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pecuniumI made chili this week.
Night before I soaked beans (pinto, kidney and red beans), changed the water in the morning and did it again.
Six cans of chopped tomatoes, enough beans that it looked right (maybe two-cups, but it might have been as few as 1 1/2. If I scant it, I add enough to be right when the meat goes in).
I ground about a teaspoon of cumin, and tore 3 dried Ancho, as well as 1 dried Anaheim/Calif, peppers and tossed them into the pot to simmer.
I then took some more cumin, ground it, added it to some olive oil, kosher salt and oregano. This was tossed with about a dozen tomatoes (sliced in half) and roasted with some garlic cloves for 25 minutes at 350F. The skins were removed, the heat dropped to 275F and they slowly baked until they were mostly dry (about 1/4 of the original size, and a color like drying ketchup).
Meanwhile I simmered two more Ancho, and another Anaheim (all dried) in a bottle of Negro Modelo, for about an hour, in a covered pot until the liquid was reduced buy about 1/4.
About one third of that went straight in the pot.
While those were simmering I made a sofritto with onions, garlic, some more cumin (when all is said and done it's probably about 1 1/2 Tbls.)and a healthy splash of red wine vinegar, tossed that in the pot.
Strained and used it to marinate the meat (about 1 1/2 lbs of rib eye, from the freezer; it was inexpensive in bulk) with another couple of chiles (minced small with a coffee mill) and some more powdered cumin.
After a couple of hours the meat was lifted out, and browned. When it was done I took the marinade and deglazed the pan, reducing it a little, and added this to the pot.
Simmer for as long as you like, covered. If it gets less than an hour it tastes hot. If it gets at least an hour and a half it has lots of flavor, but the heat isn't assertive. With a few bites it gets a tad warm.
I always soak more beans than I use, and the extra get made into refried.
It takes all day, but the actual working time is maybe an hour and a half, since lots of it is just simmering time.
Makes enough for three to eat hearty, and have about a qt. of leftovers.
To go with it I made corn bread. The only thing fancy about the corn bread is the corn. The same dried corn I used for the corn chowder a couple months back was ground in the spice mill (which cleaned out the last bits of pulverised peppers) to make up the corn part of the recipe.
It's sweeter, as well as being less evenly ground, so the texture of the bread is more interesting. I took the garlic cloves, roasted with the tomatoes (I have some in the oven now, for the tomato sauce starting on the stove) and made roasted garlic butter, which was wonderful on the cornbread. I also served three different types of honey (I tried to make honey a plural, but it looked wrong every way I tried it) Mesquite (from TJ's) California (from Linn's) and Italian Heather (from an apiary in Italy, bought at Buona Tavola in Pike Place Market).
Yesterday morning I made scones; from a mix. The recipe looks easy enough (I looked it up in the Bread Bible) and far less expensive than what we paid for the mix. I might keep some of the King Arthur Scone mix on hand, for convenience, but the next batch will be done here. Very nice with the Italian Heather (I need to get more of it. I am not much of a honey person, except on soft breads, like biscuits and scones, but in the past week I've used about 1/4 of the jar. It's as dark as strong tea and floral, musky and rich [Token is visible out the window, scratching his back by rolling in the sand]. I will want more when I run out. They have a website, Dottor Pescia so I may order from them, otherwise I will see about getting it [one way or another] from Bouna Tavola).
In the luxury department I bought a packet of Double Devon Cream Butter.
It's amazing. I've had it for a couple of weeks. The night I bought it I put it on some biscuits. Intersesting. Rich is the first word to come to mind. Past creamy and right on to fatty. I am not a huge fan of fat. I like bacon, but if the fat comes off, I give it to Maia. Except for cream. I love it. Eat it with a spoon. Drink it out of the bottle (this is at decided odds with my dislike of milk). This was more than that. Cream distilled. It has is reminiscent of cheese.
Today I had some on toast. It has improved (and I liked it fine before). Now it is tangy. A bit of bite to go with the feel of heavy silk.
Night before I soaked beans (pinto, kidney and red beans), changed the water in the morning and did it again.
Six cans of chopped tomatoes, enough beans that it looked right (maybe two-cups, but it might have been as few as 1 1/2. If I scant it, I add enough to be right when the meat goes in).
I ground about a teaspoon of cumin, and tore 3 dried Ancho, as well as 1 dried Anaheim/Calif, peppers and tossed them into the pot to simmer.
I then took some more cumin, ground it, added it to some olive oil, kosher salt and oregano. This was tossed with about a dozen tomatoes (sliced in half) and roasted with some garlic cloves for 25 minutes at 350F. The skins were removed, the heat dropped to 275F and they slowly baked until they were mostly dry (about 1/4 of the original size, and a color like drying ketchup).
Meanwhile I simmered two more Ancho, and another Anaheim (all dried) in a bottle of Negro Modelo, for about an hour, in a covered pot until the liquid was reduced buy about 1/4.
About one third of that went straight in the pot.
While those were simmering I made a sofritto with onions, garlic, some more cumin (when all is said and done it's probably about 1 1/2 Tbls.)and a healthy splash of red wine vinegar, tossed that in the pot.
Strained and used it to marinate the meat (about 1 1/2 lbs of rib eye, from the freezer; it was inexpensive in bulk) with another couple of chiles (minced small with a coffee mill) and some more powdered cumin.
After a couple of hours the meat was lifted out, and browned. When it was done I took the marinade and deglazed the pan, reducing it a little, and added this to the pot.
Simmer for as long as you like, covered. If it gets less than an hour it tastes hot. If it gets at least an hour and a half it has lots of flavor, but the heat isn't assertive. With a few bites it gets a tad warm.
I always soak more beans than I use, and the extra get made into refried.
It takes all day, but the actual working time is maybe an hour and a half, since lots of it is just simmering time.
Makes enough for three to eat hearty, and have about a qt. of leftovers.
To go with it I made corn bread. The only thing fancy about the corn bread is the corn. The same dried corn I used for the corn chowder a couple months back was ground in the spice mill (which cleaned out the last bits of pulverised peppers) to make up the corn part of the recipe.
It's sweeter, as well as being less evenly ground, so the texture of the bread is more interesting. I took the garlic cloves, roasted with the tomatoes (I have some in the oven now, for the tomato sauce starting on the stove) and made roasted garlic butter, which was wonderful on the cornbread. I also served three different types of honey (I tried to make honey a plural, but it looked wrong every way I tried it) Mesquite (from TJ's) California (from Linn's) and Italian Heather (from an apiary in Italy, bought at Buona Tavola in Pike Place Market).
Yesterday morning I made scones; from a mix. The recipe looks easy enough (I looked it up in the Bread Bible) and far less expensive than what we paid for the mix. I might keep some of the King Arthur Scone mix on hand, for convenience, but the next batch will be done here. Very nice with the Italian Heather (I need to get more of it. I am not much of a honey person, except on soft breads, like biscuits and scones, but in the past week I've used about 1/4 of the jar. It's as dark as strong tea and floral, musky and rich [Token is visible out the window, scratching his back by rolling in the sand]. I will want more when I run out. They have a website, Dottor Pescia so I may order from them, otherwise I will see about getting it [one way or another] from Bouna Tavola).
In the luxury department I bought a packet of Double Devon Cream Butter.
It's amazing. I've had it for a couple of weeks. The night I bought it I put it on some biscuits. Intersesting. Rich is the first word to come to mind. Past creamy and right on to fatty. I am not a huge fan of fat. I like bacon, but if the fat comes off, I give it to Maia. Except for cream. I love it. Eat it with a spoon. Drink it out of the bottle (this is at decided odds with my dislike of milk). This was more than that. Cream distilled. It has is reminiscent of cheese.
Today I had some on toast. It has improved (and I liked it fine before). Now it is tangy. A bit of bite to go with the feel of heavy silk.
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Date: 2005-02-28 12:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-28 04:30 am (UTC)You have to provide your own pretty boy to rub your feet and wipe your fevered brow.
TK
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Date: 2005-03-01 02:22 am (UTC)Of course, a similar invitation goes out to you and Maia for central Minnesota. Something about snow on the ground makes one want to cook and bake.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-28 12:19 am (UTC)♥ ~ J
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Date: 2005-02-28 05:36 am (UTC)*sigh*
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Date: 2005-02-28 06:05 pm (UTC)TK
no subject
Date: 2005-02-28 08:22 pm (UTC)