Chili

One of my favorite hearty weeknight meals is a big pot of chili, though my recipe has changed quite a bit over the years. The version from my vegetarian days involved three types of beans. Later, I added in meat, but experimented with flavors like turkey "white" chili. These days, my favorite version is Mel's Chocolate Chili. Cocoa powder has long been my secret ingredient for chili, and this recipe embraces it.

One constant throughout my years of chili-making is the chili powder I use: always Penzeys Medium Hot Chili Powder. It's rich and warm, with just the right amount of heat. Give it a try!

Normally I am pretty faithful to Mel's recipe (with a few minor tweaks*), but for today's batch, I'm using a special ingredient: beef bacon. Our October meat share package included 2/3 of a pound of the stuff, and I've been waiting for the right opportunity to use it. The newsletter advised us that it doesn't crisp up like pork bacon and therefore doesn't work so well in the traditional "bacon and eggs" context. I decided to use half in the chili and save half for the shepherd's pie recipe that E is planning to make tomorrow.

For these uses, I sliced it into 1/2 inch pieces and sauteed them in my enameled cast iron dutch oven. I swiped a few pieces to taste once they appeared done. The wonderful salty-smoky-savory tastes of bacon are there, along with a deep beefy flavor. I was surprised by how much I liked it-- it was tempting to just keep right on munching the little chunks, hot out of the pan!

I used the fat from the beef bacon to saute the onions (replacing the coconut oil) before continuing with the recipe as written. The result? Chili even tastier than normal, with an amazing smoky undertone. Leftovers for lunch are going to be awesome this week!

* If you want to try Mel's recipe, I recommend replacing the beef broth with a second can of tomatoes. And I would be remiss if I didn't recommend her excellent cookbook, Well Fed.