Recipe :: Chipotle Cumin Veggie Bowl

I rarely post to this blog unless I have something I want to archive like my bean pickling recipe, or have something I want to archive AND share with my Facebook friends. Here it goes.

I'm writing this recipe from memory. So, if you try this please leave a comment and let me know how it turns out.

This recipes contains veggies prepared two ways: roasted and skillet cooked. I started by roasting a plantain, carrot and half of a sweet potato and then prepared black beans with spinach on the stove top. I divided the instructions below accordingly. 

Using the blend of spices and veggies listed in this recipe, there's a nice mix of sweet, savory and hot spicy flavors. Feel free to add or substitute other veggies in the mix (potatoes, butternut squash, etc.), but you'll want to consider cooking and roasting times first. The carrot, plantain and sweet potato were perfect to roast together. Delish.com is a good resource for vegetable roasting times. 

You can also substitute the coconut oil with another oil, but I highly recommend the coconut oil because it adds a nice flavor. Everything blended together in the end tastes delicious (or "WOW" according to my husband). Note: For the chipotle pepper... I generally like somewhat spicy food and the amount of chipotle listed here was just right for me. Add more or less to your liking, but remember that you can always add hot sauce to the dish at the table.

Serving size: This recipe serves two very hungry adults as a main dish or four people as a side dish. 

What you need:

• 1 plantain
• 1 large carrot cleaned and peeled
• 1 half of a large sweet potato
• 1 can of black beans strained and rinsed
• 2-3 packed cups of fresh (not frozen) spinach 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1 whole medium-size tomato, diced
• 4 teaspoons of coconut oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon adobo sauce from canned chipotle peppers (use more or less)
• 1/2 chipotle pepper 
• 5-6 Whole garlic cloves
• 1 whole garlic clove minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin plus a few dashes as noted in recipe
• 2 tablespoons of water  
• Kosher salt and pepper to taste
• One large skillet
• One large sheet pan
• One large mixing bowl

The Roasted Vegetables

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. In the meantime, chop the sweet potato (I left the skin on but you can peel it), carrot and plantain into 3/4 inch pieces. Put all veggies in a large bowl and add the whole garlic. Toss with:

• 2 tsp. coconut oil
• 1/4 tsp. of the adobo sauce
• 1/4 tsp. of cumin, plus a few dashes to nicely coat
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste (I'm pretty conservative with my salt, just FYI)

Spread the veggies on a sheet pan (single layer), and roast them at 450 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until soft. (The larger the slices, the longer you need to roast.) Check them after 10-15 minutes and stir them half way through.

While veggies roast prepare the beans and spinach.

The Beans and Spinach

Heat 1-2 teaspoons of the coconut oil in a large skillet on medium temperature. Add the diced onion, green pepper, and chipotle pepper to the pan. Sauté in with  1/4 tsp. of both the cumin and adobo sauce, and add the minced garlic. 

When the onion is transparent and the mixture is soft, add the black beans and 2 tablespoons of water. Heat the beans through. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can continue to cook the beans until the roasted veggies are done. In the meantime, chop 1 half avocado and one tomato for topping. Remove the roasted veggies from the oven. As they rest, slowly add 2-3 cups of fresh spinach to the beans, stir in and cook until wilted (only about 2 minutes). 

Plate the roasted veggies and add the bean and spinach mixture and top with avocado and tomato. Enjoy!

A Delicious and Easy Meal :: Udon Noodle Soup

I made a new Portland discovery on my ride home after attending the Brunch on the Bridge. I passed by an Asian market named Anzen Hiroshi’s. I was very excited—the only known (to me) close-in Asian market. The market was full of fresh sushi quality fish and an assortment of other Asian food items. (I highly recommend it to other Portlanders.) Knowing I had a garden full of bok choy, I decided to purchase some items to make udon noodle soup. At home, I had an assortment of other Asian spices. I invited my friend Becca over and suddenly it was a mini Asian dinner party, complete with Sake.

The soup was completely experimental, but it turned out pretty well. Since then, Becca has been hounding me to post the recipe. I finally decided to sit down and write it up to the best of my memory. So, here it goes. 

Ingredients (makes two large bowls):

·         3 cups of vegetable broth (or broth of choice, including beef, chicken or mushroom)

·         1.25 cups of water

·         2.5 tablespoons of soy sauce

·         ½ teaspoon of fish sauce

·         2 teaspoons of rice vinegar

·         1 teaspoon of sesame oil

·         1 head of bok choy

·         1 large clove of garlic (crushed)

·         1 half of a small onion

·         1 cup or more of shitake and oyster mushrooms

·         1 quarter pound of meat of choice (chicken, shrimp, beef) or tofu

·         1 egg

·         Udon noodles prepared for two according to package instructions

·         Red pepper flakes as desired for heat

Prepare the udon noodles (follow instructions on the package), drain and add noodles (equally) to two bowls.

Saute the garlic and onion in the sesame oil until the onion is translucent and soft. Add the meat (if you have thinly sliced Asian meat or tofu, this can be added at the end to the boiling water). Clean and chop the bok choy in medium pieces. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and chop them into the medium-sized pieces. Add the bok choy and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes until soft. Mix together the broth, water, soy sauce, fish sauce, and vinegar. Add the broth mixture to the pot and bring it to a boil. Add the egg, allowing it to cook for a few seconds. Then, stir in the egg. The egg will thicken the broth.

Add the soup to the bowls on top of the noodles and serve with a glass of sake and a side of edamame. Enjoy!

Bridges, Biking and Bowling Balls, Oh My! :: An Afternoon in Portland

Yesterday was the Brunch on the Bridge event in Portland where the center lanes of the Hawthorne Bridge became public green space for four hours. The event was part of the PDX Bridge Festival to celebrate bridges in Portland. And, while the intent of the brunch was to raise awareness about hunger, the $25 entry fee for adults didn’t include any food. It was simply a place to picnic.

It seemed like a very Portland thing to do—take over a bridge and turn it into a green space. So, I rode my bike to the bridge to check it out. I did not go into the event since the outer lanes of the bridge were open to the public for biking or walking. The experience was nearly the same except I had metal grate beneath my feet, and those inside enjoyed 28,000 square feet of plush grass (locally grown grass of course).

The crowd was a mixed bag and traffic was steady. There were several small groups and families enjoying picnic lunches and music. And of course there was the occasional flower doing yoga next to PDX's version of Alice in Wonderland characters playing croquet. (I think this would actually make a great theme for a backyard BBQ. Maybe these photos will inspire your next gathering.)

Voodoo Doughnut also unveiled “The World’s Largest Box of Doughnuts”— a larger version of their pink box. I later learned they were trying to break the Guinness World Record, but I had failed to take a photo. (I also don't know if they broke the record.)

I spent about an hour at the brunch before I rode off to enjoy the rest of my afternoon.

I took the bike path home through Sullivan's Gulch. Mid way I stumbled upon a very interesting lawn ornament: a bowling ball with a mannequin head attached to it playing a saxophone. It was affixed atop a fence post in a yard. Each post along the fence had a bowling ball atop; the corner ball was an exceptional piece of artwork. (If you click the photo to enlarge it, you can see her name is Miss Kim, which is a brand of cosmetology dolls.)

I stopped to snap a picture and sighed, “Oh Portlandia!” Then jumped on my bike and rode the rest of the way home.