Spicy Pork Chili

Thank you to Jessica Peterson who was kind enough to give me her recipe. I didn't change a thing.

This chili has so much flavor complexity that the taste is totally worth the whole day it takes to make. It's a stove top recipe that you can't just totally leave and let it go. There are stages to it. BUT! You will be rewarded in the end and if you are serving this to guests? They will think you are some kind of chili genius! Really the only thing you need to make sure you have is a large stock pot. This recipe makes a pretty good amount, enough for a crowd.

Spicy Pork Chili
•8 tablespoons vegetable oil
•About 3 pounds boneless pork loin, cut into large chunks(I used 1 of the Costco vacuum sealed ones)
•Kosher salt to taste
•Black pepper to taste
•1 Yellow onion, diced
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
•2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
•2 tablespoons brown sugar
•2 tablespoons chili powder (add more to taste)
•2 tablespoons ground cumin (add more to taste)
•1 teaspoons cayenne pepper
•3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
•3 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with juice
•1 tablespoon honey
•3/4 cup prepared black coffee
•¾ to 1 can beer (doesn’t matter which kind…I used Rainier)
•2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, drained
•1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained
•1 (15-ounce) can great northern white beans, drained
•1 (15-ounce) can chili beans, drained
•1 cup sour cream for serving
•2 cups shredded cheddar, for serving (I used cheddar jack from Costco)


Directions
Pour 4 tablespoons of the oil into a large, heavy bottomed stockpot and place over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Season the pork with a dash of salt and pepper and brown it in batches, 3 to 5 minutes per batch. Set aside the browned pork. Below, is the pork prior to browning. Leave your pieces fairly large so they don't cook too fast and they are easier to pull out and shred later.

Pour the remaining oil into the pot and add the onion, garlic, bell pepper and jalapenos. Season the veggies with the brown sugar, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, pepper and cilantro.

Sweat the vegetable mixture over medium heat for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft.

Add the pork back to the pot along with the tomatoes, honey, coffee and beer. Simmer on medium/low for 2 hours, until the pork falls apart. Transfer chunks of pork to a plate, shred with fork and return to pot—repeat until all pork is shredded. Add beans and let simmer another 2 to 3 hours.

Serve directly from the stove top with side bowls of sour cream, chopped green onion, and shredded cheddar.

It's as easy as pie

Don't ask me why... but for some reason I don't consider making a pie, baking. Pies are an easy and inexpensive way to bring something to a gathering that has the appearance that you have really done something special. But really, it's as easy as pie. Get it?

My friend MJ's mom will just on the spur of the moment bust out her food processor and start baking a pie. It always amazed me because I thought pie was like all other baking. 1. A big mess 2. Time consuming 3. Like canning somehow where it took the better part of the day. Not true! She made it look so easy and doable that right then and there (whenever that was) I incorporated pies into my cooking club. Therefore, they are not baking. That is what I tell myself anyway.

I have since adapted both her berry pie and apple pie over the years and today I bring you the apple. Come Thanksgiving...I will bake the berry.

Seems to me that the key to a good apple pie is apples which aren't cut too big or too small. To big and it's just uncooked hunks of apple in crust. Too small and you have an applesauce pie. Both gross. I cut my peeled and cored granny smith apples into quarters and then each quarter in 1/2. Then each of those into 4 pieces. For me, that seems to be a good size for as long as I bake my pies. I prefer using granny smith apples because of the tartness and they hold up really well during baking without mushing out. Blah.

I also like to macerate my apples in a sugar, cinnamon and corn starch mixture for about 20-30 minutes. The apples lose some juice and it makes a yummy sauce that bakes up and thickens with the pie. Nobody wants a dry pie.

Pie crust is scary isn't it? It's a whole dough thing for me. I am just afraid of dough because I don't have "the touch" that bakers say you need to feel the humidity of dough. That is why the pre-prepared dough industry is booming. People, pie dough is soooooooo easy. If I tell you it's easy, it is. Stop buying refrigerated pie dough for pete's sakes!!!

Dust off your food processor. Find all the pieces and listen up! If you have a food processor that you don't use and were thinking of donating it - Don't!! I use mine for pie crust and hummus and now it earns it's keep. Food processors are like air conditioning in houses located in Washington state.....when you need it, you need it. Am I right? The great thing about the food processor is that it will incorporate the fat into your flour quickly and therefore, you get a flakier pie crust. It's the chunks of fat in the crust that make it yummy.

Thank you Mrs. Johnson.

Apple Pie

Filling
1 cup sugar
cinnamon to taste
2 tbl cornstarch
5-6 granny smith apples cut in chunks (peeled and cored)

Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
dash of sugar
dash of salt
2/3 cup shortening
7 tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine filling mixture and set aside stiring occasionally. As the apples release juice, a sauce will form. In a food processor combine all but water and pulse until it looks like oatmeal. Add water and run until a ball forms. Divide dough in two parts. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about 15 minutes. Roll out and assemble pie. Cut slits in top of pie for steam to escape. Brush top of pie with milk or egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40-50 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and you hear the juice inside bubbling. Cool on a wire rack.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

So, in the super cool produce co-op haul I got a bunch of broccoli. The only thing I know how to do with it is steam it. Zzzzzzzzzzz. Oh wait, it's 55 degrees outside - I shall make soup!

Again a hybrid soup recipe. It was surprisingly easy. I found that some people puree theirs in a blender or mash with a potato masher. I did the blender thing and just pulsed it a couple of times so there was still texture but not big hunks of broccoli in the soup. I decided to add just a bit of cheese to the flour/milk mixture (I did it just like I do my mac and cheese) just because it seemed like it needed a little something. I was right. And I was pleased with myself that I added just enough cheese for a back note of flavor but not enough to turn it into a caloric cluster. I had a picture..but I can't find it now. This gives you a good opportunity to use your imagination. Imagine a picture of Cream of Broccoli Soup :)

Cream of Broccoli Soup
Ingredients:
1 Tb Butter
1/2 Onion - chopped
1 Stalk of celery - chopped
4 1/2 Cups of chopped up broccoli pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Milk mixture
1 1/2 Tbl butter
1 1/2 Tbl flour
1 Cup milk
1/4 Cup shredded cheese


Melt 1Tb butter in a stock pot and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until broccoli is fork tender.

Put soup in a blender (in batches if you need to) and blend to the desired consistency. Pour back into the pot.

In a separate sauce pan, melt 1 1/2 Tb butter, stir in flour and add milk. Stir until thickened. Stir in cheese until melted. Add to soup. Season and serve.
YUM!

Chicken Corn Chowder

Only in Seattle, can it be 80 degrees one day... and then 59 the next! This Labor Day weekend has been a bit gray so in honor of the weather (and my super cool produce co-op haul) I am making soup.

Chicken corn chowder is my interpretation of several recipes that I have adapted over a few years and so now I have this no-measurement version. I know, I know! But I will still give a recipe (even though the measurement may be "ish" instead of tbl)

This is great left over and really good with any kind of rolls. It's a stick-to-your-ribs kind of meal.Chicken Corn Chowder

Ingredients
2 russet potatoes, peeled and chopped into ½ in cubes
5 ears of corn – with kernels removed
1 smallish onion chopped
½ package of bacon (I like center cut..there is less fat)
2 chicken breast from your fave. Grocery store’s deli – chopped into bit size cubes
1 package sliced mushrooms
1 package (Costco) or 1 cup or so of instant mashed potatoes
4-5 cups of chicken broth
1-2 cups of milk
My seasoning “to taste” or just salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In a large stockpot, fry bacon on med to med high heat until desired crispiness but slowly enough to render out as much fat as possible.
Meanwhile, take the corn off the cobs and set aside.
Remove bacon but leave all the fat in the pot – I know! Chop up the bacon into small pieces and set aside.
Add onions and saute until beginning to brown.
Add corn kernels to onion and saute for about 5 minutes or so. Until desired doneness. I still like mine a tad crunchy. Add some seasoning.
Dump the corn mixture into a bowl and set aside.
Add mushrooms and seasoning to the pot and saute until they are slightly browned but have lost their water.
Dump everything back into the pot including chicken, potatoes and bacon. Warm the chicken through.
Add chicken broth and simmer until potatoes are cooked 5-10 minutes.
Add milk and bring to simmer.
Slowly add instant potatoes until desired thickness. It will really depend on how much liquid you have.

Produce Co-Op Bounty

My friend Sascha, just turned me on to the coolest program ever! It's a produce co-op called "Bountiful Baskets"!! It is so cool I can't stand it. Like some of you, I have checked out the farmers markets locally in the summer and I even went so far as to check out the local CSA programs for fresh produce. Let me say that I am all done with that...the Bountiful Baskets program is economical and convenient. You don't have to commit to the whole season either! You pay week to week. The first time there is a fee of 3.00 which pays for the basket that the volunteers use to sort your haul of food but then after that it's $15.00 per week and look at all the goodies I got for my money:
2 Heads of romaine lettuce
1 Head of cauliflower
1 Bunch of broccoli
1 Head of cabbage
1 Honeydew melon
9 Bananas
14 Plums
7 Ears of corn
4 Beefsteak tomatoes
12 Nectarines
9 Oranges

WOW!!!

What to make with all of this? Well, for starters I will be making Chicken Corn Chowder and Cream of Broccoli Soup. Yes, it is already soup weather here is Seattle. A big salad with the greens and maybe just steam the cauliflower. The fruit? I am sure the kids will take care of that for me :)

Another cool thing is that the fruit isn't quite ripe yet so it's not like we have to rush to eat it. Every thing is uber fresh and you can't beat the price. Thank you Bountiful Baskets - you will see me again next week!