Turkey Pumpkin Chili

New apartment, plus reunited with the big ol' dutch oven - time for chili.  I was originally looking up bison recipes, but the Whole Foods website had another intriguing recommendation (notwithstanding the nearest location's limited meat selection lacking a pretty key ingredient...):

Recipe

1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 jalapenos, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
1 c water
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 can (14 oz) kidney beans
corn (optional)
olive oil, salt & pepper

Heat some oil medium-high, and add the onion, green pepper, jalapeno, and garlic.  Once that's soft, brown your turkey.  Then add the tomatoes, pumpkin, water, and spices.  Bring to a boil, lower heat, and add the beans (and corn if you want).  Simmer 30 minutes or so.

Notes

Solid chili option, feels like it could plausibly be healthy...  The pumpkin really didn't come through much, which was a little disappointing when I was hoping for a nice hearty fall meal.  Overall a nice mix of sweet and spicy though!

Chipotle Quinoa Pilaf

The trouble with vegetarian recipes is that everything tastes like a side dish to me.  This one may actually be best used as a side...  From America's Test Kitchen:

Recipe

1 1/2 c quinoa

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped fine

1 tsp chipotle chile powder (I assume this is different from normal chile powder but went with the one I've got handy)

1/4 tsp cumin

13/4 c water

2 oz queso fresco

1/2 c roasted unsalted peanuts, chopped coarse

2 scallions, sliced

4 tsp lime juice

Toast the quinoa in a saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring, about 5 minutes (until popping and smells nice).  Set aside.

Melt your butter in the saucepan (medium-low now), and add the onion, chile powder, cumin, and a sprinkle of salt, until onion is soft and golden.

Heat back to medium high, add the water and quinoa, cover, and simmer about 20 minutes.

Garnish with cheese, peanuts, scallions, and lime juice.

Sesame Night: Sesame-Crusted Salmon with Green Beans

If tonight were a super-amateur, no-time-limit episode of Chopped, the subtitle would be "Open Sesame"...  and that pretty much gives away what the not-so-secret ingredient was.  I gave myself a pass through the appetizer round, and never made it to dessert - does that mean I chopped myself?!  In any case, here's tonight's main course:

Sesame-Crusted Salmon (via ATK)

2 salmon fillets - skinless (didn't notice until now :/ )
1/4 c sesame seeds (or more...)
2 scallions
1/2 lemon, zest & juice
2 tsp tahini
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
cayenne pepper
oil, salt & pepper

Make a brine: 1 quart of water, 2 tbsp salt.  Soak your sesame seeds in just enough brine, salmon in the rest.  After 5 minutes, drain and toast your sesame seeds in a skillet until golden brown.

Mince the scallion whites, combine with lemon zest, and mix in with the lemon juice, tahini, ginger, and a sprinkle of cayenne and salt.  Coat the bottom of your salmon in the paste, then coat in seeds, then do the same with the other side.  Heat some oil in your (wiped) skillet and cook your salmon skinned side up until seeds start to brown, then turn off heat, flip salmon, and pop in the oven at 325 for 10-15 minutes.  Sprinkle with scallion greens before eating.

Sesame Green Beans (via Reddit)

1/2 lb green beans, trimmed
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp lemon juice (half a lemon?)
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp sriracha
1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
oil

Toss your green beans with some (neutral?) oil and roast at 450 for 10-15 minutes - should see some carmelization.  Mix the sauces, then toss in the beans.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Blackberry Glazed Pork Chops

These taste a lot fancier than the amount of effort required to make them! That and a short ingredients list makes these a great dish to impress on the fly...the recipe calls for blackberries, but raspberries work too! (You get a deeper sweeter taste with blackberries. With raspberries, the dish is tangier, more tart.)

(from PaleOMG)

INGREDIENTS:
(2-4 servings)

1-2 lbs. pork chops
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper
12 ounce fresh blackberries (OR RASPBERRIES!)
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Turn grill on.

2. Place pork chops on a plate and cover both sides with cinnamon, thyme, salt, and pepper. Press the spices into the chops.

3. While the grill heats up, place a small saucepan over medium heat and add blackberries, balsamic vinegar, water, and a pinch of salt.

4. Stir sauce frequently to avoid burning on the bottom as it mixes and heats up.

5. Turn heat to low and let sauce simmer for 3-5 minutes.

6. Pour half the sauce into a bowl for glazing purposes. (You can leave the blackberries in the pot, since those look best on top of the chops later.)

7. Use a glazing brush to glaze one side of your chops then place that glazed side down onto your grill.

8. Then glaze the other side, cover grill and let cook for 5-7 minutes per side. Glaze as much as you want...3-4 times preferably.

9. Plate chops and top with the leftover blackberry sauce that has been simmering and thickening up.

Buddha Bowls

This looked like a worthwhile vegetarian recipe to try!  Why Buddha?  Supposedly it's a heaping, bulging bowl that fills you up, also no animals were harmed in the making of the meal...

Recipe

Veggies
1 sweet potato, halved (or pre-chopped, not sure why not...)
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 bundle broccolini, stemmed and chopped
1-2 handfuls kale, chopped

Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed & patted dry
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
Optional: oregano, turmeric

Sauce
1/4 c tahini
1 tbsp maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon

Start roasting your sweets (skin side down) and onions at 400 degrees, drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper.  After 10 minutes, flip your sweets and add the broccolini, drizzling again...  After another 10, add the kale and drizzle again...  Bake 5 more minutes until ready to go!

Meanwhile, toss the chickpeas with the seasonings and saute in some oil, turning up the heat to brown as needed.  Also mix together the sauce, adding hot water to make it thinner and easier to spread.  Combine and eat!

Notes

Lots of great ingredients in there!  If anything, I over-drizzled and that kind of took over.  It's easy enough to do and adjust as your ingredients dictate, just keep an eye on the roast timing!

One-Pot Pasta Primavera

That one pot is pulling its weight these days...  Here's the next episode of one-pot preparations, plus the latest Meatless Monday.  Original recipe here.

Recipe

4 c vegetable broth
1/2 lb linguine
1 onion, sliced
1 lb broccoli florets
1 1/2 lbs asparagus, tough ends snapped off, cut into 1-2" pieces
4 oz mushrooms, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 c frozen peas
1/4 c heavy cream
parsley, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest
olive oil, crushed red pepper, salt & pepper

Add the broth, pasta, onion, broccoli, asparagus, shrooms, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to your (one) pot, and drizzle over some olive oil.  Bring to a boil; once it's there, cook 7 or so minutes, tossing with tongs.  Add the peas, cream, parsley, Parm, and lemon zest, and cook another couple minutes, until everything is basically done.  Let cool and thicken, then serve!

Notes

That's a long list of ingredients, but it probably works as a choose-your-own-vegetarian-adventure - however much you feel like chopping and tossing in a pot of whatever plants and fungi you have lying around.  Really good!  I about two-thirded things, which left me with more liquid than I expected.  The broth was delicious, though!  I didn't bother with cream, just added a splash of milk (and tons of cheese) for that dairy goodness.  Almost as good as porky ramen broth...

One-Pot Chicken & Rice

Kicking off something of a one-pot cooking theme...  I don't usually think of the New York Times' Cooking section first for easy recipes, but this one hits a nice balance.

Recipe

1 onion, sliced
1+ lbs chicken (skinless)
3/4 c white rice
olive oil, salt & pepper
extras: saffron, parsley, cilantro, lemon/lime
optional: chicken sausage!

Start to boil 1 1/2 c water, and heat some olive oil medium-high in a skillet.  Cook your onions with some salt & pepper until soft and translucent.  Add the rice and stir until coated in oil.  (Stir in saffron if you're fancy like that.)  Nestle in your chicken, add the boiling water, and cover.  Simmer about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through (very important), rice is soft (somewhat important), and the water has been absorbed/boiled away (not very important).  Garnish and serve!

Notes

Aside from saffron, it's got super simple, straightforward ingredients - and not many!  Not a lot of prep either - just slicing the onion.  I used boneless, skinless thighs, just plopped in whole.  I also added a sprinkle of frozen veggies to round out the food groups.  Fast, easy, not Halal Guys but still tasty!

I didn't get the ratio of liquids quite right so it didn't come out as picturesque as NYT's, but will definitely try again and update with visuals if I do better!