Yah, OK, so that doesn’t rhyme at all. I really couldn’t come up with anything creative. Fail.
This is really more of a recipe post today.
Yesterday I had some friends over for my Belated Birthday Dinner. I like having get-togethers and dinners as you may know and so I thought that this was a wonderful excuse for another one. Everyone brought a dish and I decided to make my chili since the weather is wants to cool down and I have not made it in almost a year.
This is a chili recipe I found in college and have stuck with ever since, sometimes adding or taking away based on what I forgot to stock in the pantry but really I always stay 95% true. And it is always a hit. This time I left out the meat. I don’t eat meat often and while normally I make my chili with meat for everyone else, since it was MY birthday dinner, I decided I was cooking for me.
All my ingredients
So here is how I make
Delicious Chili
1 onion, chopped – I like to do a small chop 5 or more cloves garlic, minced – the recipe I originally found called for 10 cloves. I just have never wanted to take that risk and I used about 5 large cloves it was just perfectIf you want to add meat (2 lbs ground beef and 2-3 lbs chuck steak, cut into small cubes, most of the fat removed)
2 (14 1/2 ounce) cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes1 cup strong coffee or a couple of teaspoons of instant espresso 2 (12 ounce) cans tomato paste 1 can beef broth 3 1/2 tablespoons Heinz chili sauce (about 1/2 of a regular-sized bottle) 1 tablespoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons cocoa powder 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves 1 tablespoon ground cayenne 1 tablespoon ground coriander 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 – 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper 1 tablespoon salt (or to taste) 1.5 teaspoons hickory flavor liquid smoke
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 – 8 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans etc – make it as beany as you want – don’t drain them unless the chili is already too runny (I use 8 cans because I like it super bean-y)
After I chop and mince the onion and garlic, I put them in the put with about 2TB of olive oil and cook them over low-med heat until they start to caramelize and brown. Then I add the rest of the ingredients. Yup, just throw it all in the pot. (If you were cooking meat, I would brown it in a separate pan first and then cook the onions in some of the grease before adding the meat back in with the rest of the ingredients).
I like to make sure it has at least an hour to simmer over low heat but that night it had about an hour and a half. The longer it sits the better the flavors all meld together.
No one ever said it was the prettiest dish I made….
I like to stir it every 10-15 minutes or so just to make sure nothing is sticking to the bottom and everything gets mixed around.
Then, just add friends and enjoy!!
The chili got wonderful reviews and I had people representing all sorts of places in chili land – Texas, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, New Jersey, and a couple other places. Everyone was impressed with how flavorful it was that they didn’t even seem to miss the meat. How about that!
There was no cake but I did finish it off by blowing out imaginary candles on my gluten free brownies that a friend brought.
The best thing about chili? Even after a party I still have a few days worth of leftovers to keep me going. I forgot how much I liked it, I may just have to whip it up again sometime this winter season. If you try it out, let me know what you think!
