Savory Wintertime Fare: My Favorite Chile Recipe
Posted: Sunday, January 30, 2011
by Linda LaVoire
This chili recipe is my favorite to date. It is years of experimentation and tweeking this ingredient or that ingredient. Chili is a very forgiving dish. You're welcome to take my recipe and tweek it to your tastes as well. I hope you enjoy it.
Savory Four Bean Chili
Ingredients:
1 lg. red onion, chopped
2 lg. garlic clove petals, minced
2 lbs. ground beef (or 1 lb. ground beef and 1 lb. beef sirloin, cubed), drained
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled, diced tomatoes with juice
2 (6 ounce) cans tomatoe paste
2 (14 ounce) cans beef broth
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 rounded tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder (Don't look so surprised! This ingredient makes all the difference in this hearty dish)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. ground cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp. salt
1 (15 ounce) can dark red kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can light red kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can white kidney beans (if you can't find these, great northerns may be substituted)
1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans
2 fresh green chile peppers, (seeded and chopped)
Directions:
1. Heat 2 tbsps. of the reserved bacon drippings in a large stock pot (or dutch oven) over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic, ground beef (& sirloin, if used) for 10 minutes, or until meat is browned and onions are tender, drain.
2. Mix in the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato paste and beef broth. Season with brown sugar, chili powder, cocoa powder, oregano, cayenne pepper, and salt. Stir in the dark and light kidney beans and the green chiles. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours.
3. Stir in the remaining 2 cans of beans and crumbled bacon and simmer for another 30 minutes.
May be served alone or with your own homemade cornbread, or over rice or noodles and topped with shredded, sharp cheddar cheese. (A dollop of sour cream never hurt anything either)
If you're someone who likes 5 alarm chili, I suggest you add your favorite hot sauce to your own servings of this dish. This chili is spicy but not "set you on fire" hot. I'm not a hot food type of person. As I said before, you may tweek this as you see fit.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)
Linda, you undoubtedly try to make enough for David. That much Chili would last me and your mother 2 months! Sounds like it would be good, but how do you figure out how to make one-sixth as much without wasting several cans of beans, etc? I'm kidding of course.This comment cracked me up!! David says "Awwww, thanks a lot!!" He knows he eats a lot but not that much! hehehe... don't worry he's laughing too. I make a lot on purpose. Chili is one of those dishes you can make a huge pot of and then freeze for future meals. That way I don't have to go through the prep again for a long time. (Not that it makes it that far with Dave around :-\.... Just kidding honey! )
Your recipe made my mouth water. If you're like me, I seem to like the hot Chili recipes more as I aged, than when I was young. The last pot I made, just last week, I used venison as the meat choice, and used four varieties of peppers, all grown in our home garden. Come to think of it, I think those left-overs will be my lunch today. Thanks for the reminder.Thanks Dave, I'm glad you enjoyed looking at it. If you try it, I hope you'll also enjoy eating it! :) Linda
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