Tag: hamburger

Jerri’s Beef and Garbanzo Bean Casserole

Garbanzo beans or chickpeas have been an important food in the Mediterranean area for many thousands of years. The remains of cultivated chickpeas have been found in archeological layers below evidence of pottery, which means people were growing and cooking the beans before they learned how to make soup pots.

Today, garbanzo beans are among the most popular foods on the Indian subcontinent, they are valued throughout Africa, are common in the Philippines and Mexico and are even eaten at least occasionally by nearly one in five families in the United States. If you ever eat hummus, you are eating garbanzo beans.

Garbanzo beans are good for you, with more than twenty percent of the recommended daily values of protein, dietary fiber, folate and some important minerals in a single serving. I believe, however, that no matter how good something is for me, if it doesn’t taste good, I want nothing to do with it. This beef and garbanzo bean casserole passes the test. The first time she made it, Jerri and I agreed it was a winner, and we still think so today.

You really should give it a try.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
2 15 oz. cans garbanzo beans
2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
2 T chopped cilantro
Red onion (optional for garnish)

PROCEDURE:

Clean and chop the onion to a quarter-inch dice. Clean and mince the garlic.

Brown the meat in a two or three quart saucepan. Add the onion and garlic a minute or two before the meat is fully browned and cook until the onion is tender. Remove the pan from the heat and drain off any excess fat.

Preheat the oven to 350º.

Drain the garbanzo beans and mix them with the meat in the pan along with the tomato sauce, water, salt and spices, except the cilantro. Return the pan to moderate heat and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring frequently.

Put the mixture into a one and one-half quart or two quart casserole and bake covered for forty-five minutes. Stir before serving and remove the bay leaves if you can find them. Otherwise, warn your guests. Garnish with rings of sweet red onion and chopped cilantro.

My Really Simple Italian Meat Sauce

On a rainy summer day or a cold winter afternoon I sometimes get the urge to make my marinara sauce. It’s best made with fresh tomatoes and needs to simmer slowly for a couple of hours to let the flavors develop. I usually make a pretty big batch and we freeze it in pint and quart containers that we can use as needed. But no matter how much I make, it seems that we run out before tomatoes are in season, or I just don’t want to spend lots of time in the kitchen.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” says the old proverb, but so is laziness. Here is a meat sauce with lots of flavor that you can serve a half hour after you open the first can. Start the pasta water when the meat starts to brown, and everything will be ready before the family starts whining for supper.

It is easier to open a jar of commercial sauce, but if you follow this recipe, you’ll be serving a sauce that tastes better with less starch, sugar and salt than commercial products. If you appreciate good food, are concerned about your health, have diabetes or other health issues, this sauce is for you.

This recipe makes six generous servings.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 lb. hot or sweet Italian sausage
3 T chopped onion
3 T green bell pepper
1 16 oz. can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. tomato sauce
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1/4 tsp. fennel
1/8 tsp. basil
1/8 tsp. oregano
1/16 tsp. cayenne
1/16 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tsp. olive oil

PROCEDURE:

Brown the meat in a three quart saucepan, breaking it into pieces as it cooks. Drain any excess fat. Chop the onion and pepper to a quarter inch dice and add it to the meat. Cook for two or three minutes to soften the onion.

While the meat and vegetables are cooking, measure the spices into a mortar or coffee cup and grind them together a little with a pestle or spoon. Stir them into the meat mixture and sauté them a minute. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste along with the wine and olive oil.

Mix everything together, reduce the heat and simmer the sauce while the pasta finishes cooking. When the pasta is nearly ready, taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning.

Serve over pasta of your choice with a green salad and bread. Offer Parmesan cheese.

NOTES: Jerri says, “There’s a lot of meat in this sauce.” I say, “It’s meat in a sauce, not sauce with some meat in it.”

If you are concerned about the alcohol in the wine, simmer the sauce five minutes longer to make sure that you have driven off the “Devil’s brew.” You just want the flavor.

This sauce freezes well.