’s supper. The wine is great, but since I forgot the curry in the soup, it was a little over the top for plain lentil soup. It was certainly acceptable enough to keep the bottle open – but something a little less full-bodied would probably have been just right.
Rose Elliot’s Golden Lentil Soup*
Eggnog Pancakes
These are a great way to finish up that last container of eggnog – or a great excuse to go get a fresh one!
Eggnog Pancakes, courtesy of Eat Real.
7 points, or 6 if you use low-fat eggnog, for two pancakes.