Meatless Wednesday? Chickpea Stew

I would like to preface this post with a fact: I love meat. But the thing is, it has become more and more apparent that Americans eat too much of it. It's taking a toll on our health and our environment and I'd be hard pressed to find someone who couldn't benefit from eating more vegetables and whole grains and fewer animal products.

Mark Bittman and Michael Pollan both have great philosophies on this subject. Neither villianize those of us who enjoy a good steak or some delicious bacon but they do promote eating the best quality meat in smaller quantities and less frequently. Bittman even goes as far as eating vegan before 6 pm but then he has whatever he wants for dinner. This is the way he has chosen to keep the majority of his diet plant-based. You needn't go this far if you don't want to. A great way to start is to practice Meatless Monday or Wednesday, or Sunday. Whatever day of the week that works for you.

Karl and I re watched Food,Inc this weekend. It was just the energizer we needed. Since moving into together we have gotten into the habit of larger, more luxurious meals that contain more meat than either of us ate before we lived together. We're committing to being more conscious about the food we buy and consume. I hope you will too. I promise you will be making the right choice for your health, your wallet and your world. You will also be seeing more meatless options featured on my blog - so hopefully your taste buds will benefit as well.

Here is an easy chickpea stew recipe to get you started. If you use vegetable stock this recipe if vegan. Either way it's delicious.

Fun fact: One cup of chickpeas contains more than 25% of your recommended daily allowance of protein and more than 40% than the recommended daily allowance of fiber.

What you'll need:
1 small yellow onion (diced)
I celery stalk + the leaves if you have them (diced)
1 large carrot (peeled and diced)
3 cloves garlic (minced)
olive oil (a few drizzles)
1/2 Tbs rosemary
1 bay leaf
zest of 1 lemon
3 cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp turmeric
chicken or vegetable stock (1 box = 32 oz)
1 tsp salt (+ a few more sprinkles)
black pepper
water (~ 1/2 cup if necessary)

How to do it:
Dice the onion, celery and carrot. Mince the garlic.

Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Coat the pan with a generous drizzle of olive oil and add onions. Lower the heat and sweat the onions. You want them to soften but not take on color. Once they start to soften, add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute or so and then add the celery and carrots. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Add the rosemary, bay leaf, red pepper and lemon zest. Cook for a minute or two until fragrant.

This is me adding the lemon zest. The zest of one lemon will usually be about 1/2 -1 Tbs worth. Use a microplane or other hand grater and be careful to only take of the yellow, not the white stuff (pith), which is really bitter.

Drain the chickpeas and rinse them well. I like organic canned chickpeas because they have less of that stuff coating them (ie. sodium). You could certainly use fresh chickpeas but you will need to soak them for at least 8 hours before you prepare the stew.

Add the chickpeas to the pot. Cover with a box of stock - your choice. I used chicken stock because I always have it on hand but you could easily substitute vegetable stock to make this dish vegan. Add the turmeric, salt and several turns from the pepper grinder.

Bring the stew to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer. Simmer on low heat for about an hour. If the stew gets too thick add a little bit of water. I ended up adding 1/3-1/2 cup of water. Now be sure to taste the stew. Make sure the chickpeas are tender. Make sure there is enough salt. I find that people tend to be shy about adding salt. If you are preparing your own fresh meals it is very unlikely that you will overdo it with the salt. Packaged foods tend to be the major sodium bombs. Fresh food does require some salt to bring out the flavors. A teaspoon or two won't kill you.

Now, the next part can be done in a few different ways. You want to add some body to the stew without adding extra fat, so you will puree or mash half of the stew- leaving the rest of the chickpeas whole. I have a fantastic immersion blender, which makes this easy. I just put about half of the chickpeas in a bowl and pureed what was left in the pot. You could do the opposite and put half in the blender to puree. In a pinch you could even use a potato masher to break up some of the chickpeas, which will thicken the stew.

Which ever approach you take, combine the pureed/mashed chickpeas and the whole chickpeas back in the pot. Add a generous drizzle of good olive oil. Serve with some fresh bread and enjoy!

Psst... It's even better leftover.