Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Chili

Chili is one of our favorite easy meals. I love to make it from scratch and since it freezes well, I make it in really, really big batches. It takes a bit of work up front, but the pay off lasts and lasts. I always start with dried beans and dried chiles as it makes the chili that much better. We like our chili by itself, as frito pie, on veggie dogs, on pasta (yes my husband lived in cincinnati), but never on cornbread. That is my issue, I really only like cornbread with honey and butter, not slathered with chili, so I don't serve our chili with cornbread. I also make my chili relatively mild now that I have kids, which means my husband and I add tapatio later. Anywho, this recipe is really a throw it together and taste as you go adjusting as needed.

Note: I usually blend the dried chiles into a paste with a little water, but for some reason I didn't this time. That meant I had to pick out chili skins later, which really isn't fun, so blend, blend, blend.

start by soaking five types of beans overnight in salted water

boil the white beans with oil and bay leaves, the red/black beans with chipotle en adobo

I make the beans a day or two in advance and refrigerate them until ready

toast your chiles

saute chopped onions and carrots in oil

add some veggie meat if you want it (we do it both ways) and brown it all up

stir in beans, roasted chiles (blend them), home canned tomatoes, and water to cover

then add your spices: tumeric, cumin, salt, a bit of sugar, and cayenne then let simmer

here are my skins I had to pick out once all the chili flesh cooked off

umami! yes, that is ketchup to taste

oh and some beer after simmering for about 3 hours

cover and leave on low until you are ready to serve
serve with cheese, chopped onions, sour cream, sour supreme, and more hot sauce

Yum, yum!