This is a repost from 2016. And every single thing about it is still the same, including: “What happens when things get done at the box at the end of the week and I don’t spend the weekend catching up? I get to cook!  This honestly hasn’t happened for quite some time, so I’m totally excited!”. That was the opening line then, and the same thing still stands. I guess I’m a creature of habit. So here goes. 

I didn’t decide to make chili for Ed & Superbowl Sunday until I was already at the market today, so this is a lesson in being fearless in the kitchen! Typically, I never make chili the same way – I like using leftover vegetables that might otherwise get thrown out in days to come, and we are always bean/legume/grainless so all I really needed was meat.  Ed likes it over rice with bread, so other than adding some diced sweet potato, we usually have a meat-based chili.  It’s best cooked up, allowed to cool, then reheated.

So, to start, the part that takes the longest is browning the meat in small batches.  You really need to brown it in smaller batches versus throwing all the meat in one pot to cook so it doesn’t steam.  “Crowding” the skillet is bad.   I used the chili pot and a skillet to make it go faster. The more skillets you have, the better.

I like to mix different kinds of meat in chili. It adds depth.  So I started with Hot Italian Sausage. I squeezed the sausage out of the casings and threw the casings away.  You’ll see the one lone jalapeño pepper diced up in there too. I’ll use about 4-5 pounds of meat in this recipe (we’ll freeze a good portion of it for future weeks) so that little pepper won’t add much heat.

I like to add the vegetables into the meat to cook so they get a little of the flavor from the meat and they’re using the fat from the meat to cook.

Of the meats I found/chose at the market, I had

• one package of Hot Italian Sausage (Publix)
• one pound of Grassfed Lamb
• one pound of Grassfed Buffalo
• one pound of Grassfed Beef (yes, cow)
• one pound of Boars Head Strassburg Liverwurst…don’t gross out…it’s the way I get offal into my hubbies diet (in addition to some greens and veggies)

So, into these small batches (one pound at a time) of meat, I added a whole red, yellow, and green pepper, a whole large red onion, and half of a leftover yellow onion.  Not only does it impart a nice flavor, but it makes the cooking process a little more appealing to the eye! 

After I finished browning each batch, I transferred it to a bowl so I could start the next batch of meat.

I’m sure you noticed I listed liverwurst in my ingredient list.  We (the Farina’s) aren’t great at getting “creative” foods in our diets unless we go out. Most of our weekday meals are pre-cooked and generally generic.  “Get us through the week food”.  So when we go out, or when I get a chance, offal (entrails and internal organs of animals, which contain some quite potent nutrients, but that most of us don’t include in our daily diets) and other beneficial proteins like mussels, sushi-grade fish and wild-caught fish, lamb and wild game find their way onto our plates.

Other than peppers, things found in the refrigerator that needed to be used:  one bag of matchstick carrots.  I added a Tbsp of coconut oil and let them caramelize a little. The robust flavor it adds can be notable.

I added about a 1/4 cup of garlic cloves (remember, we’re making a large batch).  If you don’t already know, the secret to garlic is to smash it (the ONE TIME I get to use the mallet in the kitchen!) and then chop it up, and let it sit for 5ish minutes. Mashing some salt up in it helps release the flavor. I threw it in with the last minute of the carrots to heat it up and not scald it.

The meat is all cooked, and most of the veggies have been added so it’s time to start getting the party started in the big kettle.  After adding all of the meat into the chili pot, I added:

• 2 -28 oz cans of Muir Glen Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
• 1 – 28oz can of Muir Glen Whole Peeled Tomatoes
• 1- 28oz can of tomato sauce – generic.

Initially, I didn’t think I’d need the sauce. I’d rather use the thick crushed tomatoes, but it needed some thinning.

Finally, my husband doesn’t eat greens very often.  He seems to avoid them like the plague. So any chance I can hide them in a recipe I do. He likes spinach, just not very often, so I found the largest bag of spinach I could at the market and added THE ENTIRE BAG, slowly, to the pot.  It ultimately wilts down and you hardly know it’s there. But its yummy nutrients are!

Last “leftover” ingredient: I had a jar of roasted peppers in the cupboard forever. Time to get rid of them. I drained and chopped them up and threw them in.

And NOW it’s time to season. Always taste it first, and start with the basics: salt.  Yes, it needed a little.  So maybe a teaspoon or two to the big pot. I keep my salt in a “Salt Pig“.

Next, my “go-to” seasonings for chili are:

• chili powder
• cumin
• cilantro
• oregano

I used about 3 Tbsp of chili powder, 2 Tbsp of cumin, 1/4 cup of fresh cilantro, and 3 Tbsp of oregano. I found some smoked paprika that piqued my interest so I threw a Tbsp of that in there too.

Now for the secret ingredient! Not really, but it’s not a normal addition to chili:   2 heaping Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder.  And why not? The health benefits of cocoa are proven. Why not add some to our chili!

And finally, wine. Who doesn’t love to cook with wine?  I found a bottle of cabernet in the wine fridge –   hoping it’d have some nice rich undertones..and it did!  It adds a little warmth and, well, Ed’s Italian so we add wine to everything! I threw about 1/3 of a cup in the pot and 1/2 cup in my wine glass. And so it begins…

Time to let the pot cook down – about an hour on medium then another at low heat. 

After it had cooked a few hours, I turned it off and let it cool down. When we’re about ready to eat, I threw some rice on and slowly heated a load of Cuban bread.

Without a plan, it turned out fabulous!  Super healthy – lots of highly nutrient-dense foods…what’s not to like?