Diva’s Chili

Chili

I don’t have a long story to tell with this recipe. It doesn’t have any kind of generational history. Admittedly, I originally learned to cook chili from my mom’s recipe, which I’m pretty sure is based on this. But mom got me started cooking her recipe when I was a child. I’ve never been one to stick to a recipe. I like to get creative. And so, my version has changed and evolved, and now, it’s most definitely my own creation.

I’ve won two chili cook-offs with this recipe. Although they were small contests, I don’t think there’s anyone who is going to deny that this is some damned amazing chili. By publishing the recipe, in some way, I feel like I’m giving away the family jewels. However, I believe in sharing the source and so, I will….

• 1 splash olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion (white, yellow or red are all fine)
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 jalapeño
• 1 habañero
• 1 handful crimini mushrooms
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 16 oz kidney beans
• 24 oz tomato sauce
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp freshly chopped oregano
• 1 large tomato
• salt
• pepper

Method

Chop an onion and heat up a very large skillet. Add olive oil to skillet. Add onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and sweat until onion is translucent.

Chop bell peppers and toss into skillet. Chop garlic, jalapeño and habañero very finely and add to pan. Stir. Then add chopped mushrooms.

Stir in ground beef and add salt, pepper, garlic and 1 tbsp of chili powder. Brown mixture.

Drain kidney beans and add beans, tomato sauce, red wine and other ingredients except for tomato. Taste and add more spices if needed. Simmer for ten minutes and add chopped tomato. Simmer another fifteen minutes or so.

Cool and serve with a few strands of grated cheddar and maybe a dollop of sour cream. Buttered french bread is great with this too!

Cook + Prep Time: 45-60 min
Feeds: 6-8
Notes: This is really spicy. For those of you that like things milder, cut out the jalapeño, habañero and cut the chili powder down to about 2 tbsp. For those of you that like it hot, try adding in chipotles.

Bacon Camp

How do you plan to spend your Saturday?

• Recover from a hangover
• Catch up on chores
• Hitting refresh on your twitter page
• None of the above
• Go to Bacon Camp!

If you answered anything but E, I’m seriously disappointed with you!

BaconCamp SF09

Who? You! and me and everyone else we know
What? The Bacon Event of the Decade
When? Sat Mar 21, 1-4pm
Where? 500 3rd St, Ste 510, San Francisco

What Else?
In the spirit of barcamp, we are organizing the first bay area BaconCamp.  Born from the desire to share in all things bacon, we bring you this community-driven baco-celebraion, and encourage your participation!

Over 25 baco-tastic dishes are scheduled to be presented. Check out what’s planned: http://baconcamp.pbwiki.com/Bringing-a-Dish.

Do you have a bacony bit of culinary accomplishment which you think the public must taste?  BaconCamp is still accepting entries and the prize is one of these coveted trophies which, if won, ensure you undisputed baco-bragging rights.  Just go to the wiki and enter your dish!

BaconCamp is free, but participants are encouraged to purchase tickets http://baconcampsf.eventbrite.com/ to raise funds for the American Heart Association.

Don’t cook, but love bacon? Techniques, poems, interpretive dance and any other baco-inspired expression is welcome! There will be Bacon Slam Poetry featuring your best baco-tweets, “One Hour in Bacon” and even Bacon Math Art.

Participate! Volunteers are needed to help run the event from 11am – 5pm. Sign up at http://baconcamp.org/SFBayArea_notes_03_21 with your name, email and available timeframe.

This is the event that even vegetarians can’t afford to miss!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I’m a judge!

With Love and Pork Fat!

Diva (Amy)
Bacon Fetishist and Mother of Bacon Man

P.S.
Feel free to re-post, cross-post and circulate as you will!

Aunt Amy’s Hash Browns with Bacon

This is a breakfast skillet favorite in my house. When my nephew visits, he always asks me to make them.

Ingredients

• 3-4 strips of bacon
• 1/2 yellow or red onion
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 med white rose potatoes
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika, preferably smoked paprika
• salt
• pepper

Special Tools

• med-large cast iron skillet
• mandolin or food processor

Prep

Using a mandolin, cut potatoes into small strips. If you don’t have a mandolin, a food processor will work too.

Finely chop your onion and cut the bell pepper into 1/4″ pieces.

Slice the strips of bacon into 1″ pieces.

Cooking

Heat your skillet and then drop in the bacon pieces. Let them cook for a couple of minutes and then add in the onions, garlic and bell peppers. Sauteé for a minute or two and then add in the potatoes. Add at least a tablespoon of salt. Saute&eacute for another minute or two, stirring frequently.

Add fresh ground pepper, basil and paprika. Then pour in the apple juice and cover.

Simmer over medium heat until the liquid is absorbed.

Uncover and saute&acute, stirring frequently, until the edges of the potatoes are slightly crispy.

Serve with a dollop of fresh salsa.

Servings: 3-4
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Level: easy

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Pasta Ranchera

Pasta Ranchera

My boyfriend wiped his bowl clean with a tortilla and commented that this was ‘Mexican Fusion’. Laughing, I informed him that it was really just made out of whatever I had lying around the house. Sometimes those become my very best recipes. Lemme tell ya, this turned out so great, I took an after-the-fact photo and I’m posting the recipe even without the other pictures.

So without further ado, here’s how to whip this one up:

• 2-4 cloves of garlic, sliced and chopped
• 3-4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb skirt steak, flat meat, carne asada meat or other very thinly sliced steak – don’t buy it chopped up
• 5-6 mushrooms chopped into small pieces
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper chopped
• 1 jalapeño chopped
• 3 tomatoes chopped
• 2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 lime juiced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 4 tbsp sour cream
• 1 lb pasta of your choice
• salt
• pepper
• cotija cheese grated

Heat the olive oil and toss in the chopped garlic. Salt & pepper both sides of the meat and sear it on all sides quickly. Remove from the heat immediately and set aside. Turn heat off. Chop all your veggies and toss them into the skillet (heat off) except for the tomatoes. Slice the meat into long 1″ strips going with the grain. Then slice it against the grain at 1/2″-1″ apart. Put the meat in with the veggies and the Worcestershire sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat. Now you can slice your tomatoes.

When meat is almost cooked, add the tomatoes and simmer for another couple minutes. Then add the chili powder, lime juice and cumin. Stir the sour cream into the sauce and simmer for another minute or so.

Scoop over the pasta into bowls and then grate a little cotija cheese over the top. Let set for a minute or two while you finish setting the table so the sauce can thicken. Dig in!

I recommend margaritas to go with it!

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My Discovery of Speck

I recently dined at Zuppa, 2007 winner of the San Francisco Boss of the Sauce competition where I was introduced to the best thing since bacon: speck. I was so excited after dinner that I got on the phone and called all my bacon fanatic friends to tell them I’d met bacon’s match.

Also called Speck dell’Alto Adige, it is a delightful thinly sliced Italian meat that has characteristics of both bacon and prosciutto. The wikipedia entry on speck says that this meat has been around since the fourteenth century. It’s both salt-cured and wood smoked and comes from the hind-leg of the pig.

We tried it by itself as an appetizer and for an entrée I had roasted quail wrapped in speck. My toes curled! I’d never even heard of this fabulous treat, but it was definitely love at first bite.

Since then, I’ve been on the look-out for a pound of speck. I hear that they sell it at Lucca. I’ll keep you updated once I get my hands on some. I’ll certainly blog my kitchen experiments with it!

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