Chiles in Chili on a Chilly Day

Today temperature is in the brisk mid-20’s. My team has been planning a chili cook-off for weeks, and I was lucky enough to get in on the event. Sign-ups for chili, sides, and condiments filled the SharePoint site and crock pots were hauled into the office as the team gathered around the conference room to fill their bellies with the slow-cooked concoctions.

There were eight chili entries, and everyone voted at the end on their favorite. One vote each, no categories, no run-offs.

Chili 1 – Traditional – Made with ground beef and speckled with corn, this chili had a consistency not unlike a sloppy joe. It was slightly spicy, but the “traditional” chunks of beans and tomatoes were not present. It was hearty and well-peppered.

Chili 2 – Traditional – This is what everyone thinks of when you say “chili.” Thick chunks of beef, big pieces of tomatoes, onions, garlic, beans, cumin. In a delicious twist, by comparison, this one tasted a tad sweet, I’m guessing they used a pinch of sugar to balance the tinny flavor of the canned tomatoes.

Chili 3 – Chicken white bean – Ground chicken was used along with spinach and fennel, giving an herbaceous, and lighter flavor than the other chilis. Dubbed a “healthy” chili, this one also had more of the sloppy joe texture, less soupy.

Chili 4 – Vegan – Think chili 2 but no beef. Without the meat, it took on a lighter flavor, and was easier to eat more. Extra variety of beans and corn gave more textures and I ate smaller spoonfulls to taste out the individual flavors.

Chili 5 – Beef and chorizo – The beef had been cooked in the oven, then topped with chorizo for the oil to permeate the beef. Pulled apart, then added to the crock pot with the tomatoes and other additions. The result was the soupiest of the chilis, and the chorizo didn’t add too much of a spicy kick, but the flavors melded and enhanced one another wonderfully.

Chili 6 – 4-bean – As mentioned in my last post, this was my entry. Sautéed onion and garlic in bacon grease, added to pinto beans, black beans, cannellini beans, and kidney beans, along with tomato, salt, cumin, and pepper. I found chile peppers in the grocery store and decided to roast the over open flame, then dice them for an additional kick.

Chili 7 – Turkey – Another health conscious variant, the ground turkey was almost indistinguishable from ground beef, except that it was lean and light. Similar to chilis 2 and 4, it was a traditional approach that stayed true to form and flavor, while sidestepping calories.

Chili 8 – Three pepper steak - Dark and meaty are the first two words that come to mind. Blade steak was cooked in a pan, chopped and added to the pot. The pan’s fond was deglazed with beer then added. The chiles, spices and xanthum gum (a low carb alternative to using corn starch) were blended before being combined with the onions and garlic and beans, making the “sauce” portion of the chili thicker and richer.

My vote ended up going to the chorizo chili, which ended up winning the contest. The steak chili was a very close runner up. It was great to have the team come together over lunch, especially as I am so new. Thank you to everyone, let’s do this again! Pasta? Soup? Salad? Cupcakes? Pie (Maybe on March 14^th?)….

January

January is turning out to be a month of change for me. I have a new job. This new role will involve much less, in fact, almost no travel at all. That means that this blog will be more focused on food events and meetups, along with my own cooking, rather that restaurants. I have a new apartment, which means that my kitchen and cooking capabilities are different. Time to explore.

My new kitchen features a gas stove, more workspace than I previously had, but much less cabinet space and poorer lighting. I’ve already made popcorn a dozen times (my go-to snack), but moving reminded me of some of the culinary toys I have that I rarely use, namely, my food dehydrator. I layered each disk-like tray with kale and gave it a dash of “mixed up salt,” a combination of salt, onion power, garlic power, and a few other herbs. Turning on the switch, the heat fan spun up and all I had to do was wait as the bag of kale I paid $3 for turned into $20 worth of kale chips. They were crunchy, mildly salty, and all the bitterness of raw kale was gone. Will definitely repeat.

It’s been a while since I made my last post, so there have been a number of gastronomic adventures that I’ve had since then. One was a hibachi dinner. Everyone brought some kind of protein and veg, or other accompanying part of the meal and, setting up four teppens (or electric griddles) we cooked and clambered over one another for pieces of shrimp, seared beef, and sautéed vegetables. The night was raucous and the hostess claimed her house smelled like a hibachi house for a week afterward.

I attended a “Screen Cuisine” event where everyone brought a dish to share, no cooking involved and subsequently picked a movie for the evening. One of the gentlemen bought a 16”, 4-cheese pizza from ALDI, but then dressed it up with fresh cut pear, kale, and feta cheese. The cost of the take-and-bake pizza was under $10, plus the toppings made for an enormous and delicious contribution.

Later this week, there will be a chili cookoff at my office. I was a late arrival, so turkey chili, vegan chili, chicken and white bean, and three kinds of traditional chili were already accounted for. So were salad, cornbread, and dessert. Already having introduced myself as a food fanatic, I was sure that expectations would be high. Chili is one of those dishes that is never the same twice with me, and I have no recipe. I signed up for a vegetarian chili (vegan was taken bus vegetarian wasn’t). My plan of attack is to caramelize onions first, add those to the crock pot. Then roast diced tomatos and garlic, add those. Black, pinto, garbanzo, and kidney beans will be added along with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, srirachi, and anything else I feel I need. No tofu or tempeh here. I plan to make it a day or two in advance to ensure the flavors meld. Next update will have results.

Every Dog has Its Café

Last week, I found myself in Wayne PA, famous for an enormous mall, the King of Prussia. As one might expect, dining options around a mall are mostly large chains, though upscale. These were, regretfully, attended as the training I was there for lasted from 8:30am-6:00pm with few breaks. I was wiped at the end of the day and had work to catch up on, so it wasn’t until Thursday that a co-worker and I went out to celebrate the completion of a 4-hour mock exam at a local favorite. Admittedly though, White Dog Café was only 6 minutes down the road.

As the name implies, the interior of White Dog is covered in pictures, statues, drawings, and renditions of dogs of every variety. The furniture is antique, and no two booths or table settings look quite the same. We sat in what would be a lovely sunroom if it was not 10 degrees outside and already dark.

With the crusty bread and honeyed butter came an amuse buche, compliments of the chef. Served in a spoon, the rye crouton was topped with a creamy potato salad that had finely chopped onion and tiny capers. The one bite was crunchy, creamy, and slightly sour, leaving us craving the warmth of our appetizers.

The Kennet Square mushroom soup was created with truffle crème fraiche, the mushrooms were pureed but there was enough texture left to have to chew each mouthful. It was thick and heavy, without making you feel like you were eating a bowl full of butter.

My appetizer was the mussels. Served in a large bowl, the black-shelled beauties were swimming a bright red broth of caramelized onions, swiss chard and Spanish chorizo. The spicy Spanish sausage was ground to a looser consistency and almost dissolved into the broth, which was fine by me as I mopped up the dregs with the aforementioned crusty bread after divesting each mussel of its shell.

I order the charcuterie plate as an entrée. The server was able to rattle off each meat, cheese, and accoutrement. While I wasn’t able to repeat everything back, nor did I take notes, I can tell you that the pickled purple onions were both sweet and sour, they paired well with the bresaola and a slight smear of the coarse ground mustard, while the wild boar pate actually tasted better with the fig compote rather than the local blue or cheddar cheese. The prosciutto was best on its own and I used the cornichons as a palette cleanser between bites.

My dining partner had the pasta covered in a chunky green pesto, big slices of sun dried tomatoes, thick pieces of shrimp and soft calamari. Each piece of the dish could have been enjoyed on its own, but combined the flavors enhanced one other. We were glad we only got the ½ size, we would have eaten the full.

To top the meal off, we indulged in a cheesecake, topped with brandy poached apples that were shaved and artfully twirled about the top of the heavy cake. The plate was dotted with rich dulche de leche which we smeared onto each bite of the cheesecake. A lovely ending to a truly exhausting week.

Grandma's Roast Beef

Happy New Year

With the holidays and year end consuming my time, the blog had to fall by the way side. However, now that the festivities are over, I can resume. That isn't to say that I didn't eat some great meals in December:

I spent another week in Nashville on work and attended numerous holiday themed parties While the food at all of them was delightful, very little of it was culinarily adventurous. I must admit though, that I sampled my first deep fried turkey last month, and it was amazing. I ate almost half of the carcass as it was crispy, crunchy golden brown and delicious. I also went home to Minneapolis for Christmas. As could be expected, I cooked quite a bit. For the Christmas Eve party, I dolloped tablespoons of Parmesan cheese onto parchment paper and baked them at 375 until they puddled and hardened to create crisps. I topped these with a seared beef tenderloin and a puree of parsley, onion, roasted garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. A delicious appetizer. 

Another gustatory escapade was my famed cioppino. Onions and garlic were sauteed in butter. Once browned, I evacuated them and added chopped shrimp (tails off) and scallops and seared them until just shy of being cooked. The onions and garlic were reintroduced with diced stewed tomatoes, dry white wine, chicken stock, clams, and mussels. Lid on, they cooked until all the shellfish opened up. Served with toasted bread and garlic butter. perfection.

I spent New Year's Eve in Hartford with friends. My drink of choice was my concoction of "tropical New Year," consisting of coconut rum, whipped cream vodka, tequila, blue curacao, and freshly cut pineapple and orange. This was left to macerate for about six hours and poured either as a martini, or topped with Sprite/Fresca for a mixed drink.

Unlike many people whose resolutions revolve around working out more and eating healthier, I resolved to continue my creation and consumption of the best and tastiest food I can find. With that in mind, a New Years Day Panini and Bellini party seemed apropos. Everyone brought a filling for the cut loaves provided by the host. Everything from roast beef, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, a variety of cheeses, and even kimchee was available to put between bread and press to toasted perfection. My favorite creation was actually a dessert sandwich made with apple, brie, bacon, dried cranberries, and a balsamic glaze on a wheat-berry bread. Of course, the prosecco and sparkling wine flowed freely. Tail of the dog? Only because its another holiday.

Happy New Year all and good eating in 2015.