Julia's Moosewood Chili: Revs 1, Timbers 1

I don't have much to say about last night's game. I guess at least we didn't lose? Aside from rookie Stephen McCarthy netting his first career goal for the Revs, the game was decidedly unremarkable. Attendance at Gillette was an abysmal 7,144. Giving up two points at home against an expansion team was kind of a bummer.

But hey, it was great to see some of my favorite familiar faces in the lot! Our new tailgate location will take some getting used to (supporters groups were moved this year), but I quite enjoyed myself. And I stayed warm, thanks to a little mulled wine...

I mulled the wine at home on my stovetop and brought it to the game in a thermos. To my delight, it was still piping hot after a trafficky ride down 93.

Since I wanted to spend as little time preparing food in the cold as possible, I also cooked veggie chili at home in the afternoon and simply reheated it on the grill at the tailgate. I used a recipe shared with me by renowned formerly-local chef Julia Hawes. Julia was the founder of a weekly potluck held at my friends' apartment (which was, until a few months ago, also my apartment). As I am reprinting Julia's recipe word-for-word, I should probably explain that "TITS" is an acronym for "Thursday is The Shit", which is the name of the potluck.

Vegetarian Chili
Adapted by Julia Hawes from The Moosewood Cookbook

Serves: 6 (full-size portions, not TITS portions...one batch of this is plenty at potluck)
Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients
   3 tablespoons olive oil
   1 onion, chopped
   4 garlic cloves, minced (double what the original recipe called for, as I am of the mind that you can never have too much garlic)
   1 tablespoon ground cumin (I often double this as well, because cumin is fookin' delish)
   1 tablespoon ground coriander
   2 teaspoons chili powder
   1 medium zucchini or summer squash, diced (or both! The more the merrier, just like at that surprise 50th birthday party that Cher threw her dad in "Clueless")
   1 large red or green pepper, stemmed, seeded & chopped
   1 cake tofu, drained and ground, or 12-14 oz. of textured vegetable protein (TVP) (I recommend extra-firm tofu as this kind holds its shape w/o getting too mushy and gross like a lot of tofu. If you go TVP, any ground sausage substitute works well)
   3 cups diced tomatoes with juice (28 oz. can)
   2 cups cooked pinto beans with juice (15 oz. can)
   2 cups cooked kidney beans with juice (15 oz. can)
   2/3 cups tomato paste (6 oz. can)
   2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley
   Hot sauce to taste
   Salt to taste
   Optional toppings: shredded cheddar/Monterey jack cheese, sour cream, and/or avocado. It would also go nicely with Chris's moldy cornbread

Preparation
   1. Heat oil in nonstick skilled over medium-high heat.
   2. Add garlic and onions and saute until soft.
   3. Ad cumin, coriander and chili powder and stir well.
   4. Mix in diced squash/zucchini and peppers, cover, and cook for 3 minutes.
   5. Stir in ground tofu (a food processor works best) or TVP (doesn't need to be ground, just break it up with a spoon) and cook until heated through.
   6. Meanwhile, heat diced tomatoes, the pinto and kidney beans in a separate pot. Add the tomato paste, and then add the entire tomato mixture to the veggies and tofu (Note: you could probably just add all of that to the veggies pot, not sure the separate heating and subsequent extra dirty pan is necessary)
   7. Make sure the chili is nice and hot. Add salt, parsley, and hot sauce.
   8. Serve in bowls/mugs and top with SC, avo or cheese, the crown jewel ingredient of TITS

My Notes:
-One pot worked fine for me. No need to dirty an extra. Just throw the tomato mixture in with the rest.
-I prefer ground tofu to TVP, but that's a personal preference.
-If you'd like to learn more about Chris's moldy cornbread, please send recipe requests to christophercamille@gmail.com. I should also mention that Chris made delicious quesadillas to go along with the chili.