缅北禁地

Jan 16, 2014 By Mario J. Porreca for The 9 min read

Two of my favorite things this time of year are foods that help you stay warm and foods that can be cooked with minimal effort.

It鈥檚 only natural that the colder weather and earlier nightfall kind of zap some of the energy out of you. All of a sudden the couch and TV sound brilliant and bears who hibernate for the season appear to be geniuses.

Even with the dead of winter upon us, it鈥檚 not all grim. If we didn鈥檛 have this time of year we wouldn鈥檛 enjoy foods such as soups, stews, and chili as much. Chili in particular is what I would like to focus on.

Chili is a spicy stew containing chili peppers, meat, tomatoes, and often beans. Chili is a very popular food and is the subject of many competitive cook-offs around the Unites States. Some folks enjoy their chili extra spicy while others like a more mild version, but either way you spice it up, chili is one of the most popular winter comfort foods.

Truth be told, I have never been a huge fan of chili. Allow me to explain 鈥� a well made bowl of chili where complex flavors have been developed is a magical experience. It鈥檚 warming, delicious and boasts a lot of different textural and spice components that seem to fit together like a beautiful work of art.

A poorly made bowl of chili, on the other hand, is a real let down. It can be depressing when you are anxiously awaiting a piping hot bowl of deliciousness and you receive an under seasoned mess of tomato product, beef, and mushy, or sometimes even hard undercooked, beans. Most of us don鈥檛 carry a mix of chili seasoning in our pocket and it is an issue that the average salt and pepper shaker simply cannot fix. It can be frustrating to say the least.

Unfortunately, it seems that I have been burned by poor chili more often than having my expectations met by the magical experience of a great bowl. So I naturally did what any chef with a craving and the difficulty to satisfy that need would do 鈥� I created my own no fail chili recipe that I am going to share with you.

You can actually find this recipe, along with a slew of other great recipes, in my cookbook 鈥淭he Good, The Bad, The Cookbook鈥� that you can order from my website (www.JustCookIt.net).

My co-author, who is the executive chef at the Carnegie Museum, and I designed this recipe together. It took the brains of two experienced chefs to meet all of the criteria of a great no fail bowl of chili. We designed the recipe so cooks of any level, with very little effort, could easily make it and have it come out perfect every time.

To do this, we turned to a kitchen appliance that nearly every person owns and one that we feel is very underutilized 鈥� the Crock-Pot. Infomercial guru Ron Popeil has sold a large number of kitchen gadgets and his mantra to 鈥淪et it and forget it鈥� is one that will live on and withstand the test of time. The advice of this wise sage lead us to designing a chili recipe that you can more or less 鈥淪et and forget鈥� and make very conveniently time and time again using a Crock-Pot along with just one saut茅 pan.

This recipe is one of my favorites from my cookbook and one that I go back to time and time again this time of year. It all starts with flavor layering and building a solid flavor foundation.

Whenever you make a soup, stew, sauce or anything with a complex flavor profile, the only way to correctly develop those flavors is to do it in stages. It is much like building a house 鈥� the house won鈥檛 stay standing without a solid foundation. Chili will never live up to your expectations without a solid foundation of flavor.

This chili recipe uses two kinds of meat 鈥� ground chicken and ground pork. Yes traditional chili usually contains ground beef, but we were able to make it a bit leaner and healthier by using mostly chicken. We added the pork for an extra flavor boost and found that it works beautifully.

We also turned to a smoked turkey sausage that you can find at the local supermarket to give it a bit of smokiness and flavor complexity without adding a lot of extra fat and calories. So not only is this chili delicious, but it鈥檚 also a healthier recipe.

To create this wonderful flavor foundation, we started with aromatic vegetables and seasoned them with a Cajun seasoning mix that can also be purchased from the local supermarket. The vegetables get saut茅ed with the turkey sausage prior to being added to the Crock-Pot to begin developing the flavors and that solid foundation that we are seeking.

We also added some fresh banana pepper to that mix to add to the chili鈥檚 characteristic spiciness. You can forgo the banana pepper if you would like a milder chili, but this chili is not overly spicy. In my opinion, it is the perfect level of heat to give it great flavor complexity without setting your taste buds on fire.

The chili seasoning mix that we created is a blend of chili powder, cumin, celery salt, cayenne pepper, sea salt, and ground white pepper. You can make this seasoning blend in a large batch and store it for later use on a number of dishes. You don鈥檛 have to use it exclusively for this chili recipe, as it is a wonderful seasoning blend.

The ground chicken, pork, saut茅ed seasoned vegetables and turkey sausage, diced tomatoes, canned beans, and chili seasoning all go into a Crock-Pot with some chicken stock. You can then set a timer and walk away. When the timer goes off you give it a stir and add some cornmeal to the pot.

The cornmeal acts as the thickening agent and gives the chili its characteristic stew like consistency. We prefer cornmeal because it thickens the chili without leaving a starchy taste and also adds to the traditional chili flavor.

After adding the cornmeal, you set the timer one last time and continue going about your day. When the timer goes off, you set the Crock-Pot to the 鈥渒eep warm鈥� setting and are free to enjoy your perfect chili that you didn鈥檛 have to slave over a hot stove to create.

Did I mention how great the clean up is? You have a knife, a bowl, one saut茅 pan, a spatula, and a Crock-Pot to clean. Not quite enough dishes to even fill the dishwasher.

That in itself makes me happy as cleaning up has never been a kitchen task that I look forward to.

We paired our chili with a homemade whole-grain cheddar crouton, which is also a very easy recipe to put together, that goes wonderfully with the chili. Obviously if there is another bread that you prefer, such as cornbread, feel free to substitute or mix and match.

I also like to garnish my chili with some diced red onion, shredded cheddar cheese and chopped scallions. A dollop of sour cream is also a viable garnish that will help tame of the spiciness if that is more your style.

As always, this column is accompanied by a video of myself preparing the recipe from start to finish and you can watch that video at HeraldStandard.com for more instruction.

Try my favorite chili recipe today and with minimal effort you and your family can enjoy a rich hearty bowl of fantastic chili to keep you warm during the heart of winter. I am confident that this perfect chili recipe will become a staple of your winter recipe repertoire and it is my hope that it will make you not be able to help yourself to 鈥� Just Cook It!

Mario J. Porreca of Belle Vernon is a food personality, author, and the host of Just Cook It on WMBS Radio 590 AM. His website is www.JustCookIt.net. Twitter: @MarioPorreca.

Creole Chicken Chili

Yield: about 5 servings

1 pound ground chicken, uncooked

陆 pound ground pork, uncooked

2 ounces white onion, peeled, medium dice

2 ounces red onion, peeled, medium dice

2 ounces celery, medium dice

2 ounces green bell pepper, ribs removed, medium dice

2 ounces red bell pepper, ribs removed, medium dice

2 ounces banana pepper, medium dice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon Paul Prudhomme鈥檚 Poultry Magic

8 ounces smoked turkey sausage, split lengthwise and then sliced

1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste

1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

4 ounces black beans, canned

4 ounces kidney beans, canned

2 cups organic chicken stock

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

陆 teaspoon celery salt

陆 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

陆 teaspoon ground white pepper

录 cup cornmeal

1 recipe Whole-Grain Cheddar Croutons (see recipe)

Procedure:

1. In a Crock-Pot on high setting, add the ground chicken and ground pork.

2. In a mixing bowl, toss the white onion, red onion, celery, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, and banana pepper with the olive oil and Paul Prudhomme鈥檚 Poultry Magic.

3. Heat a saut茅 pan over high heat for 10-15 seconds and saut茅 the vegetables and turkey sausage in the dry pan for about 5 minutes.

4. After 5 minutes, add the tomato paste to the pan and cook about 3 additional minutes (until tomato paste begins to lightly brown).

5. Transfer the contents of the pan to the Crock-Pot with the ground chicken and ground pork.

6. Add the diced tomatoes to the saut茅 pan that the vegetables were saut茅ed in and bring to a simmer to deglaze the pan.

7. After reaching a simmer, transfer the diced tomatoes to the Crock-Pot.

8. Add the black beans, kidney beans, chicken stock, chili powder, ground cumin, celery salt, cayenne pepper, sea salt, and ground white pepper to the Crock-Pot, stir, and cook for 1 hour on high setting.

9. After 1 hour, add the cornmeal, stir, and cook an additional 30 minutes. Turn Crock-Pot down to warm setting and serve with the whole-grain cheddar croutons.

Whole-Grain Cheddar Croutons

Yield 5 servings

4 ounces whole-grain bread, large dice

Pinch of sea salt

Pinch of ground white pepper

陆 teaspoon chili powder

陆 teaspoon ground cumin

陆 teaspoon celery salt

1 ounce scallion (green part only), chopped fine

1 teaspoon organic butter, softened

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 ounce sharp cheddar cheese, grated on large side of a box grater

Procedure:

1. In a mixing bowl, fold together all ingredients until thoroughly combined.

2. Transfer croutons to a sprayed sheet pan and bake in a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. Stir halfway through baking to ensure even cooking.