Yummy Waterless Artichokes with Mushroom and Roasted Bell Pepper, Chickpeas with Tomato (No Added Fat)

I was in the mood for artichoke hearts; while shopping, my daughter suggested and picked out mushrooms to be cooked with the artichoke. I had soaked some chickpeas and decided to make a plain side course of essentially just chickpeas (but I ended up mixing in to the 3 cups or so of finished chickpeas a small (14.5 ounces) can full of fire roasted dice tomatoes, 4T nutritional yeast, 1t oregano, 1/2 t salt, and 1/2 cup onion cut into 3/8" pieces). I cooked the main course waterlessly. Here is how I made the artichoke dish:


Ingredients

• 1 cup onion cut into 1/4" cubes
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced (approx. 1/8")
• 2 1/2 cups mushroom of choice cut into approx. 3/4" pieces (I used 7 medium crimini mushrooms cut into thirds and then halved)
• 12 ounce artichoke quarters (about 3 cups)
• 1T miso
• Bell pepper
• (optional) 1/2 t tarragon
• 1/4 t (or to taste; remember there is also salty miso) salt
• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

Process

1. I put into a large Saladmaster stock pan, in this order, the onion, garlic, mushroom, artichoke, and miso.
2. I heated, covered, the pan on medium heat till the vapor release began gently rattling, then I reduced the heat to low and cooked. With waterless cooking, 20m seems to be about right for dishes I make - longer cook times are also okay, as essentially a convection is set up and the food is just kept hot but not burnt.
3. While the artichokes were cooking, I roasted the bell pepper by putting it on the open flame of my gas range, turning it until it was all coated in a black char. I put the bell pepper in a brown paper bag, closed the bag, and let it sit to imbue the pepper with the smoky flavor. When I was ready to serve the artichoke, I removed the pepper from the bag, and had my daughter help to run water over the pepper and rub the black char off. After removing the seeds and membranes, I chopped the pepper into approximately 3/4" pieces.
4. I turned the heat off to the artichokes and mixed in the pepper, tarragon, salt, and pepper, and served.

Results

Wow, I loved dinner, and so did my family and a friend who came for dinner. The artichokes were divine! I so loved this combination and the great soft texture that the waterless cooking gave the artichokes. This was one of my favorite artichoke dishes I've had. I have cooked artichokes waterlessly before, but maybe the mushroom and miso or something else about today's preparation made the dish so memorably excellent. The chickpeas were also quite good - I liked them but my wife raved and claimed that this was the best way I ever prepared chickpeas.

Ideas for the future

I will make more waterless artichoke dishes! I'll explore more combinations; capers and olives would be good. I might want to make a homogenized spread to put atop pasta or maybe a bagel.