Yes it's summer but.... Chili!

 Among other things since Lasagna happened which I just ate the last of the leftovers yesterday. Chop it into small squares, remembered I had that jar of marinara and used that to give it some extra flavor, delicious down to the last bite. Nothing else remarkable as far as food is concerned in the last two weeks or so which is why I am  posting now.

 

We bought packaged pollo asado and of course made up some absolutely stellar tacos and partner had his over rice with chopped tomato, onion and cilantro, and diy refried beans. That chicken was just finished off as well in some ramen for him. I think I remember looking at the ingredients on the chicken and fixed up a reasonable copy of it but never wrote it down.

 

I bought a package of pork shoulder steaks that were a reasonable price and then realized I had no recipes for them. So used up the last of my bread crumbs and gave them the schnitzel treatment but no pounding because they still have a bone in them. Fixed up the Seasoned Rice and all that was missing was a side of veggies or broccoli. Nothing special about the process, used an egg with a little milk scrambled, flower and the breadcrumbs. Need to figure out how to keep the crumbs from flaking off.

 

So silly me, pulled out one of the packages of cubed stew meat and it was the larger sized bits. I do have a recipe for chili but didn't want to go rummaging through my recipe box for it so on to Pinterest... because initially I wanted to use the crock pot so it would cook all day. Found a recipe that used the cubed meat as well as black beans because I used the last can of pinto beans in the refried. Now here is where it gets silly:

They have you cook up the spices and veggies, do all the pre cooking then dump it all in the crock pot to cook. I thought, why dirty two dishes when I can stew this on simmer in the dutch oven?

Another mistake was misreading the ingredient measurements. 

So here's 'Award Winning Crockpot Chili'. Sans crockpot

1 T canola or other cooking oil

1 T cumin

1 T smoked paprika

2 T chili powder (I misread and thought it said tsp but corrected it)

3 T regular paprika (I thought that was a bit excessive and used 2)

2 tsp onion powder

1-1 1/2 lbs chuck roast cut into cubes

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp oregano (I used my garden oregano dried)

1 medium onion diced

(1/2 green bell pepper diced)

3 cloves garlic minced (used garlic I grew in my garden yay!)

14 oz (1 can) diced tomatoes (undrained)

4 oz can diced chilis (I didn't have any so I used one can Rotel and one can diced tomatoes)

1 c beef broth

1 T apple cider vinegar (I used 1 tsp)

2 cans black beans drained and rinsed (I only had one)

1 tsp salt

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a medium-sized skillet. When the oil shimmers, stir paprikas, cumin, chili powder and onion powder into the pan. Cook for 1 minute or until spices are very aromatic and remove from heat. (I had the oregano in there two because I didn't read effectively)

 

Add beef, sugar, oregano, onion, vinegar, garlic, tomatoes, green chilies, beef broth, beans and salt to the slow cooker. Transfer spices from the skillet into the slow-cooker and stir to combine. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high, 6 on low.

 

This is where I got confused due to not reading well (stupid eyesight). I added the onion and I thought you cooked everything in that original pan then transferred so I just added the meat and everything into the dutch oven, stirred everything well brought it up to a good simmer then put the lid on and turned it down to let it cook for a few hours. I also added in a can of corn because it just looked like it could use something. Also I was thinking that adding in lime juice instead of the vinegar would give it a different flavor next time. When it was about an hour or two in I took the lid off and stirred, it was very watery so I added in about a tablespoon of cornstarch and water to thicken it up. 

Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro because that just makes it even better. I was going to add in cilantro toward the end of cooking but changed my mind. It's a fantastic flavor and can see how it may have won an award or two but I've also had better.

 

I can see how heating up the spices is an old world way of doing things and it does add a depth to the flavors. Most cooking you can screw up directions like this and it still turns out just fine. Which it did this time luckily. I was briefly tempted to use a drop of smoke flavoring instead of using the smoked paprika but didn't. Vinegar and that stuff I have used wrong and it ruins the entire recipe. If I were to use it I would sear the meat first, add a drop of smoke and stir it around then add the other ingredients give it a good char first with that smoke flavor would make it completely different for sure.

 

That's all I've got for this time, mid July is going to be busy so I'll be hopefully stockpiling on easy to fix meals and leftovers. I've got a bit of time until then, tomorrow is going to be chicken breasts somehow.