I think we got more rain after Hermine passed than the initial blast. That made riding the bike around just impossible.
Well, when it rains and is crappy out, you have to find shelter. Where else better than a kitchen with a gallon of good beer? Oh yeah, and food.
I was going for Eggplant Parmesan, but I decided to get creative and make it into a chili too.
Start with skinning & dicing two small eggplants. Throw some salt on it & get it to “sweat” the bitterness out. You can put it in a colander so that the liquid drains easily. Let that sit for about twenty minutes and saute it in a pan with a little bit of oil until it’s browned.
In a large pot, take a diced yellow onion, four chopped tomatoes, a minced clove of garlic,1t salt, 2T of oil and set the pot on medium, mixing occasionally. It will eventually be a base marinara(stop there if you want marinara).
This stuff is going to be marinara soon. Then chili after.
Mince up a couple of your favorite peppers(I used a Hungarian wax & a datil), grab 2T of Italian spices(oregano, basil, thyme, sage, etc.) and throw those in the pot with the marinara.
Fresh from the garden. Doesn’t get much better.
We’re getting there.
Once everything is incorporated nicely, add 4C water, 3C cooked pinto beans, & 3T chili powder. Cover it up and let it cook for a long time.
The water will reduce some.
From there, you’ve got a bit of time…probably an hour or so, so just grab a beer and watch the storm roll in on a preferably enclosed porch. Maybe even look down to see a friend with you in the kitchen.
I looked down. He looked up. He also had onion paper on his nose.
After you’re finished spending an hour however you’d like, add the sautéed eggplant from before to the mix. It should be noticeably chunkier now.
This is noticeably chunkier than before.
Let that simmer for another ten minutes while you cook some noodles or rice or whatever you like with Eggplant Parmesan Chili, not that you’ve had it before, but get creative….that’s what a kitchen’s all about.
Put the mix on top of whatever you’ve decided on & follow-up with some almond Parmesan or just plain ol’ nutritional yeast to get a little veg cheese action going. It might look like this:
Now that’s some storm comfort food there.
Once the storm is over, hug your fur babies and get some incriminating pictures of them.
Okay, it’s not incriminating, but it’s pretty cute what Cinder’s doing here.
….aaaaand that’s how you enjoy some time in a tropical depression. Or in this case, a humid sadness.
Just kidding. Hope everyone’s okay & has electric back and such. I’m glad it didn’t hit as bad as what a lot of the meteorologists were freaking out about Hermine, but they’re all out there for the big scoop and the exaggeration. Now, enjoy some Chili. Or Eggplant Parmesan. Or whatever you want to call it.
Vegan Mode 