Smoky Vegetarian Crock Pot Baked Beans

After a trip to the southern BBQ joint Blue Smoke, I was craving some more warm, tangy baked beans. I figured it would be easy enough to make in my crock pot. I was also lucky enough to receive a jar of Catskills homemade maple syrup as a gift from Jesse's coworker - I don't know how he made it, but his syrup has a crazy smoky flavor! So it was perfect for whipping up a smoky barbecue sauce to coat the beans. Thanks to the special syrup, this recipe tasted great without any bacon or pork (as baked beans traditionally include), but I think I'd be happy making these vegetarian again even without the benefit of the smoke.

Smoky Vegetarian Crock Pot Baked Beans

2 cups dried beans
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp smoky maple syrup
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp salt
several grinds of pepper

The night before, place dried beans in bowl to soak, filled with water about two inches above the beans.
Whisk together remaining ingredients and reserve in an airtight container in the fridge overnight.
The next morning, drain and rinse beans. Combine beans, barbecue sauce, and 1 1/2 cup of water in crock pot and stir until beans are coated in sauce. Let cook on low approximately 4 hours, turn to high for 2-3 hours, and then turn to low until ready to serve.

Dark Days Challenge Week 4: Lamb and Vegetable Stew

Now that I go to the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturdays, I have a much wider selection than I'm used to. I even saw venison this week - I didn't think it was legal to sell that! (Jesse loves venison, but I didn't buy it...to give him incentive to join me on next week's trip to the Greenmarket so that he can get it and I can have company). What I did end up getting was lamb from 3-Corner Field Farm in Shushan, NY (200 miles away, near Saratoga Springs but nestled in a valley on the border of New York and Vermont). I'm kind of obsessed with this farm now. Just look at how cute those sheep look in the photo on their website. I've already decided that next weekend I'm going to buy lamb shanks so I can make their recipe for lamb shanks with red wine, garlic, and rosemary. Maybe with mashed potatoes and turnips. Can you tell I plan my meals too far in advance?


This week, I've just started reading In Defense of Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planc, which champions "real food," such as meat, milk and vegetables, that humans have eaten for thousands of years, over the modern glut of industrialized foods. She makes the interesting point that it is nutritionally beneficial to eat meat, butter, and cheese, which in this age are all feared for the threat of cholesterol, as long as they come from pasture-raised animals. I know I've heard this before, but can't quite remember where (Omnivore's Dilemna or maybe Animal, Vegetable, Miracle?) and Planc provides scientific evidence to back up her theories, but as a psych major, I remain skeptical because I haven't done the research myself. Yet, it was great to see 3-Corner Field Farm's website reaffirm the claim that naturally raised, grass fed lamb contains more omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), vitamin E, which are all linked to lower risks of heart disease and cancer, than factory-farmed meat.


I know environmentalists are advocating vegetarianism to save the planet and humanity, but I think the better route is to eat humanely and naturally-raised meat from local farms and to eat it sparingly. Humans are omnivores and should continue to eat meat as they have since forever, but they should do it with a conscience. This argument is hot topic right now, which I recently read on Jen's inpiring food blog Last Night's Dinner and in the New York Times, thanks to Mark Bittman. And this is something that even I struggle with. I know I shouldn't always eat meat when I'm out at restaurants, when I know nothing about the path of that slaughtered animal to my table. I know I shouldn't cook so much meat at home. But I don't think that soy protein every day is healthy and I am surprised by so many vegetarians I know (including myself during college) who blindly eat processed foods up the wazoo in the form of veggie burgers and fake bacon without knowing what they're actually eating or its impact on their environment. I have a boyfriend who feels he must eat meat almost daily to feel healthy and satisfied. My personal choice then for our household is to only cook meats that are pasture-raised and procured from local farms, and to supplant meat-based meals with lots of vegetables and/or beans so that they can be stretched into multiple servings and leftovers. I'm also going to try to remember to eat fish at least once a week and to cook vegetarian meals (look forward to lots of beans) at least once a week. This choice makes me feel happy (to eat great food and support local farms) and healthy (to eat food that is better at providing nutrients than supermarket food).


Back to what I made today - I bought boneless pieces of lamb shoulder that are perfet for stewing, and combined them in my crock pot (which doesn't get nearly enough action to justify its existence) with one of every vegetable from my fridge. It was done in less than six hours while I was busy (or actually, lazy) doing other things this afternoon - easy and so delicious. It reminded me of the simple beef and vegetable stews that my mother frequently made in her crockpot when I was growing up. The long time in the crockpot really mellowed out the flavors of the lamb and vegetables, while intensifying the water into a sweet broth. Jesse paired his with quinoa, a grain that originated in the Andes and provides a balanced set of amino acids (pictured above), while I enjoyed mine with lightly toasted homemade wheat bread because I'm not overly fond of quinoa. This stew was the perfect ending to a cold afternoon walk with my boy and my dog in Prospect Park.


And I just couldn't resist posting this photo of my dog Spencer, who is too cute in his plaid winter jacket that is (suprise) made from recycled plastic fabric.


Lamb and Vegetable Stew

1 1/2 lb lamb meat (I used boneless shoulder meat)
1 onion
1 large clove garlic
1 parsnip
1 turnip
1 potatoee
1/2 bunch kale
3 cups water
2 tsp dried rosemary and thyme
salt and pepper

Chop lamb and vegetables into 1-inch cubes. Combine all ingredients in a crock pot and cook, covered, on low heat about 5-7 hours.

This post is part of the Dark Days Challenge, in which I prepare at least one meal each week comprised of mostly local ingredients. All ingredients for this meal were found at Greenmakets from farms within approximately 250 miles away, except except for the spices and Jesse's quinoa bought in bulk at Fairway.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Mashed Potatoes and Salad

By misuse of technology, I lost the pictures of this meal. But the description still remains. This meal begins with the barbecue I had earlier this summer. Our neighbors had given us a pork roast, and cooking it for the bbq was my first experience cooking pork. To my delight, after eight hours on low in the crock pot, it turned into pulled pork when I went to slice it.

Weeks later when I was at the Greenmarket, I was waiting in line to get chicken or lamb or whatever I usually get from the nice man from Dines Farms. He has quite a following, always long lines, and sad exclamations from people when he's out of his variations of chicken sausage, and people place their order ahead of time to be sure they get what they want before he runs out, and he even gives out his cell number for orders. I try to get all my meat from him, though sometimes I run out and have to make do with "supermarket" meat. So there I saw - aha he sells pork roast - I could buy and make it again! Because I am always trying to make myself use my crock pot more. And because Jesse didn't get to try the pulled pork at our bbq because he was too busy at the grill! So I bought a roast and threw it into the freezer, unsure of when I would make it.

I decided to make it for this Saturday's dinner, after a long week of working overtime and before Jesse headed off to LA for a few days. Then, since it turned out that roommate and a friend were joining us, I decided to bolster the meal with sides - a Greenmarket salad, and my first time making mashed potatoes. Growing up, I hated mashed potatoes - it falls into the category of things I don't like because of creamy texture: mashed potatoes, whipped cream, yogurt, frosting on cakes from bakeries. But then my roommate made me mashed potatoes and now I'm all into them, I think because hers has tasty chunks amid the mashed potatoes and because I'm slowly getting over my picky standards from childhood.

The pork turned out nice and juicy, although it took longer than I thought it would. Unfortunately the rolls I selected from a local bakery for assembling the sandwiches were stale, so that wasn't great because it made the sandwiches tough to bite into, and many pieces of roll were left discarded on the plates. It would have been much better to use soft hamburger rolls like at my bbq. The mashed potatoes were fine, I think it would be pretty hard to mess up mashed potatoes. My friend in attendance, also named Julia, thought the salad was awesome - I chalk it to the juicy tomatoes and homemade breadcrumbs and Cindy's Kitchen, my favorite brand of salad dressing. Then today, Jesse proclaimed that he doesn't want to eat pork anymore because it felt so fattening. In fact, he felt it was so gross that it almost made him want to become a vegetarian (he who must eat a protein, preferably meat, at every meal). And that is exactly the reason why my mother never made pork growing up and why this will remain one of my few forays into cooking it, probably ever.

Pulled Pork Sandwiches

Slice 1/2 onion into long, thin slices. Brush approx. 2lb pork roast in barbecue sauce on all sides. Put both in crock pot with few more dabs of bbq sauce, salt, and pepper. Cook on low for eight hours. Depending on the size of the roast, it may need to cook longer. I cooked mine on low for six hours and then on high for another two and a half hours. It is done when you slice into it and don't see any pink. Lightly toast four hamburger buns and top with dollop of bbq sauce. Pull pork out with a fork and heap on each bun. Serves four.

Mashed Potatoes with Scallions

Bring pot of water to boil, with salt. Meanwhile, chop two large yukon gold potatoes into 1-inch pieces. Also mince one clove garlic. Add potatoes and garlic to water, cover, bring to boil again, and then uncover and continue to boil until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes in collander and then return to pot. Mash with a wooden spoon, leaving chunks. Add salt, pepper, 1/4 cup milk, 1 spoonful of butter, and a diced scallion and combine with potatoes.

Salad

In a bowl rubbed with a garlic clove I combined the following ingredients picked up at the greenmarket that morning: 1 juicy tomato, cut into small chunks; 1/2 onion diced; 1 clove garlic, minced; 4 handfuls of mixed greens, rinsed and patted dry; homemade croutons made a week earlier out of stale bread, salt, peper, garlic powder, other dry spices, toasted in the oven for 20 min and stored in tupperware until its use this night; all tossed with Cindy's Kitchen Honey Dijon Vinaigrette.

Enjoy with a nice white beer and friends.