Racheros Vegetable Stew

Rancheros Vegetable Stew and garlic bread.

Ever a sucker for pretty food, I just had to try this. As the original photo in a Cooking Pleasures magazine was so beautiful and multi-colored, there were no doubts in my mind that Rodney and I wouldn't be able to get enough of this stuff. So I doubled the recipe.

Here's the recipe, pretty much in it's original form. Click the link if you don't believe me.

Rancheros Vegetable Stew

2 tsp olive oil

1 c chopped onion

1 c diced red bell pepper

1 c sliced zucchini

1 (4 1/2-oz.) can chopped green chiles

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp ground cumin

2 medium tomatoes, diced

1 ear corn, kernels removed

1 (15 1/2-oz.) can dark red kidney beans, drained, rinsed

1/4 c reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 c chopped fresh cilantro

1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
Dash hot pepper sauce

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Add onion; cook, stirring frequently, 2 to 4 minutes or until softened.

Add bell pepper and zucchini; cook and stir 2 minutes.

 

Add chiles, garlic and cumin; cook and stir 1 minute.

Add tomatoes, corn, beans, broth and salt; bring to a simmer.

Cover; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes or until vegetables are just tender.

Stir in cilantro, pepper and hot sauce.

Ain't it so purty?

I doubled everything except the green chiles (to avoid Rodney-gastro-attack later). Including the ground cumin, which was the downfall of this recipe. Objectively, the ratio of spice to vegetables was probably spot-on. However, cumin has most definitely been ruined for us since that wacky Cumin Chicken recipe a while ago. Rodney now calls anything with cumin in it "dirt casserole".

Rodney and I both ate a portion of the stew, but the rest, unfortunately, was fed to the worms. IF I should make this again, I will replace the cumin with something Italian-y, like oregano and fresh basil. I bet that would be bitchin'! And I will definitely keep the zucchini slices on the thick side (1/4-3/8" or so) like I did this time. I cannot tolerate mushy vegetables!

Price run-down:

1. chopped onion =$0.26
2. diced red bell pepper = $1.29
3. sliced zucchini = $1.01
4. green chiles = $0.89
5. tomatoes = $1.45
6. corn = $1.18
7. kidney beans = $0.79
8. chicken broth = $0.50
9. cilantro = $0.39

Total: $7.76.

This is a rough estimate. The onion, pepper, zucchini, tomato, corn, and cilantro was enough for a double batch or more. I guess you should just figure that if prices of vegetables are comparable, this won't cost you any more than $8 to make a single or double batch of this stew. If you roll with the fresh basil idea, it might cost you $10. Really what I'm saying is it'll cost between $5-10, depending on whether you do a single or double batch and whether you use fresh greens.

Not much of a help, am I?

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