Gingerly, Saucily, and Meatily

Having already fed our minds today with the Contango post, it is time to feed our bellies!  I broke out three recipes today (two of which were new to me), and all came out with a tasty-yet-pretty-easy consensus, so I am passing them on - along with lazy people (aka cooks like me) tips/comments in blue:


Spicy Italian Sausage Lentil Soup
Recipe and pic adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen, a great resource for easy and healthy (and low-carb) recipes

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (5 links) turkey Italian sausage (I like the hot/spicy kind, and used turkey sausage to be healthier)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground fennel (I can never find this in the grocery store, and am too lazy to grind it myself, so I just throw in some 'italian' seasoning that came with my spice rack)
1 T minced garlic (let's be honest here - I use the chopped garlic that comes in a little glass jar)
1 cup slow roasted tomatoes, finely chopped
1 can diced tomatoes with juice (if you don't have roasted tomatoes, which I never do, use 2 cans diced tomatoes, with liquid plus 2 T tomato paste)
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) mashed slightly
1/2 cup brown lentils (I bumped up to 1 cup)
4 cups chicken stock
4 cups water
2-3 T fresh chopped basil (optional, I am usually too lazy to buy/use)
freshly grated parmesan cheese (optional, again I usually don't bother)

Instructions:
Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 F. Lightly grease roasting pan with olive oil, place sausages on pan and roast about 40 minutes, until skins are slightly hardened and browned. When sausage has cooled slightly, cut into half lengthwise, then slice.

While sausage roasts, heat olive oil in heavy soup pot and saute onions about 5 minutes, until softened and barely starting to color. Add oregano, fennel, and garlic and saute 2-3 minutes more. Add roasted tomatoes, diced canned tomatoes, chicken stock, water, garbanzo beans, and lentils. Simmer 40-60 minutes, until lentils are very soft and starting to slightly break apart.

Add sliced sausage to soup. Deglaze roasting pan with 1 cup water, scraping off all browned bits on the bottom of pan, and add to soup. Simmer 30 minutes more. Stir in fresh basil if using and cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve hot, with freshly grated parmesan cheese if desired.

Great with a side of toasted italian bread or pita bread!


Spicy Sauteed Garbanzo Beans with Beef
Recipe (and pic) also adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen
Ingredients:
1/2 lb. low fat ground beef
1 tsp. plus 1 T extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp Spike Seasoning (optional, I used a random Tex Mex seasoning we had on hand)
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drain and save liquid
chicken stock to add to chickpea liquid if needed to make 2 cups (I didn't need any)
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. ground chipotle chile powder, more or less to taste (No surprise, couldn't find this in the tiny NYC grocery store. Used normal chili powder, and served with a dash of chipotle hot sauce)
1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro (I ignored this one)

Instructions:

Drain chickpeas into a colander, saving liquid. Add chicken stock to chickpea liquid to make 2 cups, set aside. (If it's close enough to 2 cups, which mine was, ignore the stock thing).

Heat 1 tsp. olive oil in a large deep frying pan over high heat, then add ground beef, crumbling into pieces as you put it into the pan, and seasoning with Spike Seasoning if desired. Use a metal turner to stir and break up the meat while you start to brown it, about 3 minutes. When meat is fairly broken up, add chickpeas. Keeping heat high, saute meat and chickpeas together until meat is well browned and chickpeas are quite brown and starting to pop, about 10 minutes. (If the mixture starts to stick turn down the heat a tiny bit.)

Add ground cumin, ground chipotle chile powder, and minced garlic and cook a minute more. Add reserved cooking liquid (with added stock if needed to make 2 cups). Scrape the bottom of the pan with turner to loosen any browned bits, season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 5-10 minutes. (The liquid in mine took more like 15 mins to reduce)

Turn off heat, stir in chopped cilantro and 1 T olive oil. Taste to see if it needs more salt or pepper, then serve hot. The picture shows a giant bowl of this stuff, but I found it a bit heavy (though delicious!). Probably a ramekin-sized serving is plenty, served with bread/salad/yogurt sauce/something a little less intense.

Ginger Cookies

 Adopted from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (Too fancy - I just used normal iodized salt that I had)
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
1 extra-large egg, at room temperature (I just took mine from the fridge - oh well!)
1 1/4 cups chopped crystallized ginger (6 ounces) (Mine was actually candied crystallized ginger from Trader Joe's. Worked just fine, and was pretty darn cheap)
Granulated sugar, for rolling the cookies

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper (I ignored - cookies did fine without greasing or parchment paper).

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and salt and then combine the mixture with your hands (What?? Didn't see any point to mixing via hand - used a wooden spoon). In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (I don't have one - though I drool over the thought of a non-NYC kitchen where one wouldn't take up 2/3 of my available counter space - so I just used a normal hand mixer and it was fine, though after awhile it was sticky enough I was afraid it would burn out the dinky hand mixer motor so mixed by hand - good exercise!), beat the brown sugar, oil, and molasses on medium speed for 5 minutes. Turn the mixer to low speed, add the egg, and beat for 1 minute. Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula and beat for 1 more minute. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the crystallized ginger and mix until combined.

Scoop the dough with 2 spoons or a small ice cream scoop. With your hands, roll each cookie into a 1 3/4-inch ball and then flatten them lightly with your fingers. Press both sides of each cookie in granulated sugar and place them on the sheet pans. Bake for exactly 13 minutes. The cookies will be crackled on the top and soft inside. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Yum, these were good! But very serious on the ginger - don't attempt if you don't like ginger/gingerbread!