BEEF - it's what's for dinner. (AND it's healthy!)

Oct 16, 2007 10:47

I made this last night. It is 90% not my creation, but it is DELICIOUS, and you'll love it.



You will need:

1-2lb stew chuck (the beef that is cut into cubes), depending how much beef you like. (I bought slightly nicer chuck that was more trim and less veined. It costs about a dollar more a pound, and is worth it.)
a can of diced tomatoes (regular size)
a large onion
a green pepper
a small thing of tomato paste
2 cans of beans (I buy Goya) - I used dark red kidney beans and we forgot to add the black beans, but you could also use pinto or garbanzo or any combination of those 4 that you like. They are all strong enough to do well in this.
garlic... a few minced cloves...
Chili powder
salt and pepper

If you have some red wine left over, that does well in here too. If you don't have red wine, go out and buy a bottle and use some of it in the chili, have a glass with supper, and then save the rest for tomorrow (if you have a wine bottle stopper) or for future cooking endevors (I have one coming up that I saw today that needs lots of red wine, and I'll be trying it soon!). You can buy a decent bottle of red from Trader Joe's for under $10. It's worth it. Live large, people.

In your pot, brown up the beef in a little olive oil. (You may need to do this 1/2 at a time)

Remove the browned beef and in the drippings cook your onion, garlic and pepper (all diced up).
Now, the recipe does not call for you to drain this at all, but Dan and I took most of the drippings out of the pan. The little left still retained the flavor, and the fat was significantly reduced.

Toss your meat back in the pot along with the tomatoes, drained beans, tomato paste, some red wine, a WHOLE lot of chili powder (we like it HOT, so I did three palm-fulls and a sprinkling of crushed red pepper), a bit of salt and grind up some pepper in there. I also added about 4oz of left-over spaghetti sauce we had no use for. If you like smokey flavor, add about 2 tsp of cumin. I'm going to do this when I reheat it, just to change it a little. I'll also add in those black beans. Mmm. Maybe I'll stick some chopped jalapenos in there too... ooh.

Give it a good stir, cover it, set it over a low heat and walk away for about 20 minutes.

Come back and test out the sauce. Add something if you think it needs it. We didn't serve this over anything, but it would be great over elbow pasta (or if you are one of those crazy people that put rice under their chili, I guess that will work).

I love to put lots and lots of shredded cheddar on mine. Dan only likes a sprinkling. Whatever your preference, cheese it up. And please please please try and sit on a couch and watch some sports while you eat this. It's not exactly a candle light supper. Goes well with the autumn air and sports season :o)

recipe, food

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