Chickpea and Sweet Potato Enchiladas with Roasted Tomato Sauce

After making the Pesto Hummus the other day I had some chickpeas left in the refrigerator. I've also been craving enchiladas lately. After staring long and hard at some sweet potatoes from the farmer's market, I came up with the idea for these unconventional enchiladas.

I know the "2 cups cooked sweet potato" is an odd measurement - I would normally use a quantity of potatoes themselves. The sweet potatoes I had, though, are tiny - like little fingerlings...I got a bushel of them from a farmer for only $2! They're pretty much impossible to peel while raw, so I simply boiled them and then slipped them out of the skins after they cooled. I roughly chopped the cooked flesh and measured it after that. I am going to estimate that two cups of cooked sweet potato would equal one or two large to medium sized sweet potatoes.

These enchiladas were filling and delicious. I served them with simple steamed broccoli seasoned with salt and pepper.


Roasted Tomato Sauce

• 4 ripe tomatoes
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 or 1 jalapeno, stem removed
• 2 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 tablespoon chili powder

Preheat the oven to 400°. Roughly chop the tomatoes and mince the garlic cloves. If you'd like, remove the ribs and seeds from the jalapeno (for a milder taste - I like things spicy so I didn't). In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, garlic and jalapeno with the olive oil and oregano.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Lay the tomatoes in a single layer on the paper and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes are shriveled and the garlic is golden brown. Let sit for fifteen to twenty minutes.

Place the tomatoes in a blender or food processor and add the cumin and chili powder. Blend until smooth. Either use immediately or refrigerate for future use.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Enchiladas

• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 2 cups cooked sweet potato
• 1 jalapeno, stem removed
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/4 cup minced garlic chives
• 12 corn tortillas
• olive oil
• 8 ounces shredded cheese (I used sharp cheddar)
• more green onions and garlic chives for garnish
• 1 recipe Roasted Tomato Sauce (above)

Preheat the oven to 350° (or, if you just made the Roasted Tomato Sauce, lower the temperature to 350°).

In a large bowl of a food processor, place the chickpeas, sweet potato, jalapeno (remove the ribs and seeds if you like a milder taste), cumin and chili powder. Mix until the consistency is that of thick hummus or mashed potatoes. Fold in about 1/4 of the cheese.

Spread some sauce onto the bottom of a large baking dish, just enough to lightly cover the bottom. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Brush a very small amount of oil onto the skillet. Fry the corn tortillas, one at a time, on each side until they are soft and pliable - about 5-10 seconds per side. You should start to see the texture change and brown spots appear on the surface. As each tortilla is finished, fill it -

Spread a couple tablespoons of the filling in the center, all the way to the edges. Roll up and place, seam side down, on the sauce in the baking dish. Place each enchilada right next to each other. When they're all rolled, cover the tops with the remaining sauce and the rest of the cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. Top with chopped green onions and garlic chives before serving.

Bright and Fresh Chickpea Salad

It's growing season again! Every Saturday morning from here until winter will be spent at the Kansas City Farmer's Market, where I will buy produce from my favorite farmers! See the "Food Sources" page to see links to my favorite stalls and farms. There isn't too much available just yet, and a lot of my favorite stalls (such as Hun's Garden) were still only selling plants, but I did come out with some good buys! Here's the loot I came home with this week!


Bryson's Farm:
- 4 red, juicy tomatoes
- 2 lovely bunches of asparagus
- 1/2 pound of creamy fingerling potatoes
- 3 exquisite heads of garlic
- 1 bunch of crisp red radishes


Goode Acres:
- 1 bag of crunchy baby romaine lettuce
- 1 bag of delicious curly green kale

I saw a stall I had never seen before, drawn in by the signs declaring "RAWSOME DELIGHTS." They were selling two different kinds of raw cacao treats! One was a coconut chocolate truffle and the other had dates and pecans. I went for the dates! Ingredients:
coconut, pecans, cashews, cacao, walnuts, dates, agave, coconut oil, sea salt
All organic. $3.50 for three treats - we haven't eaten any yet. I think I'll save them for late at night ;)

Carollo's Gourmet Grocery is a fantastic little Italian deli and shop in the farmer's market area. From there I brought home:
- about a pound of mixed olives: Sicilian green, Greek black and Gaeta olives
- (what I was really excited about!!) THREE POUNDS of dried cannellini beans!!!! I can hardly ever find these anywhere... so when I saw them, I bought three pounds! I'll be giving some to my mom. I'll probably be making a pasta fagioli soup with the kale from Goode Acres very soon :)

Another part of Market Saturdays is coming home and making lunch out of all the produce left in the kitchen from last week. I must use the old stuff before touching the new! I had a lot leftover this week and managed to make a very delicious salad from it.

This salad is light, fresh tasting, crunchy and nutritious. The dressing is slightly spicy and dances on your tongue. My husband says he is going to use the leftovers to make a pita sandwich for dinner this evening. I used leftover white basmati rice, but I can imagine that any sort of rice will be great, or even another grain like quinoa or kamut that you may have sitting around.

I hope some of you get as excited for growing season as I do. Here's to months and months of farmer's market Saturdays! CHEERS :)

Bright and Fresh Chickpea Salad

• 2 cups cold, cooked chickpeas
• 1 cup cold, cooked rice
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 a zucchini
• 1/2 tomato
• 1/2 bunch green onion
• 1-2 romaine lettuce leaves
• 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 3 tablespoons or so of fresh parsley leaves
• small chunk of fresh ginger, skin removed
• 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lime juice
• 1 teaspoon stone ground or dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Chop the carrot and zucchini into very small pieces. Dice the green onions and tomato and tear the romaine lettuce into bite size pieces. Toss in a bowl along with the chickpeas and rice.

Roughly chop the jalapeno, garlic cloves, parsley and ginger and add to a food processor. Pulse a couple of times, then add in the lime juice, dijon mustard and olive oil. Combine until they form a thick, creamy dressing.

Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Let sit at room temperature or in the refrigerator for about fifteen minutes before enjoying.

(P.S. I know my pictures are never exactly professional - haha - but lately I've just been using my camera phone. So believe me, this salad is much brighter and delicious looking than the pictures allow for :)

Split Pea and Broccoli Curry

Here's another simple, delicious dinner to add to my current obsession with Indian-flavored curries. I've already eaten lentils once this week, and I had a lot of split peas leftover from the last time I made split pea soup, so I decided to use those in this recipe. I used green split peas, but I'm sure yellow split peas or a combination would be delightful.

We ate this over hot basmati rice. I usually only buy whole grains, so brown basmati is a popular choice - but sometimes I really want the texture and flavor of white rice, so I bought some and used it in this meal. I also enjoyed this with a tall glass of vanilla coconut milk, with plain fresh strawberries for dessert

Split Pea and Broccoli Curry

• 1 cup split peas
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 2 heads broccoli, cut into florets
• garnishes: fresh cilantro, peanuts, cashews, shredded coconut
• ghee, olive oil or butter

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil or butter in a large saucepan with a lid over medium heat. Add in the onion and carrots and saute for about five minutes. Add the cumin, garam masala, turmeric, ginger, garlic, jalapeno and split peas, stir to combine, and cook for about two minutes. Add in the vegetable broth and cover. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low.

If you like your broccoli very tender, add the florets in after the split peas have cooked for about twenty minutes. If you like it more firm, wait for twenty-five minutes or so. The split peas should take about 35-40 minutes to become tender - you don't want them mushy like in a split pea soup.

 

Sending this to My Legume Love Affair, event hosted by Desi Soccer Mom