Chickpea Shepherd's Pie

About 8 months ago, I bought a case of chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) because it was about 50% cheaper to get them by the boatload. This was a case with 24 cans and I knew I'd have to eat them all myself because my husband won't eat any sort of bean. I've used them in a lot of recipes (though the majority have gone into hummus), and this is one of my favorites.

I didn't base this on any existing recipe, but was inspired to give it a try after reading a review for vegetarian shepherd's pie on the "Heat and Eat Review" site. I figured that I'd just do what I normally did for the same dish with meat with possibly a few alterations to make up for the lack of savory flavors, so this was essentially made up on the fly, but worked very well.

Chickpea Shepherd's Pie

• 1 can chickpeas, drained and thoroughly rinsed
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 1/3 large carrot, sliced and diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 beef or vegetable bouillon cube, dissolved in 1 cup very hot water
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch, dissolved in 1-2 tbsp. cold water
• salt (to taste - about 1/2 tsp., but it depends on your bouillon)
• 3-5 cups mashed potatoes (I used instant mashed potatoes)
• 1/2-1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
• 1-2 tbsp. Canola oil

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Once the oil is warmed and coats the bottom of the pan evenly, add the garlic and onions. Saute them until the onions are softened then add the pepper and carrot. Cook the vegetables for about 5-10 more minutes until the pepper is a little wilted looking. Stir in the chickpeas and allow it to cook for about 5 minutes to get the temperature of all of the ingredients to about the same level.

Add the water with the dissolved beef bouillon cube and the Worcestershire sauce. If you want to add tomato paste (I didn't, but mainly because I forgot to do so), add it now. Stir, cover with a lid, reduce the heat, and allow to simmer until the carrots are cooked. Depending on how much liquid remains, you'll have to either remove the lid and allow some of it to boil off or just use it as is. The liquid amount factors into how much "gravy" you get. If you want less, let more boil off. If you want more, add in more water.

Reduce the heat to low and slowly add about half of the dissolved cornstarch. As it heats, it will thicken. Stir in as much of the cornstarch as seems necessary to get the desired thickness. If it becomes too thick, add more water. If it is too thin, pour in more cornstarch. Taste and salt as necessary.

When the chickpea mixture is done, spoon it into a lightly greased baking dish. Spoon the mashed potatoes on top of the chickpea mixture and sprinkle with cheese. The quantity of potatoes you'll need varies based on the size of your dish and how thinly you want them layered. If you use glass, you can heat the pie in the microwave until the cheese is melted. If you use metal, you'll have to bake it at 350 degrees until the potatoes are hot and the cheese is melted.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Baked Oatmeal

I have a love-hate relationship with oatmeal. Actually, it's mostly a "hate" situation, to be honest. My main consumption of oatmeal comes from hiding it in baked goods like bread so that its gluey, gloppy nature does not have a chance to manifest itself.

Yet oatmeal still beckons to me on several fronts. It's dirt cheap when you buy it in huge boxes of the plain stuff at Costco. It's also better for you than most other things you can eat for breakfast because it has a low glycemic index and good amounts of fiber and protein. If it just didn't feel like gruel or prison food, I'd try to choke it down more often.

To that end, I've tried various baked oatmeal recipes on occasion and found that they were lacking. I finally came across one that works (for me at least), but I don't remember exactly where it came from so I can't credit the creator. Of course, all of the recipes you see scattered around the internet are hardly unique. Most people are just taking other people's work and passing it off as if they just whipped it up off the top of their heads, so I don't feel too guilty about not linking to the recipe.


Don't get me wrong about the desirability of this dish. It's still oatmeal. It's in no way going to compete with a doughnut or a danish, but it is less disgusting than conventional oatmeal. It has a somewhat "cakey" texture to it and the oatmeal isn't gluey. It's nice enough, mind you, but mainly it's a delivery method which is far less objectionable than usual.

Baked Oatmeal:

• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 tbsp. melted butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 packets heat stable artificial sweetener (optional - I used Splenda)
• 1 tbsp. honey or syrup (for serving)
  

Mix everything together and pour into a lightly greased baking dish. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. (180 degrees C.) until firm and set in the middle. Serve with about a tablespoon of honey or syrup drizzled over the top. Makes 3 modest or 2 large servings.

I didn't actually use a greased dish. I just tossed everything into a glass baking dish, stirred, and baked. I wouldn't do that with a metal baking dish though, and I did have a bit of a hard time getting the residue off of the top part (though it didn't stick to the glass at all on the bottom). You can make this ahead and just keep it in the refrigerator for a day or so. I just warmed mine up a bit in the microwave for about 30 seconds before eating and it was quite good.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Red Wine Pasta Sauce

Boredom is a powerful motivator. Well, it is for me. Some of us find that boredom motivates sitting slack-jawed and staring at the nearest wall, or television, whichever comes first. It was a sense of gustatory boredom which set me virtually thumbing through the pages of Nibbledish for recipes. Of course, since I'm in Japan, I had to make a fair number of modifications to use food stuffs that I can actually purchase without going to an import shop and/or spending my nest egg. Here's the original recipe on Nibbledish which includes such exotic items (for me) as Italian sausage and celery (which I hate, and costs a lot, so I skipped it).

Here is my modified recipe:

• 3/4-1 lb. ground pork (depends on how meaty you want your sauce)
  
• 1/2 large onion (or 1 small one)
• 1/2 large carrot
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp. dried sweet basil
• 3/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp. (fine) hot pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 cup red wine
• 1/3 cup whole cream
• salt to taste (I used about a teaspoon)

Preheat a large skillet so that it is good and hot before you add the meat. There is no need to add oil to the pan! Cook the ground pork over medium to medium-high heat until slightly browned. Drain off as much fat as possible. While the pork is cooking, cut the onion into quarters and pulse in a food processor to coarsely chop. Add the onion to the cooked pork and stir in.

While the onion is cooking, peel the garlic clove and blitz it in the food processor until it's in tiny pieces (or mince it with a garlic press). Peel and slice the carrot and toss it into the food processor and process it until it is in tiny pieces. Add the carrot and garlic to the pork and onion mixture. Stir well and allow to cook for about 5-10 minutes.

Sprinkle the flour onto the top of the meat then stir well to mix. Add the red wine and allow the mixture to cook and thicken such that the wine reduces by at least a third. Add the canned tomatoes and dry spices (except the salt) to the mixture. Core and quarter the fresh tomatoes and puree them well. Add to the mixture, heat to a vigorous simmer, cover, and lower the heat. Allow the sauce to gently simmer for about a half hour. The carrots should be cooked and the flavors developed. At this point, taste and add salt as needed. Finally, stir in the whole cream. Serve over your favorite pasta.

If you think the flavors are too strong, you can add more cream than I did, but I liked it fine as is. This makes an immense amount of sauce. I'd guess that this is the equivalent of two big jars, only with a lot more heft because of the meat.


I'm sure the wine features heavily into the final taste profile. I used part of a bottle red wine our landlord gave us as a gift. It's pretty good wine, or at least Shawn tells me. I actually hate wine. Just a sniff of it makes me want to stick my tongue out and go "bleeech." However, it was damn good in this sauce.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Corn Potage Soup

Note: updated on January 3, 2010 to allow for the use of canned corn

No, all of my recipes will not be for soup. I've just been in a soup sort of mood as of late. This is a bit peculiar because it's been so damn hot and one would think that drinking hot soup (not to mention preparing it) would not be appealing, but there you go. Part of the thing is that homemade soups are so healthy and taste so much better than store-bought soup that it's hard to resist the urge to have them. The urge to make them is utterly resistible because of the humidity let off by the process, but I'm a trooper.

For those who don't know, corn potage is a corn and potato soup with a milk or cream base. I never had it when I lived in the U.S., but it's popular in Japan. You can buy it as a powdered soup, and I have actually done this many times in the past. In fact, I sent Shawn a packet of said instant soup more than a year ago, and he never sampled it despite our shared reverence for corn. This recipe does involve some ritual sacrifice of corn on the cob, but I'm sure the corn gods understand.

This is a hearty soup and can substitute for a starchy side dish like potatoes or rice. In Japan, a lot of people have corn soup with bread for breakfast.

Corn Potage Soup:

• 1 large potato (peeled and cut into small cubes)
• 2 ears of corn on the cob (corn cut off, cobs saved) or 1 standard-size (14 oz./400 gram) can of corn with juice
  
• 1 small or 1/2 very large onion (diced)
• 1.5 cups milk (I used low-fat, but any is okay)
• 1 cup water (omit this water if you're using canned corn)
  
• 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cubes chicken consomme
• butter (enough to coat the bottom of your soup pot)
• salt, pepper (to taste)

Heat a medium-size soup pot and melt butter over medium heat. Add the diced onions and minced garlic and cook until softened and the garlic becomes fragrant. If it starts to burn, turn down the heat. Stir in the corn kernels and diced potato and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the milk, water (don't add water if using canned corn!), chicken consomme cubes, and pepper. Heat until the consomme has dissolved, stirring occasionally. Place the corn cobs into the soup, heat to boiling, cover, and reduce the heat so that the covered pot is vigorously simmering. If you're using canned sweet corn, dump the entire can, juice and all into the pot instead of using the corn on the cob and cobs. Simmer until the potatoes are cooked through (about 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your cubes). Stir about every 10 minutes.

Remove the cobs. Cool the soup and pour it into a blender or use a hand mixer to puree to a smooth consistency. Note that the blender will do a better job, though the hand mixer is easier because you can puree it in the soup pot. Taste the pureed soup and add salt as necessary to enhance the taste.

I had to add about 1/2 tsp. salt to mine, but I think that the amount you add will be very dependent on your consomme flavoring. Some have a lot of salt in them already and others do not. Add more potatoes to make a thicker soup (or, if it's after the fact, add some dehydrated potato flakes/instant mashed potato buds to thicken it), or reduce the water or milk.

This is a great soup to have with bread or with croutons that you allow to get soggy in the soup.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Greetings, great multitude of Carl food blog readers. I'm sure you're all warmly welcoming me to Shawn's little corner of the internet. He's kindly permitted me to breath some life into his wheezing blog while he continues to procrastinate on posting his own content. Of course, he didn't grant me admin privileges so I can't go back and insert insults into his posts (though he can do so for mine so I guess I had better watch my mouth).

At any rate, I no longer have a personal blog so I'm going to use Carl's Kitchen as my dumping ground for recipes that I want to keep. The difference between my posts and Shawn's are that his are glorious failures for the most part and I'm only going to be noting my successes. That doesn't mean I don't have my own spectacular failures, but rather that I don't have the time to note them for posterity (not that Shawn has the time either, as is evidenced by his lack of posting).

At any rate, I'm going to start with this roasted red pepper soup recipe which I modified based on a recipe at eCurry. Though this soup was really good, I have to warn anyone who tries it that I got sore spots under my tongue and my gums ached after eating this a few times. I'm guessing it was a bit too much capsicum for me, but I ate it anyway because it was damn tasty.

Here's my recipe:

• canola oil sufficient to cover the bottom of the pan
• 2 Welsh onions (white part only), sliced thinly
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 medium to small red peppers (roasted and sliced)
• 1 can Swanson chicken stock
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarsely ground black pepper
• salt to taste
• 2-3 tbsp yogurt cheese*
• croutons for serving
  

Coat the bottom of a heavy-bottomed soup pot with the oil then cook the Welsh onions and garlic gloves over medium heat until softened. If they start to stick or burn, add a little water and lower the heat. Add the roasted red peppers and cook for about 5 more minutes. Add the chicken stock, salt, and pepper and heat to a boil then cover, turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Allow the soup to cool to the point where it is safe to handle in your blender, then put it in the blender and blitz it until it is smooth. Add the yogurt cheese and blitz it until the blend is smooth. Serve warm or cold with croutons.

I had this both warm and cold and slightly preferred it warm. I'm not sure how it'll reheat though given the yogurt component. I'd recommend only reheating it to a point of being barely hot. It's a very smooth soup with a velvety texture and probably could double as a sauce for chicken in a pinch.

*Yogurt cheese is plain yogurt which has been allowed to drain such that most of the whey has separated out. It is thick and resembles sour cream in texture and somewhat in flavor. I usually make it by suspending a coffee filter full of yogurt affixed to the top of a glass with a rubber band overnight.

by Shari (Orchid64)