Colorado Chili

Everyone has that one recipe.  It’s the one thing your mom makes, and you never tire of it, and you could eat it over and over again.  For me, it is my mother’s chili.  She always makes a batch for my visits home to Colorado, even if it’s July and 100 degrees outside.  We have it at the holidays and we have it just because it’s Tuesday.

I have been eating this chili, which I call Colorado Chili, for as long as I can remember so that’s 30 plus years.  Naturally, having eaten something for so very long has led me to feel incredibly proprietary about it.   It’s the best chili ever, period.  There, I said it.   Want to know why?  No beans.  Big chunks of meat.  Thrilling complex mingling of flavors.  Lots of tomato goodness.  Wine, red wine!

Geesh, I can hear the grimacing already.  I said it’s the best.  That’s all you really need to know.    In fact, that’s the end of this discussion (that’s how my mom would end arguments when I was a child – very effective).  Would you just make it before you come back to tell me that it isn’t chili without ground meat or beans? 

All of this reminds me of when I worked for a big, huge, giant company headquartered in Cincinnati.  I worked in another city, and every time I called corporate I’d get a puzzled sigh on the other end, “Wait, where are you calling from?  I didn’t know we had an office there.  Are you sure?”  Um yes, I am sure, because the company logo is on my paycheck stub. 

Ok, well that story has nothing to do with chili.  However, I do remember the first time I went to Cincinnati on a business trip.  My colleagues in the home office wanted to take me out to lunch to someplace local and authentic.  They took me to Skyline Chili.  After my experience there, I have this to say:  my above story maybe non-germane to chili but so are spaghetti and cinnamon both of which can be found under and on Skyline chili.

This is not a quick recipe.  You want to begin making it in the mid afternoon if you plan to serve it the same day.

Normally, I don’t dedicate my recipes to anyone.  However, when I told my friend Tara my next post would be about chili, she replied, “Ugh.  (My husband) hates beans and it is such a pain in the ass!”  She perked right up when I told her my chili recipe has no beans.  So Tara, this is for you!


COLORADO CHILI
Yield:  ~ 3 ½ - 4 quarts

More photos of the chili making process are posted at the end of the recipe.  Salud!

1 lb.          beef stew meat, cut into one inch cubes
1 lb.          boneless pork chops, cut into one inch cubes
3 T           vegetable oil
1              large Spanish onion, diced
3-4           cloves garlic, minced
Beef broth
2              4-oz. cans diced green chiles
2             28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes (that are just tomatoes…no seasonings)
½ T          cumin
¼ - ½ t     cayenne pepper  (I like it hot, Brian does not)
1 t            oregano
½ - 1cup  dry red wine, such as cabernet sauvignon or shiraz (syrah)
                (or substitute low sodium beef broth)
Salt and pepper

Season the meat with salt and pepper.  Brown the meat in batches.  In a 5-quart stock pot, heat one tablespoon oil over medium high heat.  Once hot, add one-third of the meat.  Let brown on one side, and then stir occasionally and brown on all sides.  Remove meat from pot and set aside to keep warm.  Repeat until all meat has been browned. 

Remove final batch of meat from pot, lower the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic.  Stir so the onion absorbs the cooking juices from the meat and also so the garlic does not burn.  You can deglaze the pan with a little beef broth to intensify the flavor.  Cook just until the onions are translucent.

Add the chiles, tomatoes, and spices.  Return the meat to the pot, and stir to combine.  Add the red wine or beef broth.  Simmer for an hour. 

To Serve:
In bowls, big and fat, with big spoons.  You may augment and garnish with any of the following, based on your personal preferences:

Sour cream
Shredded Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese
Hot sauce (or an additional sprinkling of cayenne pepper)
Fresh cilantro, chopped
Avocado, diced, sprinkled with fresh lemon juice to prevent browning

You may also consider sides, such as:

Warm flour tortillas
Cheese quesadillas
Cornbread (we like this recipe and it halves nicely)

Like most soups and stews, this chili only improves with age and is even better the next day.

PHOTOS:

Some of the ingredients:

Pork, cubed:

Browning the meat:

Onions and garlic, cooking and soaking up all the wonderful meat juices:

Introducing Casey

Some recent events at the local dog park I visit frequently provoked me to think about dog park etiquette.  Obvious things like: don't wear your fur coat to a muddy dog park (or really any dog park for that matter), if the sign says no kids under the age of six that means no kids under the age of six, and don't bring your freshly groomed white dog to the park.

Telling you all of this, though, is putting the cart before the horse.  Some of my less than a dozen readers are wondering what the heck I am doing at a dog park in the first place.  I am with Casey.  She hired me as her social secretary, personal chef, and belly rubber at the end of November, and I have to say she is one of the best employers I have ever had.

For one thing, she is pretty easy on the eyes.

 

For another, she has awesome ears, and usually sleeps with one straight up in the air.

 

Then again, she sometimes sleeps with both ears down.

 

Could she be any cuter when she sleeps?  I feel like there's a pink neon sign just dangling above her chair reading "CUTENESS ALERT."  If it existed, it would explain why Brian and I can spend the better part of meals with our necks craned uncomfortably watching her sleep.  If you own a dog, you may be wondering how it is we can watch her sleep if we are eating.  Why isn't she at the table begging?  The answer is she doesn't beg because she is the best dog ever.  She has never really begged at the table.  When we eat, she automatically gets on her chair.  When we leave her alone in the house, she doesn't chew up stuff that is not hers.  In fact, we have to officially present her with toys or she'll leave them alone. 

The only thing she does do that she is technically not allowed to do has led to our household version of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.   That chair of hers is the only piece of furniture she is allowed to be on.  When we first brought her home from the shelter, she tried to get on the couch numerous times.  Since we gently removed her every time she got on it, she learned not to do it.  Then, we returned from being away and noticed paw prints on the couch and fur (she sheds like crazy).  The fur was particularly noticeable because it was her light blond on a bright red raspberry colored couch.  There were a number of ways we could have handled her transgression.  However, upon further consideration we decided not to do a darn thing about it.  She is so good about everything else like not going into rooms where she is forbidden (guest room, guest bathroom), not eating the furniture, not going through the garbage, and only jumping up on me (she likes to hug), that if being on the couch makes her feel more secure at home while we are away then so be it.  

Her chair, by the way, belonged to my great-grandmother Bernice.  Casey just loves it.  We repositioned it so she can sit and look out our big south facing window.  She monitors the action on the street, albeit a very quiet street.  In the mornings, she is particularly fascinated by the children who gather at the corner to catch the bus.  

  

And yes, this picture should tell you we left our Christmas tree up well into January.  In our defense, we didn't decorate it until Christmas Eve, and we did take it down before the calendar reached February 1.   

We've been spending many mornings over the past several weeks with her best friend Bella, a mix that people love to speculate has Whippet in her because she's so zippy.  Bella's owner and I coordinate our dog exercise schedules every weekday morning, at the request of the dogs of course.  Bella and Casey just love playing together whether it be chase, wrestle, tug of war, or keep away.

Here they are playing tug of war while another dog referees. 

 

Sometimes, Pike joins in.  He loves Bella and can be seen here giving her a love bite on her butt.    

Sorry Pike, but I do not think the affection is mutual.

As Casey and I go to the dog park quite frequently, we are in the car together often.  Let me just tell you  she is a little human when riding in the car.  Have you seen the movie "Smart People" with Dennis Quaid?  Remember how he would only ride in the backseat of the car behind the driver.  Casey does the EXACT same thing.  I finally brought Brian along one day so he could document it.  Here she is waiting patiently for me to start the car and back out of the garage (and yes, that is mud splattered on the inside of  the car):

Her patience rewarded, we finally cruise down the street headed for her version of nirvana.

 

It's funny because three months ago, she wasn't with us.  She was just another dog at a shelter, and we were just hopeful potential owners.   Now, she so consumes my life that I can't imagine her not in it.  Sometimes, the love I feel for her just hurts because I am so grateful to have such a wonderful, well-mannered dog, and I hope she is with us for a long, long time. 

Multi-grain Pancakes

Do you remember the first recipe I ever posted on this blog? It was for multi-grain waffles. It generated the same response from the four people who regularly read this blog: I don't own a waffle maker so could you please post a pancake recipe. Sure, I said. No problem. Coming right up.

Well, I hope you weren't waiting for it. When I said, "Coming right up," what I really meant was, "Hey, give me a year as I enjoy procrastination as much as the next person." After all this time, though, I am ready to unveil the super-duper multi-grain pancake recipe. I mean I went all out on this one. It took tons of time recipe testing and whatnot. Lots of flour spilled on the kitchen floor to alter that multi-grain waffle recipe. Here are the big changes: replace the oil in the waffle recipe with two tablespoons of melted butter and let the batter rest for 30 minutes before cooking. Yes, really, that's it. Is that a sigh of disappointment I detect?

If you've made pancakes before, you know that the telltale sign they are ready to be flipped is when the batter is covered in air bubbles. This action happens very subtly with these pancakes. See:


And from the side:

The outcome of few air bubbles is that you may have to lift an edge with your spatula to check the color before flipping the pancakes.

However, once flipped and properly cooked, slathered with butter and some local maple syrup (we use Remsburger), it is difficult not to devour these beauties.


That's right: I was so elated to have pancakes I dug right in and completely forgot to take a picture of them properly plated.


MULTI-GRAIN PANCAKES
Adapted from Eating Well magazine
Serves 2-3

1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 T toasted wheat germ
3/4 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/8 t kosher salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 T brown sugar
2 T butter, melted
1 t vanilla extract
Butter and oil for the pan

Stir the buttermilk and oats together in a small bowl (you'll add more ingredients to this mixture later). Let sit for 15 minutes.

In the meantime, whisk together the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.

When the oat mixture is ready, stir in the eggs, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Add this wet mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix with spoon or spatula just until blended. You do not want to overwork the batter otherwise you'll have tough pancakes. Let the batter rest for 30 minutes. Go walk the dog, read the paper, catch up on e-mail. Walk away. Please. Really. It's for your own good: it leads to a much better pancake.

Preheat the oven to 200 F so you can keep the pancakes warm as you cook additional batches.

Heat a 10-inch or 12-inch pan to medium. Our stove settings are Low, 2-9, Hi. For this recipe, I heat the pan on level 5. When the pan is preheated, add approximately one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of oil. Swirl the pan so they mix together. If it seems like too much, pour some out and reserve it for your second batch. I portion the pancake batter using a 1/4 measuring cup which gives me three to four pancakes per batch. Cook until air bubbles form on top and the underside is a nice even brown (not light brown, not burnt). Flip. Cook an additional couple of minutes until evenly browned on the other side. Move to an oven proof plate or baking dish and hold in the warm oven while you cook additional batches.

Serve with butter and maple syrup or your favorite breakfast condiment.