Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Slow cooker cheesy Grits

This recipe was altered from the gourmet vegetarian slow cooker by Lynn Alley
Please use yellow cornmeal rather than the kind bleached with cleaning solvents, kay?

 In a little crockpot

Take
1 cup coarse cornmeal (often marketed as polenta or grits)
4 cups water
(optional 1-2 cups thinly sliced greens like mustard, collard or kale)
1 poblano chile diced (I get them when they go on sale, wash them and leave them in the freezer until I feel like using them)
Plug in, put the lid on and leave alone for 8 hours. 
Before serving stir in 3/4 cup cheese (strong flavours work best here so cheddar, gouda, smoked provolone) and recover for about 15 minutes so it can melt. Stir again. Divide 1/4 cup of cheese between your 2-4 servings so it can be pretty. Sprinkle a touch of paprika on top. Eat.


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

paneer pizza and cilantro mint chutney

Things have been hectic around here. Rabbit is gradually recovering from being hit by a car, the library is moving, and I'm in the home stretch of the last semester at this school which includes service learning. That and needing to get a garden planted, family concerns and trying to breathe means a need for faster meals. Also, possibly a maid. Seriously, our apartment looks like a gentle laundry producing tornado hit. We went out for dinner for our anniversary...an Indian vegetarian place  we love, Uru Swati (very vegan and gluten/ wheat free friendly) after getting some wheat free flours and spices at a nearby Desi grocery. Sorghum (Jowar), Besan (chickpea),and some paneer, also 1 lb of cumin runs 3$ there and we use the stuff like water. In said grocery store we saw pizza like things made on naan (you could use pita I'm sure) with a cilantro or tamarind chutney, veggies and paneer. It was frozen and looked like it was mostly actual food.  Now those of you who can't eat wheat know naan is ,sadly, stuff we shouldn't eat. (If anyone has a recipe for good gf naan I'd love to try it.)But ...chickpeas go with virtually every Indian influenced type of food known to man ..and that farinata/ socce type crust I told you guys about is down to a science in this house. It's something even Rabbit feels confident cooking. Rabbit has been known to panic about making stirfry despite their  master level chowing skills, so this is saying quite a bit. So last night I came home to a lovely surprise  which I am sharing here with Rabbit's permission.

For the crust
Mix:
 1 1/2 cups chickpea flour
 1 c water
 2 tb  olive oil
 pinch salt
 (optional 1 tsp whole cumin)
Pour into  a cast iron skillet and bake at 425 F until the crust is firm in the middle 15-20 minutes or up 30 minutes for a crisper crust

While the crust is baking wash some spinach, slice up some veg, 2-3 oz  of diced paneer cheese and some red peppers (in our case ancient red was cheap as I've been hoarding them in the freezer. To do this just wash and put them in the freezer) I'm thinking red onion, cauliflower, and frozen okra slices next time.

When the crust is done remove from oven and spread crust with chutney of choice using the back of a spoon. In our case Rabbit used about 1/2 cup of  jarred cilantro mint chutney (I'll share my homestyle recipe for this kind of chutney at the end). Now add your veg and a quick drizzle of olive oil over the paneer chunks so they brown a bit. You could probably sub bake fried tofu here for the vegans or those with no access to paneer with minimal flavor change. Stick this back in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 425F. Serve. The leftovers are even pretty awesome. If you are me ...spread this with an unholy quantity of hot lime pickle.

Cilantro-mint Chutney
Put the following in a blender/ food processor:
2 inches peeled fresh ginger
5-6 peeled cloves garlic
1 tb cumin
1 pinch salt
1 bunch washed green onions - remove stump
1 large bunch cilantro (including stems)
1 small washed bunch of mint (also including stems
1/4 cup water
juice of two limes or 1 lemon
 Blend until it becomes smooth.