After watching my other half make several tasty meals from La Vache, I decided it was my turn. Something simple and tasty involving ground meat... hmm... Chili!
I remembered that I had used a particular ready-made chili kit from the supermarket in the past, so I ventured to our local H-E-B and found it on the spice aisle: Wick Fowler's (famous all-natural) 2-Alarm Chili Kit.
I like this kit because it contains individual packets of all the spices you need: chili pepper, salt, onion powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic, and red pepper, along with a packet of masa flour to thicken it up if necessary. The back of the box says all you need to add is a small can of tomato paste, water, and your ground beef. I decided to tweak it a little, so I also bought a can of diced tomatoes and a can of red kidney beans.
Heading home, I put the dutch oven on the stove and started to brown two pounds of the wonderful ground meat that I had removed from the freezer and thawed out in the sink that day. Boy, when she said that this stuff cooks nicely, she wasn't kidding - the texture was completely different from the store-bought ground meat I was used to. I added just a dash of Worcestershire sauce because, hey, everything tastes better with Lea and Perrins!
Once the meat was browned, I drained off the fat and returned it to the stove before adding two cups of water, the tomato paste, the drained diced tomatoes, and about a third of a cup of diced onion. I added all the spices from the kit except the red pepper, since I remembered that it had been somewhat fiery in the past and my dear wife doesn't do well with spicy these days. I brought it to the boil while stirring it all together, then reduced the heat, popped the lid on, and left it to simmer covered while I washed and drained the kidney beans.
After about 30 minutes, it was looking great and in no need of any thickening, so I trashed the masa flour, added the frijoles, and took a quick taste. I added a dash more salt, gave it another good stir, and left it to simmer gently until Dear Heart arrived home about 20 minutes later.
The end result was a large pot of protein that tasted every bit as food as it looked. We both went back for seconds, and there was enough left over for another four or five bowls over the next few days.
Job done.
I remembered that I had used a particular ready-made chili kit from the supermarket in the past, so I ventured to our local H-E-B and found it on the spice aisle: Wick Fowler's (famous all-natural) 2-Alarm Chili Kit.
I like this kit because it contains individual packets of all the spices you need: chili pepper, salt, onion powder, cumin, paprika, oregano, garlic, and red pepper, along with a packet of masa flour to thicken it up if necessary. The back of the box says all you need to add is a small can of tomato paste, water, and your ground beef. I decided to tweak it a little, so I also bought a can of diced tomatoes and a can of red kidney beans.
Heading home, I put the dutch oven on the stove and started to brown two pounds of the wonderful ground meat that I had removed from the freezer and thawed out in the sink that day. Boy, when she said that this stuff cooks nicely, she wasn't kidding - the texture was completely different from the store-bought ground meat I was used to. I added just a dash of Worcestershire sauce because, hey, everything tastes better with Lea and Perrins!
Once the meat was browned, I drained off the fat and returned it to the stove before adding two cups of water, the tomato paste, the drained diced tomatoes, and about a third of a cup of diced onion. I added all the spices from the kit except the red pepper, since I remembered that it had been somewhat fiery in the past and my dear wife doesn't do well with spicy these days. I brought it to the boil while stirring it all together, then reduced the heat, popped the lid on, and left it to simmer covered while I washed and drained the kidney beans.
After about 30 minutes, it was looking great and in no need of any thickening, so I trashed the masa flour, added the frijoles, and took a quick taste. I added a dash more salt, gave it another good stir, and left it to simmer gently until Dear Heart arrived home about 20 minutes later.The end result was a large pot of protein that tasted every bit as food as it looked. We both went back for seconds, and there was enough left over for another four or five bowls over the next few days.
Job done.
i'll have to learn ya how to make it without the prepackaged spice mix... :-)
And no beans!
Well in the past we've always been a "no bean" family, but I figured a little diversity in the protein department was worth a shot. It came out well - even Dear Heart acknowledged that the beans were a good idea.
But yeah, paying for pre-packaged spices is the lazy man's way out; I should've measured what was included so I could just recreate it myself next time.
That chili looks pretty darned amazing, Jon. But I have a question for you: how do you get the beef nice and separated like that? When I do mine, it tends to clump up into large chunks, but I'd like to further break that down and have had trouble doing so. :( What's your trick? :)
Kel
That's the beauty of this ground beef, Kelly; store-bought ground tends to clump as you describe, but this stuff breaks up so well it almost dissolves! I have no idea if the grind it differently, but I like it.
Ah ha! The secret is in the meat itself. I like that. I don't know that we have many meat options out here other than grocery stores. Alas. One thing I miss about Texas (aside from you and your wife!!) is the food. Such great quality stuff there!