January is one of those months where making hearty food is in high demand, and New Year’s resolutions are looming over our heads. How do we stay healthy while making meals that protect us from the bitter cold air? It’s a challenge, as I hear my fellow New Yorkers groaning and moaning over eating rich foods and decreasing their exercise routine. I’m a firm believer that it is important to eat nutrient dense foods and have an active lifestyle that supports these whole food decisions. And it is important to get those veggies in, too.
This month, with New Year’s Resolutions in mind, I’ve adapted a Winter Lentil, Bean, Carrot, and Tomato Chili to include Cheese Whey as a broth alternative. Cheese Whey is filled with minerals such as calcium phosphate and whey protein. It is the water content produced during cheese making, when the fats and casein proteins in milk coalesce to form the curd. The Cheese Whey is slightly tangy, buttery, and light in body, so it’s a great alternative that counters the rich lentil and bean texture and flavor. Often times, Cheese Whey is discarded during the cheese making process. In large quantities, whey disposal can be a a huge environmental issue. Whey acidifies over time, and like fertilizer, can disturb the equilibrium of the soil and the water and become toxic. In smaller quantities, however, cheese whey has amazing benefits.
Winter Vegetable Whey Chili and Skillet Whey Cornbread Recipe
Cheese Whey is an amazingly powerful, nutrient rich liquid that energizes and nourishes plants, animals, and humans. The most powerful, nutritious whey comes from raw milk cheese or yogurt. But the pasteurized, heat treated milk also holds onto many of the benefits. Since it is difficult to get your hands on raw milk these days, I encourage you to make a batch of Homemade Buttermilk Ricotta, and reserve the whey for cooking and baking. I strain and pour the large quantity of whey produced from Ricotta into quart containers, let them cool, and then place them in the freezer for future use.
For the Skillet Whey Cornbread, I substitute the milk for Cheese Whey, which results in a fluffier cornbread. The nice thing about using the whey from Homemade Buttermilk Ricotta, is that is has those delicious traces of buttermilk so it maintains its leavening properties when used for baking. Try it. You won’t be disappointed!
Author:
Jessica Sennett
Ingredients
For The Cornbread
1 1/3 cups (6 2/3 oz) stone-ground cornmeal
1 cup (5 oz) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
3 ears corn, kernels cut from cobs (2 1/4 cups)
6 tablespoon unsalted butter (3oz), cut into 6 pieces
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees.
Whisk cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Process corn kernels in blender until very smooth, about 2 minutes.
Transfer puree to medium saucepan. Cook puree over medium heat, stirring constantly, until very thick and deep yellow and it measures 3/4 cup, 5 to 8 minutes.
Remove pan from heat. Add 5 tablespoons butter and whisk until melted and incorporated, followed by the whey, and eggs and yolk.
Transfer corn mixture to bowl with cornmeal mixture and, using rubber spatula, fold together until just combined.
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in 10-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Scrape batter into skillet and spread into even layer.
Bake until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes.
Let cool on wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove cornbread from skillet and let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.
For The Chili
In a large heavy pot over medium high heat, add the olive oil, onion, celery and carrots. Sauté until the onions have softened, then add the garlic and continue to cook for just one minute.
Add the spices next through the bay leaf. Cook for about two more minutes to get them fragrant.
Add 5 cups of whey, lentils and tomato sauce and raise the heat to high, bringing the broth to a boil.
Once it boils, reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for about 30 minutes to get the lentils tender.
Add the black beans, corn, red peppers, Tabasco and honey and continue to cook for about 20 more minutes. Add the extra cup of whey, if needed.
Serve in bowls with the toppings of your choice.
Recipe Note
Cornbread recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen.
Jessica Sennett
Jessica Sennett is the founder and inventor of Cheese Grotto. Her whole life is cheese - seriously.
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