Katie Stew

Back on the vegetarian track these days. Everything is going well for the most part. Except last week we ordered food from our favorite Indian place, Bengal Tiger, and substituted veggie samosas for our normal lamb ones. Lamb samosas are one of our favorite things, but we figured we should give it a try. Turns out, it was really sad. The meal was perfectly fine and tasty. But, when you are substituting potatoes for the rich taste of lamb, it is going to be disappointing. I don’t think we’ll do that to ourselves again. Just have to wait until we can eat meat to go back.

Other than that, we’ve had some lovely meals. Last night I made eggplant parmesan that was pretty awesome. We’ve also been eating lots of black beans in taco or quesadilla format. Then 2 nights ago I made an old recipe.

When I was in college, I used to cook huge meals for my group of friends all the time. Big pots of pasta or curry or plates of fried pork chops and mac and cheese. All kinds of stuff. Then one time my friend Heath decided to treat us all to an awesome meal of his own. He made vegetarian chili. Now, I’m generally a fan of the straight up meat chili. No beans or complications, just meat. There is one exception to that, my turkey and white bean chili which is awesome, but that is another story. Anyways, I had fond memories of Heath’s chili. I remember it was robust and tasty. He was kind enough to give me the recipe all those years ago and I never made it. Until Tuesday night.

When I was making it, I thought it was going to be kinda weak and uneventful. How could chili be awesome without some meat in it? I was really wrong. This recipe is wonderful. The flavors are complex and really interesting. It makes for a very Mexican/Creole chili flavor-wise. Spicy from the peppers, sweet from the corn, fresh tasting with the cilantro, and good, good, good. Not to mention it took about half the time that normal chili cooking does since I didn’t have to brown huge amounts of meat.

I made a few alterations from the original recipe. I’m going to list the version I made. His called for half a bell pepper. I substituted a big jalapeno. He also called for 2 pounds of diced tomatoes and I only had one pound on hand. It still worked. I also added a cup of vegetable broth. I wanted it a little thinner. And I doubled the seasoning.

So, thanks Heath for this awesome recipe. I am thoroughly enjoying it.

Heath’s (slightly altered) Vegetarian Chili

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

1 stalk celery (chopped)

1/2 medium yellow onion (chopped)

1 large jalapeno (chopped)

2 cloves of garlic (chopped)

1 small can green chilies

1 can rotel

1 lb diced tomatoes

1 can pinto beans- drained

1 can kidney beans- drained

1 can whole kernel corn- drained

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 Tablespoon cumin

1 cup vegetable broth- approximate

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add celery, onion, pepper, and garlic. Saute until veggies soften and begin to gold.

Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and then reduce to medium low and simmer for about 35 minutes.

Salt and pepper to taste and serve with shredded cheese and sour cream. I like Saltines with my chili, but other people prefer fritos. Corn bread would be best though.

Not only did I fall off the Vegetarian wagon while I was in Arkansas, I stayed off of it. I watched it roll down the road while I sat on the curb eating tacos.

Though working on the movie wasn’t much of a vacation, it technically was one. I decided while I was there that I was going to eat all of my favorite things. No skimping. So, it was a meat-fest. I hadn’t really realized how meat-centric most of the food I eat back home is. All of my favorite foods are meat-based.

So, if you are ever in Little Rock and are not a vegetarian, here are a few of my favorite things that I would recommend.

El Porton- This Mexican restaurant is awesome. I have dreams about it while I am in Seattle. And what do I dream? About two things. Tacos, which I dream about all the time anyways, and pollo con crema. What is pollo con crema? Heaven. That is what it is. It consists of slices of tender grilled chicken simmered in a subtle cheese/cream sauce. It is delectable. It is served with tortillas, rice and beans. You layer the chicken into your tortilla with some rice to hold all that wonderful cheesy sauce in place and spoon on the fresh salsa that they always load your table with. It is awesome. The tacos are also worth writing home about. Nothing complicated about them. Fresh shells, lightly seasoned beef, lettuce, white cheese, and salsa. I don’t know how they do it. How such simple ingredients make the perfect taco, but they do. I miss this place when I’m not in Arkansas and it is always one of my first stops when I’m in town.

But what was my first stop in town? Corky’s BBQ. Pulled pork bbq nachos were perhaps a bit excessive, but they were so good! The pork is so tender, the sauce so tangy, that it just seemed at home on a big pile of cheesy chips. Ridiculous? Yes. Worth it? Hell yes. I had the Ultimate grilled bbq chicken sandwich which was pretty ultimate and a side of their mac and cheese, which is to die for. I let out sighs of happiness and surprise each time I had a mouthful.

But that wasn’t my only bbq in town. Oh no. Just one of 3. I also enjoyed Whole Hog BBQ and Shorty Small’s. Whole Hog catered one of our lunches on set. Their beef brisket was some of the best I’ve had. It was thinly sliced and completely tender. I often find brisket to be too stringy and chewy, but this stuff was perfect. It just fell apart in your mouth and was so good on that soft white bun. They had a variety of sauces to try and my favorite was a really tangy, slightly spicy, thick, dark, sweet one. But, it is hard to find a bbq sauce I don’t like. My preferences to tend to lean the way of Memphis bbq’s sweet tanginess over Texas’s vinegary, spicy taste, but each have their place and I love them all. But, that is what makes Arkansas bbq the best. It is right in the middle, a blend of both worlds. A savory, sweet spice.

And that is just what I got at Shorty Smalls. I like ribs, but they aren’t something I have very often and something I almost never order. I tend to just wait until I’m lucky enough to have my dad or brother’s. However, something on Sunday posessed me and I decided to get the “world famous ribs” at Shorty Small’s. All I can say is wow. I choose wisely. They were awesome. Fall off the bone tender. Perfectly coated with sauce. Just enough to get your fingers good and sticky, but not dripping. The flavors were spot on. Others around me had the fried catfish and fried shrimp. I tasted both of those and they were excellent as well. But the ribs… they were special. Maybe next time I’ll need a combo plate. 🙂

Chick-fil-a. Now I know what you are thinking. Chick-fil-a? A large chicken chain? If that is what you are thinking, you obviously haven’t been to one. Chick-fil-a has the best fast food chicken in the world. Their nuggets are little bites of wonderful and I always go with the Original sandwich. The key to Chick-fil-a is that the chicken is real chicken. The nuggets are little chunks of white meat. They aren’t cut up and pressed and repackaged into nuggets. They are actual pieces of chicken. Perfectly and lightly fried to perfection with a hint of lemony freshness. The sandwich, which is my favorite, is a breast prepared the same way, served on a soft, white, buttered bun with pickles. That’s it. Something about the butter, chicken, and pickle combination just works. A symphony of comfort food.

So, I got my Mexican food in. I got lots of bbq and my favorite fast food. I also drank a number of huge limeades from Sonic, which I love and had some awesome sandwiches.

Arkansas has some of the best food in the world. I love all types of food from all over the world, but there is just something about the flavors of home that speak to the soul.

Today is day 6 of Operation Vegetarian. I have officially made it through the first weekend. So far, everything is all good. I’ve cooked a number of successful items and we were fed and happy all weekend. But, the big winner for the weekend was breakfast on Saturday. It should probably be classified as brunch, but it felt like breakfast.

When trying to figure out how to have a wonderful breakfast without bacon, I recalled a time that I went to Portage Bay Cafe. If you are ever in the Seattle area, Portage Bay Cafe has the best breakfast in town. The restaurant makes fabulous food that is all local and all organic. On one occasion, I ordered something a little different. They were fried black bean cakes with fried, runny eggs on top. They were delectable. I recalled this breakfast wonder and thought, I can do that. And I did. The breakfast was such a success that my boyfriend later said, “I think I like breakfast better without meat … is that weird?” 

Now, seeing as I was making this recipe up as I went, I have no exact measurements, but I think it is simple enough to wing it. Now, when I say black bean cakes, I’m saying cakes in the crab-cake sense, not the birthday cake sense. I could call them black bean patties, but that sounds so much less appealing. This recipe makes 2 large patties with leftover beans. You could make 4 and use all the beans, but the leftovers were awesome for quesadillas later.

Katie’s Black Bean Cakes

Ingredients:

1 can black beans

1 can Rotel

1 large garlic clove

Olive oil

1 large egg

Panko breading

Cheddar cheese

First, I chopped some garlic and sauteed it in olive oil until it begins to golden. Then I added one can of drained Rotel and got it all hot and bubbly. Then I added 1 can of drained and rinsed black beans. Once the mixture reached a boil, I turned it down to simmer for about 20 minutes. That lets all the flavors mingle together.

Once that is done, I removed half of the bean mixture with a slotted spoon and put it in a bowl in the fridge to cool. While cooling, I shredded a couple tablespoons of cheddar cheese. When the beans have cooled a little, add the cheese to the bowl and also crack the egg over the top. Stir to combine.

Mixture will be really goopy at this point. Add about a palmful of panko breading to the mixture. This will thicken it up significantly. Once everything is combined, pour a pile of panko on a plate and shake to spread evenly. Lump half of the bean mixture onto the pile of panko and sprinkle more panko over the top of the mixture. You want to make sure both sides are nicely coated. You will probably need to pat it into shape.

Once both patties are nicely coated, melt a tablespoon of butter in a nonstick pan and add a little bit of olive oil. The olive oil will keep your butter from burning. When pan is medium-hot, carefully place both patties in the pan. They will want to fall apart on you, and if they crack a little, just squeeze them back into shape. Once the bottom is browned, flip once to brown the top. The egg will set the cake and hold it all together.

Now, when I made this big winner breakfast, I fried eggs to place on top of the black bean cakes. I highly recommend this method. Leave the eggs a little runny and when you cut them up, it will nicely moisten the cake.

I also enjoyed mine with some fresh salsa on top. My man preferred Tapatio sauce. I love Tapatio sauce. I would suggest adding both.

Now, when making these, if you have time and aren’t starving for breakfast, I would make a suggestion. Once the patties are formed, put them in the fridge to cool for about half an hour. I skipped this and had to really work to hold my bean cakes together when I first put them in the pan. If I had let them cool and rest first, they would have held together better. But, I was hungry. What can I say? They still turned out well. They were just a little more work.

I feel like these will become a staple of my vegetarian diet experiment. They are simple, really tasty and have a pleasing texture. They work for breakfast or I could just have one with some salsa and sour cream for lunch. Anyway you eat them, you’re going to like it.

Enjoy!

Today is day 3 of Operation Vegetarian.

Last night I dreamed of keema naan. For those that don’t know, that is an Indian flatbread filled with seasoned lamb. It is a heavenly, delectable thing. I my dream I had started eating a piece, realized there was meat in it and I wasn’t supposed to eat it, but ate it anyways, secretly, because I didn’t want it to go to waste. Then there was another incident in my dream where my dad was making a pasta with meat and at the last minute I remembered I wasn’t supposed to have any.

I think it is a bad sign to be having meat dreams on day 3.

But, in the daytime, so far it is fine. I’m certainly not hungry and I’m not really craving anything. However, I never noticed how much meat there is everywhere! It is funny, really. It must be weird for real vegetarians to go out to eat with people or make a sandwich in the lunchroom with people eating meat all around you.

Last night, I cooked my first main vegetarian meal. The last few days we’ve been eating sandwiches mostly and going out to eat. I made a Penne and Vegetable Gratin. I found this recipe on Epicurious.com. It was originally from Gourmet. It is one of the recipes that I found before this project started that I was most excited about. And the result? Super tasty. A grand success. And, it is just beautiful. This would be a great dish to make for company because it is just so darn pretty. All the flavors are delicate and well balanced. Very fresh tasting.

When I made it, I left the mushrooms out, because I don’t like mushrooms, but I don’t think I lost much in the recipe. Add them if you like them. Don’t add them if you don’t. Also, I used Panko breading and it was awesome. I love how crisp and crunchy it gets. I also like how you can buy it in resealable bags and always have some on hand. It is so, well, handy. I also found that if you start prepping all of the stuff that you toss with the pasta while the water is boiling and pasta is cooking, everything gets done at about the same time. The sauce only takes a few minutes to make, so you can make this recipe fairly quickly. But, I must say I was starving and it was painful to wait that half an hour for everything to bake up. So, start early or start when you aren’t already hungry.

Penne and Vegetable Gratin

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound penne or other tubular pasta (about 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 3/4 pound vine-ripened tomatoes, seeded and chopped (about 1 1/3 cups)
• 1 cup coarsely grated chilled Fontina cheese (preferably Italian, about 1/4 pound)
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped
• 1/3 cup packed fresh parsley leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped
  

For sauce

• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 pound mushrooms, sliced (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For topping

• 1/2 cup fine fresh bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

In a 4-quart kettle bring 3 quarts salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, 8 minutes. (Pasta will cook more when baked.) Drain pasta in a colander and rinse well under cold water. Drain pasta well and in a 2- to 2 1/2-quart gratin dish or other shallow baking dish toss pasta with zucchini, tomatoes, Fontina, and herbs.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Make sauce:
In a large heavy saucepan cook garlic and red pepper flakes in butter over moderately low heat, stirring, 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and salt to taste and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until mushrooms are tender and give off their liquid. Add flour and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add tomato paste, milk, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil, whisking. Simmer sauce, whisking, 30 seconds.

Pour sauce evenly over pasta mixture and shake gratin dish gently to coat pasta mixture with sauce.

Make topping:
In a small bowl with a fork stir together bread crumbs and oil until crumbs are evenly moistened.

Sprinkle topping over pasta mixture and bake in middle of oven 30 minutes. Cool gratin 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Yes, that’s right. Operation Vegetarian.

I love meat. Especially bacon. My man, he loves meat too. But, he has decided that he wants to give vegetarianism a try.

What? Why in the world would a red blooded American man want to give up the meat he loves so much?

An experiment. A change. And me? Well, I’m up for an experiment. I’ve always said that I could be a vegetarian if I wanted to. But, why would I want to? For an experiment apparently.

So, how long should the experiment last? When should we start? How long should we go? Then the answer appeared. Lent. We’ll give up meat for Lent. So, beginning on Wednesday February 17th and going 46 days, until Saturday, the third of April, I will not be eating meat.

Just to clarify, when I say meat, I mean meat that walks on land. I will technically be a pesca-vegetarian. Seafood and dairy are still on the table. I don’t know how vegans do it. I love cheese too much!! What is the point of living without melted cheese? I will be very sad if someday when I’m older I’m told that I’ve become lactose intolerant or something. I’d probably eat it anyways.

Becoming a vegetarian, even temporarily, is a daunting and scary task. What do vegetarians eat? I’ve been consulting with a good vegetarian friend, reading articles, and searching for recipes to build a list of things for me to cook. With all my current cooking being meat-centric, this will call for an serious exploration of the unknown.

I have to say that I’m excited and apprehensive. My man keeps telling me not to worry and that it won’t be a big deal, but I know how crazy I can get when the cheeseburger craving hits me.

We’ll see. On the upside, I’ll be exploring strange and exciting new recipes. It is an adventure. It is an experiment. It is a learning experience.

It’s character building. 🙂

So, for the next few days, I plan on eating all of the meat things I like best. Pulled pork sandwiches from the Caribbean place up the street, lamb samosas from my favorite Indian place, and a good juicy steak. This is what Mardi Gras is all about. A splurging and overindulgence of the things you love that you are about to give up for Lent.

Maybe I can get enough meat in over the next few days to tide me over. I can certainly try.