The Triumphant Return, see also: ArtieKGB Triumphs over Laziness and Procrastination, see also: Hell Yes, Chili!

So, no excuses offered. I just kind of dropped the ball mid way through my Cinco De Mayo project. I was trying to go back to that, but it is pretty out of date at this point, so I am just going to move on. Trust me, I love Mexican food enough, that I am definitely going to circle back around.

Today, I want to talk about Chili. I absolutely adore a nice hot (temp and spice) bowl of chili. I would suppose you can lump this in with one of ArtieKGB's tenets of cooking, "Tomato + garlic + fat + salt = delicious." There are no doubts about it though (unless you are a crazy person) chili is delicious.

I have been playing with my chili recipe for a few years, and it definitely caters to my preferences as far as flavors. In addition to my already stated tomato+garlic+fat fixation, I am also a huge fan of spicy food, and all things roasted and caramelized. This recipe works all of these things into one great pot of awesome. If you are lazy and in a hurry, you can skip or change a lot of the steps, but in the end, your chili will be no where near as good.


Chili the way Artie likes it

Ingredients

1 - 19oz can red kidney beans
2 - 19oz cans crushed tomatoes
Seranno peppers to taste, finely minced (I use 10, but I like things really spicy)
5 - cloves garlic, finely minced
1 - med yellow onion chopped
2 - zucchini cut in 1/2 inch cubes
2 - large carrots cut in 1/2 slices
1 - ear corn on the cob
1 - large bell pepper chopped
vegetable oil
1 tbsp - Salt
2 - tbsp table sugar
1 tbsp - ground cumin
2 tsps - ground oregano

Equipment

1 - large sauce or stock pot
1 - cookie sheet
knife, cutting board, etc.


Cooking

• · Cut all the corn off of the cob and spread the corn and chopped bell pepper on a cookie sheet.
• · Put the cookie sheet under a broiler and watch closely until the veggies begin to blacken. You want some solid roasting, but don't make charcoal.
• · After removing from the broiler, set the corn and peppers aside to cool.
• · Put the onions, garlic, serranos, oil and salt in a large sauce pan, over medium high heat, and sautee until the onions become translucent.
• · Add the cumin and oregano and reduce the heat to med.
• · Continue to sautee, stirring regularly until the onions have cooked out all of their water and turn a nice golden to dark brown. Be careful not to let them burn.
  
• · Add the beans, zucchini, carrots, corn and bell peppers and a little more oil
  
• · Continue to sautee until the veggies begin to soften
• · Add the tomatoes and sugar
• · Allow the chili to come back to a simmer
• · Turn the heat down until the pot is just barely simmering
• · Stir regularly for the next 30 minutes to an hour.

The easy but not quite as tasty way

• · Sautee the onions, garlic, serranos until the onions are translucent
• · Combine all ingredients in a crock pot on medium low and leave it to cook while you are at work.