Beef, Black Bean, and Chorizo Chili

Okay, so it's not the season for chili, but I just wanted another meal I could throw in the slow cooker and call it a day.  So, while the sun is shining and the daffodils are finishing their blooms, I am packing the All-Clad with beans and sausage and chiles and tucking in to a bowl laden with sour cream, cheddar cheese, and green onions.

Growing up, I found that chili and/or nachos signified the weekend.  On Saturdays at my dad's house in northern Illinois, we would make a giant tray of nachos or a pot of chili and he would turn on a baseball or football or (rarely) basketball game.  Dad would settle into the couch, and I would sit on the floor, picking black olives off the nachos or adding cheddar cheese to my chili.  Inevitably, he would fall asleep, and I would pick up my homework.  But about five minutes before the end of a game, he would jerk awake, tussle my hair, chastise me for not watching the game, and pretend that he was watching it all along.  Neither of us were fooled by this act, but it was the ritual of Saturday, so we would act as if we were.  Through this, I learned to love baseball (but somehow neither basketball nor football)--perhaps it is because I never had homework to do during most of baseball season. 

Nowadays, I have a binder where I keep recipes that I pull out of magazines or that come from friends.  I have a whole section devoted to chili--turkey chili, white bean chili, meatless chili, chili with chorizo.  So choosing this one among many was a difficult but necessary decision.  It's the kind of hard work I am willing to engage in.  I like this recipe because you get the bonus combo of chorizo with chipotle.

At first I worried this wouldn't be spicy enough, so I added a tablespoon of the adobo sauce that the chipotle chiles are in.  Okay, yes, that made it spicy.  But I would argue that one should sniffle a little upon eating one's chili.  It's just the right amount.

So for the next sports game you either are excited to watch or feel as if you must suffer through, may I recommend this chili?  Even if you're not watching the game, you get a good meal.  And maybe, just maybe, it might lead to the love of baseball.

One Year Ago: Pasta alla Carbonara

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Beef, Black Bean, and Chorizo Chili

Adapted from  Cooking Light

Yield:

5 cups

Ingredients:  

1 link Spanish chorizo sausage (about 6 1/2 ounces), thinly sliced

3/4 pounds beef stew meat

3/4 cups chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1.5 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 cup beer

1/8 cup fresh lime juice

1 (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth

1 (14-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped

1 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1(15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon masa harina
Sour Cream
Green Onions
Cheddar Cheese, shredded

Instructions:

1.  Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chorizo to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned. Remove chorizo from pan and put in slow cooker. 

2.  Add half of beef to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until browned. Remove beef from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining beef.  Add beef to the slow cooker.

3.  Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes.  Add to the slow cooker.

• 4.  Remove 2 chipotle chiles from can, and chop. Reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use.
• 5.  Add chopped chiles, tomato paste, and next 6 ingredients (through ground cumin) to slow cooker. Stir in beer, lime juice, beef broth, tomatoes, pinto beans and black beans.  Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. 
  
• 6.  Gradually stir in masa harina.  Add additional adobo sauce to taste and correct for seasonings.
• 7.  Serve with sour cream, green onions, or cheddar cheese.