Friday, April 2, 2010

Ultimate Chili

For Valentine's Day I gave my man a beer-making experience.  He and a friend went to Shenandoah Brewing Company and brewed their own beer.  After about 6 weeks it was bottled and ready for drinking.

 To celebrate, we threw a "Release Party" with a ton of chili.

When I make chili I don't really measure anything so it never turns out exactly the same.  Feel free to increase or lower the amount of things in here to fit your taste buds.  But whatever you do, make sure to include the secret ingredients... it makes all the difference!

Ultimate Chili
Ingredients

1 28oz can of whole tomatoes, slice them up a bit
1 28oz can of diced tomatoes, (w/green chilies or w/o)
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)*
1 can black beans*
1 can dark red kidney beans*
*OR you can do 1/2 cup dried beans and let them soak overnight in water.  Then dump out the soaking water and cook them on the stove in fresh, boiling water for 10 minutes.  Drain.
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow or orange pepper, chopped
1 red onion, diced
3 cloves of minced garlic (or more, or less...)
1 pound browned & drained ground beef or turkey
1 package spicy sausage (My Favorite Cajun  Style Andouille found here)
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder (or more, or less...)
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin  (or more, or less...)
1/2 teaspoons sea salt (or more, or less...)
Dash of Cayenne Pepper
Secret Ingredient: 2-4oz of good quality unsweetened dark chocolate (YUP! That's right... I said Chocolate!)  (Ghirardelli, Dagoba, or Scharffenberger do actually taste & look different....)

Easy-have-a-lot-of-time-Directions: 
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey).  Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--I've read something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

Dump everything into a crockpot, stir and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 5-6.

Got-to-get-to-a-Beer-Party-Soon-Directions
Chop all the veggies (peppers, onions, garlic).  Split the sausage lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch thick pieces.  Brown the ground beef (or turkey) in a large stockpot.  Add in veggies & spices to the ground beef (you could drain the fat before adding veggies if you wanted.)   Cook covered for about 7 minutes or so, just to soften everything up.  Add in all the other ingredients: tomatoes, beans*, chocolate, sausage.  Stir and cover.  Simmer for the next 1.5-3 hours on low, stirring about every 20 minutes.  The slower you cook a chili the better it will get.  If it ends up being too watery, take off the lid and/or add some cornstarch.  (To add cornstarch, spoon out about 1/2 cup of the liquid and add a Tablespoon of cornstarch to it.  Mix it up so there aren't any lumps and pour it back in.  In about 20-30 minutes you'll have a thicker chili.)  Serve with some tasty cornbread (GF cornbread Represent!) and some homemade Nut Brown Ale (although....that's not gluten free!) 

*Make sure beans are drained of their can liquid or their soaking water (and have been heated for 10 minutes in boiling water--there is something about a chemical kidney beans release when first heated that you're not supposed to eat? I don't know...)

 Vegetarian/Vegan Option: 
I've made this plenty of times before without meat and it's just as delicious.  Certainly with all the beans it's packed with protein and fiber!  I would however:

Increase the spices (Chili Powder, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper)
Cook in the crockpot so the beans break down a bit more and make it thicker
If you're a soy-sausage fan I'm sure it would taste great in this.
Sometimes I also add some frozen corn.....but it does make the chili sweeter. 

Enjoy!

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