When I went to the NAIAS Digital Summit for Ford in January, I requested “vegetarian” meals. This was the first time I ever requested ‘special’ meals at a conference. Since I’m not “Kosher” nor “gluten sensitive”, I never had to put down any special diets. And I never picked ‘vegetarian’ as a choice since I can always find seafood as an alternative. But I wasn’t sure what was going to be available for me in Detroit.
So when registering for the Digital Summit, I decided to put down “Vegetarian” – kinda feeling silly but felt I needed to specify if I wasn’t going to starve.
And boy am I glad I requested it because when we went to the “Eagle Tavern“, they served colonial style cuisine, meaning, meat, meat, and more meat. But what did I get? Chick Pea Stew. Don’t laugh though. It was delicious and chick peas aren’t my favorite kinds of peas! I never had chick peas cooked the way they did. It was in a stew with chunks of tomatoes, lots of herbs, and a hint of garlic. It was very filling and perfect with crusty artisanal bread that they served for the table.
So when I wanted to recreate the stew, well, you know me; I had to put a ‘spin’ on the original recipe and come up with my own rendition.
I made it into a veggie stew, using my BBQ sauce, lots of hearty veggies like carrots, celery, cauliflower, and even topped it polenta.
Try it! I know you’ll like it. And with the leftover, I made gluten free Spanish veggie lasagna! (Recipe will be posted next week.)
BBQ Veggie Stew Recipe
- 5 cups of chick peas
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 2 carrots, diced
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut up
- 2 C BBQ Sauce of your choice
- 1 C Diced tomatoes
- 3 Cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1 Med onion, diced
Instruction
- Soak chick peas over night in cold water.
- In a crock pot, add chick peas and just enough water to cover. Add BBQ sauce, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. Cook on HIGH for 6 hours. You can do this overnight too.
- After cooking for about 6 hours, add carrots, celeries, and cauliflower pieces. Cook for another 2 hours or until veggies are soft. If you work during the day, you can take the peas out of the crock pot when you come home, transfer to a large pot and add the veggies and simmer for about 30-40 minutes or until veggies are soft.
- Make polenta according to the cooking instructions.
- Serve hot with polenta.
This recipe makes 6 cups of stew. You can cut the recipe in half if you like but let me tell you; the leftover is just as yummy! I made gluten free Spanish veggie lasagna with this stew and it was yummylicious!
Oh, and here is my BBQ Sauce recipe.
Karen’s BBQ Sauce
- ¼ C Unsulfured Molasses
- ¼ C Vegan, Gluten-Free Worcestershire Sauce
- ¼ C Dijon Mustard
- ½ C Ketchup
- ¼ C Tomato Paste
- ½ C Brown Sugar
- ¼ C Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Horseradish
- 1 Large Clove of Minced Garlic
- 2 Tbsp Pureed Onion
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Pepper
Add all the ingredients, bring to boil and simmer for about 30 minutes. Refrigerate unused sauce in a glass jar. Good for a month. Good on ANYTHING!
