I'm not going over to a friend's house tonight, because someone there got sick, so I'll be staying home! And no, I won't be eating that whole chocolate banana loaf myself!
I was getting a craving for something Italian, after seeing those basil plants growing so well in the hydroponics! So I took out some Italian sausage flavored venison from the freezer, and soaked about 2 lbs equivalent of dried eggplant, and soaked about 2 lbs worth of dried tomatoes, and used the oldest can of tomatoes from my pantry (the last one from 1-21). I also "brined" a cup of whole mung beans, in hot water with salt in it. And before I cooked anything else, I cooked 1½ c of brown basmati rice, and set that aside (used about 2/3 of it). And while that was cooking, I cut up an onion, a generous amount of garlic, some fresh marjoram, and got 4 fresh bay leaves ready. I blended the tomatoes not totally smooth, then the soaked, dried tomatoes I blended smoother, and poured them into the same bowl, then rinsed the VM out with a little more water, and poured that in with the tomatoes.
The thawed (almost) 1½ lbs venison I put in a sauté pan, in the flat layer, from the vacuum bag, and put about 1/2 c of water in, and steamed it, on medium heat, making a solid layer, then I poured the liquid into a bowl, added a little olive oil, and browned the two pieces - my method for browning this very low fat meat. After that first side browned, I flip it, and it breaks some, but stays together enough that I get a good number of chunks, browned on one or two sides. I set this aside, until later.
This went fairly quickly, once I had everything together! I drained the mung beans and eggplant to have them ready. I heated up a few tb of olive oil in the Instant Pot on sauté, and cooked the chopped onion about 3 or 4 minutes. Then I added the garlic, and about 2 tsp crushed hot peppers, cooked about a minute, then added the marjoram and bay leaves, and cooked another 30 sec, then poured in the tomatoes and the meat juice. I let it start boiling, then stirred in the mung beans and eggplant, and tasted for salt, and hit OFF, then set MANUAL 12 minutes (soaking the beans would make this enough for them), and put the top on. I let the pressure release naturally, so it was about 27 minutes total. While that was cooking, I chopped up a generous 3 c of bok choy greens, plus the rest of the basil, and about ¼ c parsley. When the sauce was done, I turned it off, then stirred in the meat, about 2/3 of the rice, the greens, and the herbs, then set to sauté, to bring it back to a boil. Then I hit off, and set it to slow cook, high, and cooked it about 7 or 8 minutes, while getting everything else cleaned up. I dug out the bay leaves, and tasted for seasoning. It could have used a little more salt, but since I knew I was topping it with grated cheese, I knew that would be enough. Got about 3½ extra quarts of the stuff, so I'm glad it turned out good!
This probably takes more time to post, than the actual work time to do it!
Two Thai basil leaves, and some of the other two plants, from the hydroponics. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The tomatoe sauce, cooked 12 minutes with the soaked eggplant and mung beans, before adding the venison, cooked rice, and the bok choy. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
About 3 c of chopped bok choy greens, to stir into the dish, along with the chopped basil and parsley, to simmer about 8 minutes. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
The venison, cooked brown rice, greens, and basils, stirred in, ready to simmer. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Finished dish, ready to serve, and top with some cheese. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
Finished dish, topped with some grated Asiago. by
pepperhead212, on Flickr
