My kitchen has been shrunk to the size of Baba Yaga's stove in her chicken-footed hut. But that just gives me a chance to experiment with whatever I please! Things are always as fun as you will allow, and I have been working on simple foods. New blog address, same deliciousness.
I have been working on big pot meals. This week it was "Paycheque Chili", and it turned out amazing! Since I have been using a lot of pork I decided to start there, but you can use beef, turkey or chicken. So, three pounds of ground pork, fried up and crumbled until no pink shows, lift them out of the pan saving the fat, and load them into your big pot!.Then about four cups of chopped onion, two cups of chopped celery - yes I use the leaves too - and a cup of chopped carrots for colour. Fry them for a few minutes in the reserved fat, until the onions are fragrant and nicely coloured. Then toss them in with the cooked pork. Chop up two green peppers and peel at least four cloves of garlic. Toss them into the pot and clear up the tiny kitchen counter. Now you will need SIX 28oz. cans of diced tomatoes, SIX 19 oz. cans of your favourite beans , rinsed and drained - this batch has pinto beans, black beans, Romano beans and chick peas - sir and turn the heat to medium to get the mass cooking!
Now it's time for seasoning! Adjust yours to your own taste, but I always start with chili powder - 1/4 cup or more for this batch - and two nice tablespoons of oregano. Then I added (!) two heaping tablespoons of curry powder, three tablespoons of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of chipotle, a tablespoon of cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, and just a pinch of cinnamon. I also poured in about 1/4 cup of cider vinegar. Six bay leaves rounded the mix to my personal taste. My spice cupboard is pretty extensive, and I play with combinations all the time. You may prefer to omit some spices or add others. This is just a starting point.
Using a long handled lifter I scraped the mixture off the bottom of the pot about every five minutes to prevent scorching, and let the chili simmer until the vegetables were nearly cooked. Then I stirred in about two cups of corn kernels. The chili simmered for another hour before I added salt to taste, a little Worcestershire sauce, a couple drops of Tabasco and a little black pepper.
This made nearly three gallons of chili, and I cooled and froze most of it. So delicious!
I served mine with pita chips, but it's also fabulous with a slab of home made bread!
Enjoy!
