chili

Paleo Beef & Bacon Chili

by Jessica on March 2, 2012

in chili, Food, Main Courses, Meat, Paleo, Recipes

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I feel like the differences in mine and Neil’s taste emerge in our chili choices. While I prefer more veggies and hints of coffee or chocolate (Mocha Tofu Chili anyone?), he prefers meat and heat. So this past weekend, when he was craving a “red-hot meaty chili”, he went down to the kitchen at 11 p.m. and came up with this recipe. Have I mentioned I love him?

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This is a fairly traditional red chili with beef and plenty of tomatoes, however the addition of beer and veggies gives it a wonderfully complementary sauce and texture.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 teaspoon cumin (ground or seeds)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 pound of thick-cut bacon
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 green peppers, stemmed and sliced
3 dried red chiles, sliced
2 onions, diced
4 carrots, sliced thinly
8-10 tomatoes quartered
8-10 garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 cup beer (we used a stout, however anything works!)
Greek Yogurt for serving

Directions

  1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Season beef with salt and pepper, add it to the pot and brown it. As its browning, break up with wooden spoon and stir gently until it loses its raw color, around 6-8 minutes. Stir in cumin and oregano. When cooked through, drain off some of the liquid.
  2. In large skillet over medium-high heat, add bacon and cook, turning over until it begins to brown, around 4 minutes. Remove from heat to a plate with paper-towels. After several minutes, chop finely.
  3. Add beef and bacon to crock pot with remaining ingredients (except Greek yogurt) and stir until thoroughly combined. Set Crock to low and go about your business for 5-6 hours.
  4. Garnish with Greek Yogurt because it’s better than sour cream.

Makes 6-8 servings

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I always feel weird writing out crock pot recipes — like I’m cheating and should really be developing more process-intensive (read: legit) stove top directions. Looking around at other people’s chili recipes, it seems like most are written for stove top + 2 hours of slow cooking. I just can’t convince myself to go that route vs. going crock pot. You might laugh, but my skewed logic is “why be mindful for two hours when I can be absent for 5-6?” Am I just that lazy, or is there a super secret tastiness we’re missing out on by not going stove top?

Do you prefer stove top or crock pot?

{ 3 comments }

Spicy Vegetarian Stout Chili

by Jessica on March 30, 2011

in chili, Food, Kitchen, Recipes, Vegetarian

Veggie Stout Chili

I am convinced spring has abandoned us. Seriously, where did it go?! This was not my idea of spring break. This lingering wet and cold weather blegh is seriously zapping all of my energy and optimism. All this week I’ve continually found myself exhausted before I even leave work and ready for bed before 10. Not good, especially since after this week my schedule will be jam packed with final projects for my classes and lots of clients to please. Any ideas for a mid-week boost?

Since winter continues to be our unwanted house guest, we decided to make one more pot of chili. One. More. Pot. I’ve been christening each pot as the “very last one of the season” since February, as we typically only make chili during the fall and winter months, and I was convinced I’d be gardening by now. Nonetheless here we are, still eating chili –albeit delicious, ever-evolving chili. Inspired by Neil’s new-found affection for stout beers, we decided to see how a bottle of stout would fare in a four-bean spicy chili. Caution, we made this puppy HOT!

Ingredients:

1 can organic tri blend beans
1 can organic black beans
1 can organic chili hot beans
1 can organic kidney beans
1 7 oz. can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce
1 large onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoon olive oil
28 ounces tomatoes, canned or fresh, diced (we used fresh)
1 bottle or can of stout (if you’re a strict vegetarian, be sure to check your labels, I wasn’t as diligent it seems according to post-research findings)
3 tablespoons cumin, ground
1 tablespoons chili pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne, ground
1 tablespoon chili powder
salt to taste

Toppings: Mozzarella cheese, oyster crackers and Cheez-its (Neil’s fav)

Directions:

Veggie Stout Chili

Veggie Stout Chili

The melted cheese almost looks like tiny flames, an aesthetically appropriate preview for the heat in this chili.

On the Stove:
Heat olive oil in the pan/pot intended for the chili, and sauté the garlic, onion, and green pepper until the onions are translucent (around 3-5 minutes over medium-high heat if I remember correctly). Add the tomatoes. Stir and let simmer until tomatoes begin to break down. Pour in the the bottle of stout. Cover and simmer for an hour. Add beans and spices and continue simmering for an additional 30-45 minutes.

In a Crock:
Mix all ingredients in the crock and stir until thoroughly melded. Set Crock to low and go about your business for 5-6 hours.

There aren’t a whole lot of process pics because we opted for the convenience of crock. I still feel a little guilty about using it sometimes, like I’m sacrificing the experience of cooking for the convenience of having it ready when I come home from work. We even tell the crock it did a good job of our meal while we were away. Is it strange to name inanimate objects? Being in the racing hobby, naming your car isn’t out of the norm (my Jetta’s name is “Sidda”), so I almost feel that naming the crock pot that cooks for me a few times a month isn’t weird.

Anyhow, back to the chili (and hopefully my sanity). As written, this recipe is quite spicy, so if you’re looking to lessen the heat, we recommend using less chilis in adobo sauce first, and then widdling away at the other spices. Typically when we spice foods we add spices in tiny amounts at a time, sampling a tiny taste or two before adding more.

{ 6 comments }