Chili Con Carne - Jan's way

I follow no recipe here, I can't believe I have gotten to the point of being able to make something from scratch with out using a recipe!  It's about time, I cook quite a bit and have always been afraid of my instincts. 

Chili is an easy recipe to do this with, because you have a lot of wiggle room for error and not a large amount of ingredients.

Lets get started!

The first thing I do is check to see if I have the trifecta of ingredients; onion, celery, carrots.  I'm missing carrots, easy substitute, I have orange bell pepper. See what I mean by wiggle room?

After my trifecta has cooked to the "see through the onion, soft" point, I throw in the ground beef and cook it until it is browned.  Again, wiggle room, add whatever meat you choose or none at all if you are vegetarian.

 

So far so good, easy peasy lemon squeezy and all that jazz.  After the meat has been browned, I add a can of tomato paste.  Why at this point? You add tomato paste, because it is great thickener. You will find that it's normally added at the same time tomatoes are, but you end up chasing around a lump of tomato paste trying to break it down.  But, if you cook it up at this now, it's much easier to break down at the same time brightening up the bland tomato flavor!

(Side note... When I have to use less then a can of tomato paste, I plop it into a baggie and throw it into the freezer to use at a later time.  Like I did here, using my frozen saved tomato paste.)

In addition, using dried herbs, they also need a little push to bring out their flavor.  Yes, I could add it in after the liquids, but I feel adding them at this point, it's not competing with too many ingredients and it infuses with the veggies and meat so nicely.

Not many herbs, I use just Chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic & Worcestershire sauce. (This photographer didn't focus in on the herbs in the picture. oops)

Finally... adding the tomatoes!!  This summer I had a couple of tomato plants, honestly I felt I didn't have enough that warranted sweating over the canning process. So I bagged up some gallon baggies after I made some very chunky tomato sauce.  And this is what I used.  I love that so much. Any gardener will tell you how good if feels to use what you have grown in your cooking.

Gallon of frozen tomato sauce... yah... doesn't quite sit in your dutch oven very well!!!!!

My Wusthof is the knife of choice to break down my frozen brick of tomato sauce. haha

Cooking down nicely, still a bit too liquidy!

After I add the tomatoes I added the Worcestershire Sauce, salt, pepper & some sugar. (adding sugar cuts the acidity of the tomatoes, so I've read)  I waited an hour and decided to add a bit more tomato paste (wiggle room, are you following??).  In addition this was about the time I added the beans.  Lots of controversy over when to add the canned beans.  Honestly, I have not noticed a difference on when I add them... at the time of adding the tomato sauce or about 30 mn before serving.

Now this is where wiggle room again comes in... after about an hour, I look and taste.  Big huge things to do.

How does it taste? Too bland? Missing an herb? Not spicy enough?  Add some salt or celery salt, add a Tbl of Chili powder a tsp of Cumin or granulated garlic.

How does it look? Too thin? Add some beef broth or maybe some tomato juice depending on what flavor you might be missing or want to add...make that the decision on what liquid you would add.  Too thin? If you have the patience and time, let it cook down another hour.  No time?  Add tomato paste by putting it in a small bowl with some of the chili and mixing it up to loosen it up.  If you don't you will have a chunk of tomato paste floating around, chasing it down trying to break it up. Add another can of beans but mush them up before you put it in.  I love chili beans.

So, again... that wiggle room that seems to be the theme throughout this post?  I decided to add noodles directly into the chili for the first time this round. 

Would I do it again? mmmm probably not.
Why? Because I like my chili slightly loose and I love cornbread.  I feel cheated that I didn't get my warm cornbread to watch the butter melt & honey drip.  Sometimes I think I make chili only for the cornbread.
Was it good?  Oh yes, the flavor of the chili was amazing and the noodles were fun. I got a thumbs up all around the table!

*** I thought my chili was too thick after my noodles were cooked into the chili so I added beef broth until it got to the consistency I like***

Ingredients

1 large onion chopped
2 ribs of celery diced
1 sweet bell pepper (any color) diced
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tbl oil
1 lb ground beef
3 15 oz cans beans (I used chili beans)
2 large cans of tomato sauce (look in picture for the amount of tomatoes I used, it filled a gallon baggie)
1 can tomato paste
2 tbl Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 T salt
1 tsp pepper
3 Tbl chili powder
1 Tbl cumin
1 tsp cayenne (or less, or not at all if you don't like it spicy)

Toppings

Sour cream
Shredded cheese of your choice (I used cheddar because it's what I had on hand)
Chopped raw onion

Instructions

1. In a large dutch oven place on burner at medium heat.  Once hot, add oil.
2. Add onion, celery, peppers & garlic, cook until veggies are starting to sweat and become translucent.  I'd say about 10 mn or so.
3. Add ground beef and brown, don't break down the meat too much like a Sloppy Joe, keep the meat a bit chunky.
4. Add tomato paste and stir until it has been combined with everything in pot and cooked through for a couple of minutes.
5. Add spices: Chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper.  Cook for about 2 mn, you are just trying to infuse the spices into the meat and veggies here.
6. Add tomato sauce.  When I'm working with canned tomatoes, I used diced canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.  One large can of diced tomatoes and large can of tomato sauce.  They even sell some that are called "Chili Ready".  Or dig through your cupboards and use whatever you have for tomatoes.  Fresh, frozen, canned, v-8 juice.  Any combo will work. Honestly!!!
7. Add sugar
8. Cook for about an hour.  
9.  Add beans.  If it's chili beans you are using, don't drain.  I would drain using other kinds of beans. It's really a matter of whether you want a bit of that bean taste in your chili.
10. At this point you should know how the chili is going to taste. Adjust here.  You should also have a good idea the thickness or too much liquid. Check for suggestions above on how to adjust.  So much depends on the time you have to sit it out and cook it.  Just like making homemade spaghetti sauce!
11. Cook up  your cornbread, make your noodles now, add your noodles in now (remember, noodles absorb a lot of water so make sure you have enough liquid to handle it - you can always add beef broth after if it absorbed too much liquid) 
12. ENJOY!

I love tips and suggestions. Please feel free to shoot me any edits or suggestions!!