Chili is such a favorite and we don't make it often enough. I honestly don't know why. And preparing to document this recipe once again brought to my attention that I cook for the love of cooking. Recipes float in my head - reminders from childhood, family, friends, cookbooks or articles, and somehow they come together into a delicious meal, I often don't measure, but enjoy the art of improvising when I cook. As Dann said tonight, chili will never taste like this again. It could be driven by the quality of ingredients, the list of ingredients, the order in which they are introduced to the pot, but really who knows. We just know we like chili and in the end it's similar to the last time - right?
The Chili I finished cooking today was a multi-day process through no fault of its own.
The tomatoes used in the sauce were from our garden this summer and had been cooked down into crushed tomatoes and frozen in the fall. The Green/Red peppers were bought in bulk at the farmers market this past summer, sliced and frozen the same day.
The ground beef (from Duink Farm in Hamburg, NY) was cooked on Sunday as I needed some for a dish earlier in the week and thought to just cook it all at one time. Little did I know the distress this would cause Dann. My husband, who never has a clue what is in our refrigerator, was VERY aware of the 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef that sat there unused awaiting its swim in the chili bath.
The black beans were from our summer harvest. If you don't think you have a green thumb, try growing dry beans. You plant them, then ignore them - so easy! And kids LOVE shelling them. I LOVE shelling them. I was always so amazed that out of such a dry paste colored shell could come something so perfectly shaped and ink black. With assistance from my young friend Emily Morrison this summer and my niece McKenzie this past weekend, the black beans were all shelled. Monday they went into a water bath to reconstitute and then Monday night they were put in the crockpot over night to soften even more.
The rest of the chili ingredients were also primarily local - onions and carrots from our Winter CSA share through Thorpes Organic Family Farm, garlic from our garden, and a dash of Honey from Bob Colligan's bees.
I find I cook mostly on the whim of the day. This morning as I assembled the chili I started the crockpot on low and diced 2 red onions, adding them to the warming crockpot as I went along. Next added were the carrots - I diced about 4 medium carrots. I then added what I believe to be the equivalent of 2 Green Peppers. By the time the peppers where being added to the pot I could smell the onions. Also about this time I realized my crock was about half full and I hadn't added any meat, beans or sauce yet. Next in went 4 gloves of garlic - pressed.
I stirred the vegetables together and then added the tomatoes- I used 4 small canning jars and 1 large canning jar worth of crushed tomatoes. Next came the ground beef. I only added about 1lb because by this time my crockpot was getting pretty full and I knew I still had beans to add and they would also be adding protein.
Of course chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper where added - these are always added to taste, I never measure, I just pour and pray! I figure heavy on everything but the salt and we'll be good. I also added a few dashes of a special seasoning my parents get Dann on their trips to Florida - Pirates Bite. It's a blend of 7 peppers, so this was the perfect dish to include it on!
Everything was in the pot swimming by 7:30am
About 4:30pm I finally added the black beans (about 3 hours before serving), the other vegetables had softened enough and some of the liquid had cooked off making room for the beans. There were approximately 3 cups of beans added. I would have liked to have more, but that would have meant I needed to grow more...watch out Garden 2012 - I feel rows of turtle beans in our future!!
I added a dash of honey at the end - about a tablespoon or so. This helps cut the acidity of the tomatoes primarily and just blends all the flavors together so nicely.
And don't ask me why, but growing up I always remember having chili over mashed potatoes so of course about 1 hour before you plan on serving the chili, dice up a bunch of potatoes (don't peel - skins mash fine and they are good for you anyway and so much less work!) and put in a large pot. Add some peeled garlic cloves and enough water to just barely cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil and boil for about 30 minutes (or until tender) . Add butter, milk and salt and pepper to taste and mash. I use a hand mixer when adding garlic cloves to my potatoes just to ensure someones doesn't bite into a clove thinking they have a potato!
Dish up some potatoes and layer some chili on top and dig in. So delicious!!!
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