Dateline: February 1, 2021 Potluck Sausage Chili, or Freezer Diving

I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.  I did know that I needed to make room in the freezer for more sausage, what else does one do during a snow storm.

I found a pound of loose sausage, turned out to be sage breakfast sausage, but never mind, and I found a container of Chili Colorado sauce saved from a previous meal.  

Perfect!  Dinner is a sausage chili stew with chickpeas and left over veggies from the sheet pan dinner the other night!

In the instant pot, I browned the sausage and then added in the frozen colorado sauce.  I opened a can of chickpeas and threw them in, liquid and all and closed the lid.  I set the pot to pressure cook for 8 minutes.  When time was up, I used quick release, and checked in on the contents.  I found some kale and collards in the fridge and added that to the pot along with the veggies from a previous meal.  Set the pot to slow cook and left a glass lid on it ajar to help thicken it up a bit.  

Finished product was far better than I thought it would be!  Yeah me!  Finished up the meal with some brown basmati rice, and Ta-Dah!  Speaking of finishing up, I drained the beautiful Barbaresco from an earlier dinner.  Delightful!

 

Dateline: January 18, 2021 Curried Vegetables with Chick Peas

 I had to clean out the vegetable bin and decided to try a prepared curry spice mix that I had. I used Shah's Vegetable Masala mix.

Ingredients

2 T ghee or olive oil

1/2 head napa cabbage, chopped in chunks

1/4 head green cabbage, chopped in chunks

2 carrots, peeled, chopped into chunks

4 stalks of celery, chopped into 2 in pieces

1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into large chunks

1 broccoli crown, peeled and cut into large chunks

1.5 c chunked butternut squash

1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded

1/4 polano pepper, chopped and seeded

1 small celeriac root, peeled, and chunked

1 large onion, sliced stem to root

2 T ginger, chopped and minced

2 T garlic, chopped and minced

2 Roma tomatoes cut into quarters

1 c chopped diced tomatoes, I used what was left from the can from the day before

equal amounts of tuscan kale and collard greens, stemmed and chopped in thick ribbons

2 T white poppy seeds

4 T Shah's vegetable masala powder, divided, 3 T and 1 T

1.5 c stock, I used chicken, but use what you have or water

1 can drained chick peas

Method

1.  Thoroughly blend and mash up the ginger and garlic together into a paste.  I used a spice grinder with a special cup and blend for wet ingredients.  Remove and hold aside.

2.  Heat up Instant Pot on saute setting.  When hot, add ghee and melt.  Then add onions and peppers.  Stir to coat and soften.  When softened and fragrant, add in the ginger garlic paste and stir to distribute.  Some of it will stick, try to scrap it up as best you can.  You will get rest when you add stock.  Add 3 T of the vegetable masala powder.  Stir to incorporate.

3.  Add cauliflower, broccoli, butternut squash, celeraic, celery, and chopped tomatoes.  Stir to coat all veggies with the paste in the pot.  Add 1 c of the stock or water, and scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the instant pot.  

4.  In a blender or spice grinder, put as many tomato quarters as can fit and the 2 T white poppy seeds.  The poppy seeds will help thicken the curry and will bind with the tomato juice and pulp.  Blitz up and add any remaining tomato quarters and blitz until well combined.  Contents will appear very thick and somewhat gelatinous.  This is a good thing.  Add to the pot of veggies.

5.  Stir well and add the leafy greens, cabbages, and the rest of the stock, if necessary.  Mix well.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 T of masala powder and stir again.  

6.  Press cancel. Set pot to Pressure Cook on Low for 5 minutes.  Use quick release.

7.  Open lid when pressure has released and stir contents.  Taste and adjust seasoning, if necessary.  There is plenty of salt and pepper in the veggie masala mix.  Add chick peas and stir.  If the veggies are cooked, then put on Keep Warm.  Serve with rice.

I over cooked the veggies by using 10 minutes of pressure on high.  DON'T DO THAT.  That is why I suggested 5 minutes on low pressure.  Veggies will remain in bigger chunks, flavor will not be effected if you over cook, but texture is!

This was really good, albeit, overcooked!  Bill was very happy and forgot all about the fact that there was no meat in the meal, except for the stock.