Sunday, December 9, 2007

3 Months Later...

...I have finally cooked!! And boy did I...
Saturday was Wes's company Christmas party at our house. No biggie...hotdogs, hamburgers, salespeople bringing appetizers. Well, that's too simple for me, of course. So I decide I want to make chili. Not too hard, right? HA! Of course I can't just do the chili seasoning mix + ground beef + tomatoes = chili. Nooo way. So here's what I made. It turned out GREAT...but I think we'll be eating it for the next month and a half. I definitely had to send Wes out to Wally World to buy a TURKEY FRYER to cook it all in because it made so much. Oops.

6 lbs. ground beef (shoulda realized it was going to make a ton at this point...)
8 cans diced tomatoes
6 cans RoTel tomatoes
4 cans tomato paste
2 cans pinto beans
2 cans dark red kidney beans
2 cans light red kidney beans
2 cans cannelini beans
2 cans chili beans
2 canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I stuck them in the food processor with a couple of spoonfuls of the diced tomatoes to chop them up well. Feel free to add more chipotles, this chili wasn't very spicy)
2 large red onions, diced
1 head of garlic, diced
2 green peppers, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 to 1 beer--I used a Fosters because it was in the fridge :)
2 packets of chili seasoning mix
about 2 T. Worcestershire sauce
ground cumin
chili powder
salt
Tabasco
water

I first sauteed the bell peppers, onions, and garlic (in batches) in a little bit of olive oil. I then added that into a pot with 6 cans of diced tomatoes, the RoTel tomatoes, the 2 cans of chili beans, the cans of all the other beans (drained and rinsed well), the beer, the chipotle peppers and some seasonings (salt, cumin, chili powder, Tabasco, Worcestershire). I let this mixture simmer for a bit. At this point, it was near midnight, so I went to bed :). Assuming you're doing this all in one fell swoop, just let the veggie mixture simmer while you brown the beef in batches. Drain well each time. Also, I added a bit of the last 2 cans of diced tomatoes and the seasoning mixtures each time (once the beef was cooked) and let it simmer for just a few minutes before adding it to the veggie mixture. I also was mixing the tomato paste and water and adding it to the pot to get the amount of liquid in the pot that looked good. Writing this all down, it doesn't seem nearly as complicated--and time consuming--as it was. Anyway, I let it all simmer (in the turkey fryer pot on the side burner of the grill) for about 3 to 4 hours. I continued tasting it and adding whatever it seemed like it needed during that time. I served it with fritos, grated cheese, and sour cream. YUM! In fact, I'm going to go eat a bowl right now :)