Cooking with Blobby

We are 10 days away from "Winter", but you'd never know it here. 

Even with a continual day of rain, we still had snow on the ground. And then that rain just turned into more snow. And ice. 

It's in the 20s and no sign of getting out there any day in the next 4-5, so chili seemed appropriate. 710 likes it more than I, but I like him, so.........I do what I can.

I'm 99% sure I've made chili here before, but it is kind of like meatloaf or lasagna - almost impossible to fuck up regardless of how one makes it.  I mean, I'm sure there are ways, but if you stick with the basic ingredients, you're kind of on solid ground. 

Me? I did look on-line for an actual recipe and this will tell you a lot about me:  I used the first one that came up. Apparently I couldn't be bothered to peruse through the others to see what was what. 

I am NO fan of kidney beans. The look. The name. The texture. If I can get by the texture - which is rare - the taste seems ok. But it is a visual and tactile thing. Honestly, this is the first time I used beans in chili I made. .....again.....710. 

But I used a potato masher on the beans before adding them. The protein will be there. The flavour. It'll help thicken the chili........but I won't have to see them or bite into them.  Full disclosure - they all didn't mash. It's harder to do than one would think and an emersion blender seemed like overkill. 

Anyway - that's a lot of info to start, no?  Let's get to it. 

Ingredients 

 

1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil 

1/2 large white onion, chopped 

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 

2 Tbsp. tomato paste 

1 1/2 lb. ground beef 

1 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder 

1 tsp. dried oregano 

1 tsp. ground cumin 

1/2 tsp. paprika 

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional) 

Kosher salt 

Freshly ground black pepper 

1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes 

1 (15-oz.) can kidney beans, drained 

Shredded cheddar, sour cream, and sliced scallions, for serving 

Directions

Step 1 In a large pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly softened and translucent, 6-8 minutes. 

Add garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute more. 

Add tomato paste, stirring to coat vegetables. The recipe didn't call for jalapeño, but I added two. Seeds, ribs and all. You gotsta have heat!

Add ground beef and cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 7 minutes. Drain any excess fat. 

Step 2 Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, paprika, and cayenne (if using); generously season with salt and black pepper. 

Pour in tomatoes and beans and bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors have melded and liquid is slightly reduced, about 20 minutes; season with salt and black pepper, if needed. 

Step 3 Ladle chili into bowls. Top with cheese, sour cream, and scallions. (no worries, sour cream was used.)

Honestly, this takes less than 30 minutes to throw together. I had it done well before dinner time and left it on a simmer cycle for flavours to meld. 

It was a little thick, so one might want to thin it out a little with some water, tomato sauce or stock. I ended up using Scoops and treating it like Chili Frito Pie. Two jalapeños and cayenne gave it heat, but not so much so. 

710 was very happy with it, so I was too.