Quinoa Adobo Chile

The family and I recently attended the 2014 American Adventurist Mountain Rendezvous.  This is a fantastic event, and one half of their semi-annual series that gets together over a hundred Overlanding-oriented families and their rigs. 

Photo courtesy of Brent Haywood Photography

Many recent events have featured a Dutch Oven competition, and I wanted to participate this year.  As with many potluck events that we attend as a family, my goal was  to cook something vegetarian-friendly so my wife would be assured a meal.  We never like to impose her choices on anyone else and it's frankly ridiculous to assume.  In addition to being vegetarian, this recipe is also (accidentally) gluten free and could be full-vegan by either omitting the chocolate or using semi-sweet or other milk-less chocolate.  I had a lot of positive comments on this dish, and at least a half dozen requests for the recipe, so I consider it a great success. 

Pre-heating the oven. Photo by Kimberley Newmark

The other great success of my weekend was getting to use my freshly-built firepot tripod.  This shameless DIY clone of the excellent Roadii Firegrill (prohibitively expensive in the USA since they're built in the UK), was desperately needed due to local drought-induced fire restrictions.  It is wonderfully convenient to be able to set up my lightweight fire system anywhere that's safe and not have to bend or stoop to manage the coals or the dutch oven.  I've also got an adjustable grill-grate on cables for when I want to use it for grilling. 

Notes: 
The quinoa is already a complete protein, but adding the soy meat gives nice texture, flavor, and makes it extra filling. Substituting turkey or other ground meat will add nice flavors as well! This recipe is designed for a 14″(8qt) dutch oven and produces a nice thick chili.  Obviously it can also be prepared at home over direct heat or baked in a 350° oven.  I can't take full credit for the recipe, as I adapted it from one I found at camp-cook.com, but here's my version "as prepared":

Quinoa Adobo Chili

Directions: 

Ingredients: 
1 cup quinoa (easiest to prepare in advance, per below)
2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1.5 tablespoon cumin 
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 cans of black beans (recommend unrinsed unless sodium intake is a factor)
12oz (1 package) Lightlife Smart Ground Mexican Style soy filling (alt: 3/4lb of ground Turkey or TVP)
3+ tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive oil 
1 onion, diced 
1 cup corn (For best flavor, roast your own or use Trader Joe's Roasted/frozen corn)
6 cloves garlic, minced 
1 quart of canned diced tomatoes
1-2 cups water 
2 red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, diced large
1 large or 2 small zucchini, diced large
2-4 chipotle peppers and as much adobo sauce as you can drain from a small can (4 peppers makes for good heat without being overwhelming)
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate, chips or broken into chunks (I used Belgian 75% cacao, omit or use 100%/milkless chocolate for vegan )
1 bunch of cilantro 
2 limes
salt and pepper to taste 

Photo by Kimberley Newmark

Prior to departure:

1. Rinse the quinoa in a strainer until clear water is running through it.
2. Toast the quinoa for about 3 minutes in a cast iron skillet.
3. When toasted, add 2 cups of the vegetable broth to the skillet, cover, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. The quinoa is done when it starts to split open. Resist urge to season at this point, you're just prepping an ingredient.
4. Cool and bag or vacuum pack the quinoa for the trip
5. Measure and combine cinnamon, cumin, chile powder, and paprika into a tightly sealed container or ziplock bag
6. If sodium intake is a factor, you can rinse black beans and bag them now, however I prefer to include the starchy liquid from the can to help thicken the chili and add flavor. It's also way more convenient to just bring the cans. Likely no added salt will be needed if you use the liquid.
7. You can optionally dice and bag your veggies now as well, but I am recently forbidden from transporting cut onions in our camper's fridge, so I elected to prep the veg on-site.

Simmering away over the coals. Photo by Kimberley Newmark

In camp:

1. Pre-heat the 14″ dutch oven with a solid circle of ~28 briquettes on the bottom.
2. Chop the Onion and mince garlic.
3. Dice peppers and zucchini, if not done at home.
4. When Dutch oven is hot, add the olive oil & onions. Saute the onions until they start to change color then add the garlic and veggie "meat". Just brown the soy meat for texture, but cook until no-longer pink if using real meat (about 2 min).
5. Add chipotles and adobo sauce and the dry spices. Stir mixture for about 3 minutes.
6. Add the tomatoes and their liquid, black beans, bell peppers, quinoa, zucchini, and ~1 cup of water. Mix well.
7. Move 1/2 the briquettes to the lid of the Dutch oven to form a ring. Reform the bottom briquettes into one ring.
8. Let mixture simmer for about 15 min then mix in the chocolate.
9. Check thickness of chili: If mixture is too tight, add water and let it simmer covered for another 5 min. If too loose, remove the lid and let simmer uncovered 5-10 minutes to thicken.
10. Garnish with fresh cilantro and a slice of lime. (Can't emphasize this enough - the late addition of acid really brightens up all the veggies!)

Enjoy!

Photo by Kimberley Newmark

a typical Summer dinner.

There's a reason Summer is a celebrated season in so many parts of the world.  If you're a child, it means weeks or months of time away from school.  Depending on where you live, it might represent the time when the sun finally conquers the snow or rain, or it might be the time when certain favorite fruits and vegetables finally become available again.

Recent immigrants and visitors to San Diego like to complain about the lack of seasons here.  They remark how much they miss the proper seasons of their home (though I notice that most seem hesitant to leave.)  For those of us who've been here most (or all) of our lives, however, there are definitely distinct seasons, each with their own flavors, scents, and feelings.  Yes, the changes are more understated.  I prefer to think we San Diegans are in-tune enough with our environment that we don't need some garish lightshow of leaves changing colors to know when Autumn has arrived, or the first snowstorm to know when Winter is coming.  We can smell these in the air, and sense it in the way the sun feels on our skin.

Summer arrives with similar subtlety.  It is not the sudden brash arrival of hot days, we can have those any time of the year.  It is not the remarkable absence of rain or snow - they are rare enough to be a curiosity (or a miracle) in any month.  Summer in San Diego is the end of "May Grey" and "June Gloom".  The shift in humidity and the lack of onshore flow from the Pacific changes everything.  If you're an early riser, you'll smell the change in the native sagebrush as it starts to dry out and prepare for the late-summer bloom. The transition period can be a rough one for those prone to hayfever or allergies.

One of the markers of Summer we notice the most is the difference around dusk.  The sun sits higher in the sky, so porticos and pergolas have provided cooling shade through the day, but the days are longer.  As the sun finds the horizon, oblique, orange light filters in under our precious canopies and casts a glow on these spaces.   Evening mealtime tends to coincide with sunsets and the cooling breezes that seem to rush out as the sun finds the ocean.  

So of course, Summer for my family means dining outside.  Between late June and early October, it seems we take almost every evening meal on our patio (to the point we tend to allow the dining room table to become covered in junk mail and preschool art work.)  On many days, dining outside happens out of pure necessity; all the food comes from the grill, as putting any energy into the home envelope via cooking would be an act of madness.

On this evening, our meal begins with a simple salad of grape tomatoes, ciliegine mozzarella, and homegrown basil tossed with just a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

This day was cool enough that using the oven was not utter suicide, so I roasted a half-sheet worth of halved Brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil and salt.  Since the oven was already hot, it was an easy choice to add a second half-sheet, filled with quartered red potatoes herbed with fresh oregano and thyme from the garden.  

These alone with a glass of Chardonnay from our favorite local winery is enough for my wife the vegetarian.  My daughter and I split some nearly-healthy chicken piccata (with a minimum of flour and omitting the butter).  I'm impressed and proud that she likes such strong flavors in her chicken, but I only wish the same were true for the Brussels sprouts.

I admit, this meal is built of what some would call "Fall" flavors, but by July we have already gorged ourselves on early-arrival "Summer fare" from Mother's garden.  Corn, green beans, and peaches have to be eaten immediately.  The "Second Summer" of homegrown nectarines and tomatoes is coming, though. Visitors and newcomers probably won't tell you, but the locals with good internal clocks and calendars know that Summer came slowly in 2014.  June Gloom lasted into July this year, so Summer arrived late.  Will that mean Fall arrives late as well?  If you are curious, come October, find a local and ask them.