Chili con Carne y Frijoles Rojos
Yep. I love making chili. It's always different because I usually eyeball all the ingredients that go into it. Plus, I have a base chili that I'm usually adding whatever seems appropriate at the moment. Probably no different than a lot of you.
I concentrated on putting measurements down on this one, but I still ended up adding more of something after tasting... several times... which is essential for good chili.
Chili:
2 red bell (chopped), 2 poblano (chopped), 1 sweet onion (chopped)... sweat this till the onions are translucent.
1 (28oz) can diced tomato, 1 (14.5oz) can diced tomato with green chilies, let cook for 30 mins then add:
1 tbsp oregano, 1 tbsp basil, 1 tbsp onion powder, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp ground cumin...
1 tsp cayenne powder, 1 tsp granulated garlic...
and ~1/2 cup chili powder (6 Guajillo, 3 Ancho de-stemmed and seeded)
3 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic cloves
Stir. Add 1 cup water. Add in browned ground beef juices (see below) and let simmer for ~1 hour.
Click this link for visuals.
~1.5lbs 80/20 ground chuck beef... brown in separate skillet. Put cooked meat in container for refrigeration rest. Pour juices into pot of cooking veggies.
Leave a coating of cooked fat in the skillet. Essential for cornbread pancakes.
Shred ~1+ cup ColbyJack cheese.
Thin slice about 6-8 slices of Muenster cheese with cheese slicer. Let sit on plate to reach room temp.
Smash a quarter of a 15.5oz can of red beans. The bean paste is used to thicken the chili slurry/gravy. The rest of the beans go into the pot whole.
See this link.
After 1 hour cook, add bean paste, whole beans, and ~1/2 cup AP flour slowly, while stirring, in intervals so as not to clump. Stir thoroughly to mix in that bean paste.
Fold in the browned chuck. Let simmer ~30 mins.
Edit: I add salt at the end. In this case, it was ~1 1/2 tsp of Kosher salt. Also added in ~1/2 tbsp more of paprika and ~1 tsp of fresh ground black pepper in the last 5 mins of cook time. Plus about 1 cup shredded ColbyJack. Stir it up!
Looky here!
Make cornbread pancakes with:
1 cup corn meal, 3/4 cup AP flour, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder... mix up.
2 large eggs, 1 1/2 cup 2% milk, 5 tbsp melted unsalted butter, 3 finely chopped pepperoncini... mix up.
Mix all together and let sit for 5 minutes.
Pour out ladle-full of batter on medium hot skillet. 45-50 count and flip for 30-40 count.
Add slices of muenster between pancakes.... enough already! PICS!
Chili thinly spread over cornbread...