Rainy Day Chili and Cornbread Dinner

It was one of those days when I couldn't decide what to make for dinner, and we seemed to be missing key ingredients for everything I wanted to make. I did find 1 pound of ground beef in the freezer and several cans of beans in the cupboard, so I decided to make chili and cornbread. We were out of onions, but I thought that I could probably substitute onion powder if I increased the amount of real garlic.

I also found a package of wheat berries from our CSA in the freezer (they've been in a freezer for several months) and decided that these would make a nice addition to the chili.

I hadn't make chili yet in my new slow cooker, so this rainy fall day seemed like a good day to give it a try. My chili recipe originated from a college friend. Beer is the key ingredient. It's fun to see how different beers change the flavor of the final product. This time I used the last beer in the house, an Inverness IPA from Deschutes Brewing. To adapt it to the slow cooker, I tried an idea from Slow Cooker Revolution to make a panade of beef, bread, and milk. We did not have any white bread (as recommended in the recipe), so I used up the last of the heel of the sprouted grain bread and the last 1/3 c of milk in the house. I also used the cookbook suggestion and added 3 T of soy sauce to make a more "meaty" flavor.

Chili

olive oil

1 onion chopped (or tonight onion powder)

cumin to taste

chili powder to taste

oregano to taste

2 cloves garlic

2 cans beans (today 1 can black and 1 can kidney)

1lb ground beef

1 slice bread

1/3 c milk

1 bottle of beer

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes

frozen or fresh corn (I completely forgot to add this today!)

Heat pan on the stove and saute onion with the spices until onions are soft. Transfer to the slow cooker. Add in beans, tomatoes, beer, soy sauce, and garlic. Mix milk, bread, and beef together in bowl. Cook on skillet with more cumin, chili powder, and salt until browned. Transfer to slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours. Serve with cheese and cooked wheat berries.

Wheat berries

2/3 c wheat berries (from CSA)

2 c water

Rinse wheat berries in water to remove extra husks, rocks, and dirt. Bring to a boil with the water. Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Drain extra water or let it sit to soak up more water.

The corn bread recipe is known in our house as Nana's Johnny Cake. I used up the last egg and had to use soy milk since I used the very last of the cow milk in the panade. The soy milk gave the corn bread a nice nutty flavor.

Nana's Johnny Cake

1 c corn meal or flour (from CSA)

1 c wheat flour

1 T baking powder

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

1/3 c oil

1 c soy milk.

Mix everything together. Bake 425F for 25 minutes in an oiled 8-inch pan. Serve with Willamette Valley honey or homemade strawberry jam (made from Willamette Valley strawberries).

Cabbage Gratin

Our CSA bag had a beautiful head of cabbage. I wanted to try something new and found this cabbage gratin recipe in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison. It is a perfect cookbook when I need an idea for a particular ingredient. I already had an open container of tomato paste, and after reading the cookbook information about gratins, decided I could substitute 1/4 c cream for 1/4 c more milk.

The recipe called for cutting the cabbage leaves into 2-inch squares. The recipe also called for buttering the dish and coating it with grated Parmesan cheese. I had shredded cheese, and it didn't stick to the side, but we had a nice layer of cheese on the bottom.

I didn't eat the gratin on the day I made it. In fact, I placed it in the refrigerator after assembling, and then I cooked it several hours later. Even after it was cooked, we didn't eat it for dinner, but I put it in the refrigerator. I liked it cold (actually better than reheated in the microwave). It reminded me of a vegan-gluten-free lasagna that a friend makes with cabbage leaves instead of pasta and avocado instead of cheese. I tried to eat the gratin as a main dish, but it just wasn't filling enough. However, it makes a nice and relatively simple side dish.

Cabbage Gratin

Butter and grated Parmesan for dish

1 1/2 pounds cabbage (from CSA)

1/3 c flour

1 1/4 c milk

2 T tomato paste

3 eggs

Salt and pepper

3 T dry parsley

Butter a gratin dish and coat the sides with cheese. Boil the cabbage uncovered in salted water for 5 minutes. Drain. Whisk the remaining ingredients together. Combine in the dish and bake 375F for 50 minutes. (I added about 20 minutes to this cooking time since I had took the dish directly from the refrigerator to the oven.)

Two Thanksgiving Pies in One Day

My favorite holiday pie has always been a filbert pie (aka hazelnut) recipe that my mom was given by a friend who grew filberts in the Willamette Valley. When I had my first Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family, I made my family's favorite filbert pie. Every year since then, my extended family has said that I'm not allowed to attend Thanksgiving dinner unless I bring a filbert pie.

I also offered to bake a pumpkin pie this year. In October, I made a pumpkin pie with a pie pumpkin. This time I wanted to use the butternut squash from our Open Oak Farm CSA to see how the flavors compared. I used a sweet potato pie recipe from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which I chose for the simple reason that it used regular milk rather than condensed or evaporated. I thought the original recipe was a little bland, so this time I increased the amount of nutmeg and cinnamon and added in ginger and cloves too.

On Tuesday before Thanksgiving I set out to make both of these pies in one afternoon with help from my 4-year old and lots of breaks to take care of my 4-month old. We managed to get both made over a 4-hour time span!

We started out making two 9-inch pie crusts with a simple salad oil crust recipe. This was the first time that I've tried to make this recipe completely with whole wheat flour. Sifting was essential, but the crust was very crumbly. The nice part about using the salad oil is that the crust is easy to put back together even if it crumbles.

Salad Oil Pie Crust

(makes 2 9-inch pie crusts)

3 c sifted flour (red wheat flour from our summer CSA)

1/2 t salt

3/4 c salad oil

6 T milk or water

Mix flour and salt. Add liquids and stir quickly with a fork or pastry cutter. Add few additional drops of liquid as needed.

Form dough into two balls and roll between sheets of wax paper. Transfer to pie dish.

After both pie crusts were finished, we began working on the fillings.

Filbert Pie

2 cups filberts toasted and coarsely chopped (from Thistledown Farm)

3 eggs

1/2 c brown sugar

1 c corn syrup

1/4 t salt

1 t vanilla

1/2 c melted butter

To toast filberts, spread shelled filberts in a single layer in a shallow pan. Toast at 275 F for 20 minutes. Use "skinned" or "unskinned." To remove skins, rub nuts between hands or with a rough cloth when cool. Store in an air tight container, freezer, or refrigerator. For the pie, chop coarsely and set aside.

Beat together eggs, sugar, syrup, salt and vanilla in a large bowl. Melt and slowly add butter to above mixture so as to not curdle the eggs. Stir in filberts. Pour mixture into a 9" pie shell.

Bake 375 F for 30-45 minutes until set in the center. Cool. Serve in very small servings because it is very rich.

And on to the squash pie.

Butternut Squash Pie

2 cups mashed cooked squash (Butternut from CSA)

2 eggs

1 1/4 c milk

3/4 c sugar

1/2 t salt

1 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1/2 t ginger

1/2 t cloves

4 T butter melted

Preheat oven to 425F. Cook squash. I put the whole uncut butternut squash in the oven and cooked it for a little over an hour at 350F. After it cooled I scraped out the seeds into the compost and put the flesh into the refrigerator. It was a little chunky (unlike the pumpkin filling from a can), so I put the squash, milk, and eggs in my food processor until the mixture was smooth and frothy. Transfer to mixer and add in remaining ingredients. Pour into 9-inch pie pan.

Bake 10 min at 425F. Turn temperature down to 300F and bake for an additional 50 minutes or until a test knife comes out clean.

My helper really enjoyed licking the pumpkin pie beater. He proclaimed that it was, "Really, really good." I think the pies look nice too. I'm looking forward to testing them on Thursday!

First CSA Bag of the Season

Over the last decade, my husband and I have tried to eat more locally. We have frequented farmers' markets in Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis, and Eugene. We've grown vegetables in two different community gardens and at each of our homes. We've also joined four different Community Support Agriculture (CSA) farms.

We were fortunate to find and join the Open Oak Farm's winter 2010 CSA. It had the perfect mixture of staple vegetables and grains and new foods for us to try (and the best carrots I've ever eaten). We loved it so much that we joined again for Summer 2011 and are delighted that the Winter 2011 farm share has begun. This season we are splitting the vegetable share with our friends, who write a blog about the Fairmount Neighborhood Farmers Market. We are also splitting a winter grain and bean CSA from Lonesome Whistle Farm.

I've been having a great time exploring new recipes each week to use the items from my vegetable share, and am looking forward to writing about them here.

Our first CSA bag of the season arrived last week. I spent several days looking through recipes in my newest cookbook Slow Cooker Revolution from America's Test Kitchen to find the perfect inaugural recipe for both a new slow cooker and for the winter CSA season. It was a winner! This recipe is designed to serve 6-8 people. We had enough for two adults for several meals and froze the rest for another day.

Super-Veggie Beef Stew

3 T oil

3 onions chopped (from CSA)

1/4 c tomato paste

6 garlic cloves minced (from CSA)

1 T thyme

1/3 c flour

1 1/2-2 c chicken broth

1 1/2 c beef broth

8 oz mushrooms (recommends portobello caps, I used regular buttons) chopped

1/3 c soy sauce

2 bay leaves

4 lb cubed beef (We only had 1lb and it was perfectly fine)

2-3 medium potatoes cut into 1-inch chunks

4 carrots cut into 1-inch pieces

3 parsnips cut into 1-inch pieces (from CSA)

8 oz kale cut (from CSA)

Heat 2 T of oil in skillet over medium heat. Add onions, tomato paste, thyme and garlic and cook until onions are softened. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in chicken broth, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out lumps. Transfer to slow cooker.

Stir in beef broth, mushrooms, soy sauce, and bay leaves. Season beef with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker. Toss potatoes, carrots, and parsnips with oil, salt, and pepper and place into foil packet. Lay foil packet on top of stew (keeps vegetables from getting too mushy).

Cover and cook 9-11 hours on low or 5-7 hours on high.

Remove foil packet. Let stew settle for 5 minutes and remove fat. Discard bay leaves. Place kale into slow cooker and cook 20-30 minutes. (However, we just cooked it a bit with olive oil on the stove top and then added it to our individual bowls before eating.)

Carefully open foil packet (watch for steam) and pour vegetables and juices into the stew. Let it heat through and mix about 5 minutes before serving.