Tag Archives: Cooking

The big questions of life

Alright folks. I need your help here. See, I live in an apartment with very little storage space in the kitchen.

Thanks to my parents and a timely trip to Ikea, a butcher’s block and a metal shelf have given us a little more room to stash our kitchen loot.

But as you can see, we’re not exactly swimming in space, especially when food prep is going on. (By the way, that’s One-Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi in the works, recipe forthcoming.)

My spice collection alone takes up the entire top section of the grid we built to serve as our ‘pantry.’

In fact, we had to move our microwave, mugs, tea supplies and coffee maker into the dining room because there’s simply no more room in the kitchen.

I’m a firm believer in non-gadgetry. Okay, maybe a semi-firm believer. But I really don’t want to clutter up my kitchen with appliances and kitchen fad gadgets I don’t use. That’s why the lazy Susan had to go. That’s why the George Foreman had to go. I simply didn’t use them.

However, I’ve been dreaming. And this dream includes a beautiful vision of a food processor (Cuisinart or KitchenAid). I’ve been going back and forth in my mind–will I use it enough to make it worth the space? Here are the things I would probably use it for: making Thai curry pastes; making Indian curry pastes; throwing together a pie crust with a few pulses; making wet rubs to slather on meat; making tapenades; making pesto.

Now I have done almost all these things either by hand or with a combination of knives, my mortar and pestle, and my blender. But see, this one machine would do it all! And–I think–save me time.

I really don’t know. I really just don’t know. I really, really, just don’t know (Monty Python, anyone?).

So I’m reaching out to you. I know I count many amazing (and some professional) cooks among my readers and friends, so please tell me: do you own a food processor? How often do you use it? Do I need one?

I really can’t make up my mind.

Love,

Helplessly Indecisive in the Kitchen (Chicago, IL)

Quick & Easy Chickpea Curry

 

This recipe is another Tasty Kitchen winner, shared by Amy from Very Culinary in this post. It immediately had appeal to me for many reasons, starting with the ‘quick’ factor, continuing with the onion and garlic, and ending with the spinach. My stomach clamoring for the dish, I quickly made it a priority to cook up a batch. And is it ever good!

It takes only 30 minutes or less to get on the table, but the flavor is wonderful and deep, as if it had been cooking for much longer. And in case you still need convincing, it’s cheap and healthy and vegetarian (if you dig that thang). In fact, if you want to be a hog-wild health-a-tron, you could even leave out the 2 TBS of butter. So grab ye a can of chickpeas, and let’s make this.

Side note: do you think I should change the name of this blog to “The Health-a-Jenna-Tron”? It has a certain ring to it. Then again, with my liberal use of heavy whipping cream and butter, I may be nailed for misleading the innocent. However, I do plan on using the new adjective ‘healthatronic’ or the noun ‘healthatronicon’ from here on out. Webster’s dictionary, take note!

Ingredients

4 TBS olive oil

1 large onion

2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 TBS fresh)

5 cloves garlic

1 TBS sugar

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp salt

pepper, to taste

2 TBS tomato paste

1-15 oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained

1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1 TBS lemon juice

2 TBS butter

4 cups spinach (or 1 bag)

1/2 cup water

First, dice the onion.

Do a quick mince on the garlic.

Please don’t be afraid of using 5 cloves. For me 5 cloves = holding waaaaay back. My soul was whispering “Use 12 cloves! Use 12! You know you want to!” I think it’s unhealthy to ignore your soul, so next time I will heed its voice. (My voice? Its voice? My voice?: to be discussed in the very far future, possibly by somebody different on a different blog)

If you’re using fresh ginger (I would have, but my gingeroot had become a dry shriveled beast in the fridge), mince that up too. Oh, and drain the can of chickpeas.

Prep work = done!

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, sugar, salt, black pepper, and curry powder.

Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently so that the curry powder doesn’t burn.

Add the tomato paste . . .

. . . and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring to incorporate it evenly.

Add the drained can of chickpeas, the can of diced tomatoes (with the liquid),

the lemon juice,

and the butter.

Give it all a lovely stir! My it’s smelling good around these parts.

Simmer it uncovered for 10-12 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender but not mushy.

Now! Stir in the water . . .

. . . and the spinach. I used a whole bag, and I didn’t regret it for one second. It’s healthatronic for you.

Stir the mess about until the spinach is just wilted (about 2 more minutes).

Perfect! Now taste and re-season with more salt and pepper if needed.

Serve the curry over steaming hot rice.

So good.

Let’s move in for the kill.

Besides being incredibly flavorful, it’s also so beautifully colorful! Like a small fiesta is taking place on my plate, mariachi band and everything.

What a perfect weeknight dinner.

And on that note, I am so glad that the week is almost halfway over. I don’t know what it is about my eyelids this week, but they seemed to have gained weight over the weekend and become particularly difficult to prop open.

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