Previously, I posted my mom’s amazing steak marinade. While we were eating it last time, we were talking about how it made the steak so so good, and then wondered— could we use it in burgers? So I boiled the leftover marinade instead of tossing it, and froze it. Tonight, I experimented. I took 1 # ground beef and gently tossed it with the marinade. I did our usual ‘make a burger’ cooking style (cast iron pan, preheated, salted with kosher salt, and formed patties and tossed (I am overusing that word!) them in. Sliced some red onion, tomatoes and put some fresh spinach on the buns I made yesterday (upcoming blog!) with mayo, and then put the cooked burgers on top. They are every bit as awesome as we thought they would be. mmmmmmm
Chicken Marbella was a hot and happening dish in the very early 80’s, and swept the country as a company dish. It’s got a complex flavor with some odd seasoning choices that make you go what? when you cook it and mmmm when you eat it. And it is a pretty good company dish. But when you want a meat free pulse based meal… well, turns out, this works with chick peas. It’s what we had last night for dinner. And that one change made the meal vegan as well as high fiber.
To about 3 cups (2 cans) of chick peas (garbanzo, ceci, hummus) add
1/4 cup chopped prunes 2T capers 2T red vinegar 2T olive oil 2 T brown sugar 2 T white wine 12 sliced green olives 1/3- 1/2 head garlic chopped 1 crumbled bay leaf 2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp salt AND pepper
Pour into a shallow pan and bake about 40 minutes. I assume letting this sit overnight would make a good cold salad for a hot day, but right away, the chick peas were bland.
That’s literally it, for a dish my omnivore family prefers to the meat version.
Last night I also discovered that bulgar cooks on the range in minutes. I always prepped mine for tabouli, by pouring boiling water on it and letting it sit for hours, so I never thought of it as a ‘fast’ starch. But it is, faster than pasta, slower than couscous. Took less time than the zucchini took to prep and cook. It was 1 cup of medium ground bulgar, 2 cups water, 2 T oil, pinch of salt in the pot together, covered, for about 10 -12 minutes. Then off heat, the last of the water was absorbed. 2 medium zucchini, 3 cloves garlic, 1T oil, salt and black pepper. Cooked with cover on, mostly.
We have many vegan dishes in our recipe box, because vegan to us is simply another way to eat. These are not ‘sacrifice’ meals, but meals that really would not be made better with meat anyway. I like to bring this one to pot lucks, because it’s vegan and grain-free, which sometimes makes it one of the only things a guest can eat. And it’s tasty. An omnivore friend has deemed it ‘sausage and peppers’ and we agree.
And, it’s simple. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can do it on the range or in the oven. If you do it in a slow cooker, start with beans that have been boiled first (not completely cooked through), though.
The first thing to do is soak the beans. My current way to do that is to put dry beans in the Instant Pot for a 4-minute cook, with water, a little salt, and a bay leaf. You can do a ‘quick soak’ with the same add-ins on the range (a 2-minute boil and a 1-hour soak) or do an overnight soak first in plain water. I like the way the bay and salt flavor the beans as a base for pretty much anything.
Navy beans soaking. Any white bean will do.
Then you want to cook a lot of onions (I used 3 large ones) in a lot of olive oil until they are translucent. That is the only cooking that will happen outside of your bean pot. You then toss the onions and everything else into your pot, and let it go until it’s cooked all the way. It’s seriously that simple. Serve it with bread, or over pasta or rice, and it’s a great, tasty, cheap and healthy meal. Leftovers will be done with pasta tomorrow at our house. Yes, you can cut the oil down, but there is no other fat in the meal, and olive oil is healthy. 😉 (Do NOT use ‘high quality’ olive oil for this. This is your cooking oil.)
Onions cooking… mmmmm
1# white beans soaked (As mentioned, a little salt (1/2 tsp) and a bay leaf if you are doing a quick soak adds nice flavor)
3 onions, sliced or chopped 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 tsp salt Sautee these three until the onions are translucent.
3 large green bell peppers, sliced or chopped 1 hot pepper- optional. Add more or less, and any pepper you like. I add 1 sliced pepperoncini. This is not to make it hot (although you can) this is to add a little flavor. The pepperoncini is not really hot, but adds a bit of brine to the dish. 1 quart crushed tomatoes (standard can) 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp dry oregano 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 2c water add all of these to the pot and cook until done.
all ingredients except onions and water in IPCooked beans.
