Spicy Chickpeas and Winter Vegetables

In anticipation of the travel adventure that the Husband and I will soon be embarking on, I spent a bitterly cold day yesterday transacting commerce in suburbia. It was the kind of day that makes you recoil when you step outside. The wind never died down and people ran from their cars to where they were going.

Yes. I complain about the cold all the time, so I lack credibility. I know this. But yesterday was different. Yesterday I was literally moved to tears when I saw a man at an intersection.

I was waiting to turn right, and he was standing in the median by the left lane. He was dressed for the weather. He had on thick canvas coveralls, a hooded sweatshirt, workboots and ski gloves. He looked to be about 65. There was a duffel bag on the ground near him, and he held a big, creased cardboard sign: Hard Worker.

[Heavy Sigh.] So many people are struggling this year to survive, just as the weather is getting dangerously cold. At dinner last night, I hoped that the hard worker had somewhere warm to go home to.

Spicy Chickpeas and Winter Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 TB vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped

2 leeks, white and light green parts chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp whole cloves

3 c lower sodium vegetable broth

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice

4 dried red chilies

2 carrots, chopped

2 small (or 1 large) heads of cauliflower, chopped into florets

1/2 lb assorted mushrooms

10 oz kale, stems trimmed, roughly chopped

1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste
lemon juice or red wine vinegar (optional)

Preparation:

Heat oil in a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onions, leeks garlic, and cloves and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add broth and tomatoes, scraping bottom of pan to remove any browned bits.

Add the remainder of the ingredients (excluding salt, pepper and lemon/vinegar), and bring to a simmer. Cook with lid on for about 30 minutes, or until cauliflower and carrots are soft. Season with salt and pepper. Remove chilies prior to serving. Add a splash or lemon juice or red wine vinegar to each bowl prior to serving if desired. Serve with couscous or rice. Serves 6-8.

Black Bean and Kale Soup

Happiness is a warm bowl of soup, to paraphrase Linus.  Speaking of Linus, I heard on NPR last week (OH NO. Stop me now. Starting sentences with "I heard on NPR..." ranks right up there with, "One time, in band camp...").

So I'm afraid, due to self-censorship, we'll never learn what the story was I heard on NPR, but take heart. I have other ideas.  

I love love love soup, and am trying to cut back on salt (how ironic, I know) ever since I learned that excessive sodium intake can interfere with calcium absorption.  Sort of a drag, but it just means that I am being driven further from the canned sodium bombs that the grocery store offers. 

Speaking of canned soup, want to hear something evil?  I thought so.  Progresso makes this soup in their vegetable classics line. That's vegetable classics, mind you, not pork-lovers classics.  Anyway, the soup is split pea. Sounds good so far, right? Wrong. In teeny, tiny .9 font under the name it says, snarkily, in italics that you need a bionic eye to read, "with bacon".

Thanks a lot, Progresso. Screw you, too. 

Hence, I've been making a lot more of my own soups. I know the food blog universe is flooded with kale love this time of year, but I'll add my valentine.  

Black Bean and Kale Soup

Ingredients:

1 TB olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp thyme 

4 c vegetable stock

4 c water

2 bay leaves

10 c kale

1 14 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed 

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice

salt and pepper to taste

juice of 1/4 lemon 

Preparation:

Heat oil over medium-high heat in skillet.  Add onion, carrot, thyme, and cumin and saute for 5-7 minutes, or until onion is soft. Set aside.

Put 1/2 c of black beans in blender with 2 TB water. Blend until creamy. Set aside. 

Meanwhile, bring stock,water and bay leaves to a boil in a large stock pot.  Add kale, and turn heat down to medium.  Cook, with lid on, until kale begins to soften, about 7-9 minutes.  

Add onion mixture, beans,  and tomatoes with juice to pot. Cook, with lid on, for about 10 minutes.  When kale is soft, but still has some bite to it, remove soup from heat.  Add bean puree and stir to combine.  Remove bay leaves and discard. Add lemon immediately prior to serving. Serve with grated cheese if desired.  Serves 6-8.