Late Winter Chili

The calendar says spring but here in north central Wisconsin, the weather is definitely winter, trying to take a last stand, with an additional 4” of snow the past 24 hours. The good news is, it's melting fast and the real spring weather will be here soon. Meanwhile, a big pot of chili sounded just right for this weekend.

1½# very lean good quality beef

½ lg onion – chopped fine

2T butter or extra virgin olive oil

12oz± water

~ ~ or beer or red wine

Cut the meat into bite size pieces, trim the fat then brown in butter with the onion. As the sizzling becomes louder and the pot browner, stir in a little of your cooking liquid, let evaporate then repeat this process 4-5 times. Your meat and the pot should be nicely browned. When done correctly you'll notice you don't need to add beef bullion or salt. This process brings out all the flavor in the meat. Now add the first group of ingredients listed below:

¼t Penzey's black and red pepper blend

2t Penzey's medium hot chili powder

1t Penzey's ground cumin

1t sugar

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

~ ~ or petite diced tomatoes

1½ lg onion – rough chopped

5-6 stalks celery – chopped

1 30oz can drained-rinsed pinto beans

1 15oz can drained-rinsed black beans

Simmer, covered, on low heat about an hour. Stir in beans, cover and simmer another 20 minutes to blend all the flavors. Tastes best if cooked one day then chilled and reheated the next. Serves lots of people, and any leftovers freeze well. . .Lin