Rainy Day Chipotle Chorizo and Beef Chili!!

Today was a weird weather day in Los Angeles, it is actually pretty cold! This morning we had hail, the last time I remember that happening I was 6 years old, I was living in Pacific Palisades, and my dogs refused to go outside. Right after the downpour of the year I would say, the sun came out and reminded us that seasons don’t quite exist here, only to confuse me when I go outside to still smell rain and not be able to feel my ears and nose because I wasn’t prepared for cold weather. I will stop complaining right now, because this weather is a walk in the park compared to the crazy storm Nemo that is raging through the Northern East Coast.

So whether you are faring through cold weather in Los Angeles, or shoveling through snow on the East Coast this rainy day chili will warm your cold little souls out there! We created a superb slow cooker beef and chorizo chili, with some extra goodies; a little cinnamon sweetness, a little chipotle kick, and a nice crunch of corn. Enjoy!

*Whenever we use tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, peeled tomatoes etc…We only use the brand Pomi. It comes in a paper container, and is delicious. Tomatoes should never come out of a can; they retain a metal flavor which takes a long time to cook out!

* Keep garlic salt, oregano, and garlic salt on hand, because depending on how long you want to cook your chili you may want to add more of these three ingredients to achieve your perfect flavor.

Ingredients: serves 10 cook time 3-4 hours
2.5 lbs ground beef
2 lbs chorizo
1 yellow onion
½ small can of chipotle peppers
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
4 oz tomato paste
12 oz Pomi chopped tomato
1 large can kidney beans
1 large can pinto beans
1 large can white or cannellini beans
¼ cup chopped fresh oregano
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon garlic salt
2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon paprika
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Sour cream
Grated cheddar cheese

 

To make your life easier measure out all of your spices ahead of time, take oregano off the stems and chop, dice the onion, and slice up your chipotle peppers.

In a large sauté pan heat your olive oil and then sweat your onions until they start to soften. Next add the ground beef, and the chorizo (remove casings), and break up using a wooden spoon. While the meat starts to sear add your oregano, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, salt, and cumin, by sprinkling it all over the meat. We do this because we want the meat to cook and absorb the entire flavor. When you feel that your meat has seared all the way, add the chopped chipotle with half of the sauce it sits in and the tomato paste, and stir.

Transfer the meat mix into a slow cooker (if you don’t have one use a crock pot). Add your beans, the Pomi, garlic salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the mix. Cook on low with the timer set at 3-4 hours, whatever your timeline is. Towards the end, you can even have it at warm until it is ready to eat.

30 minutes before you decide to serve the chili add the corn, this way it will retain a wonderful crunch. Once you are done serve with a dollop of sour cream and cheddar cheese! Boom! That is tasty!!!



Game Day Nachos!!!

Oh joy! It is that time of year again…when people gather together around the television to watch the great American sport of football. Friends gather to drink beer, eat chips and dip, yell at the television, all the fun stuff, this is when I know that the fall has truly arrived. Michael’s family all lives in Cherry Hill New Jersey, and Philly, so we are big Eagles fans over here, and we all know that their color is GREEN! To bring together the great joy of football food, the hearty flavors of fall, and the color green, we present our game day suiza nachos.

Suiza sauce is so incredibly delicious, I cannot even begin to describe. It is usually used on enchiladas, but it is so flavorful, brings a bit of heat, and because it is made with tomatillos, serranos, and cilantro, you will achieve a beautiful light green color…go EAGLES!!!

*Make sure you use a skillet or a pan that can go in to the oven.

Ingredients:

Suiza Sauce:
1 Lb. tomatillo
2 small Serrano chiles
2 large cloves of garlic
¼ cup cilantro
1/3 cup sour cream

Nachos:
2 bags tortilla chips of your choice
3 cups Mexican three cheese blend
1 large tomato
1 red onion
1 can pinto beans
4 medium fryer chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic
2 Tlb. olive oil
Salt and pepper
Sour cream

 

 

The nachos are made in 4 steps 1) cooking chicken, 2) make suiza sauce  and at the same time cook beans 3)layer your yumminess 4) finish off in oven.

So start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees. Coat the chicken with olive oil, salt and pepper, and the two cloves of garlic chopped. Heat a sauté pan with a little bit of oil, once hot, cook the chicken so that it is cooked just to the point of being cooked, because remember that you will be putting the chicken in the nachos and then in the oven for another 5 minutes.  Once the chicken is done chop into small pieces and put aside.

In a deep sauce pan place all of your tomatillos ( make sure you take the husk off) and serranos in the pan and then fill with water so that they are submerged. Bring the water to a boil and cook until they are all soft to the poke of a fork. At the same time in another pan take half of your onion, chop it, and cook with your pinto beans for about 10 minutes, flavor with salt and pepper. Back to the sauce. Once the tomatillos and serranos are done, take them out of the water reserving ½ a cup of the cooking liquid. Place tomatillos, serranos, garlic, silantro, and cooking liquid, and blend until pureed. In the same pan that you boiled the water in, pour the puree and cook for 10 minutes on medium heat. Remove from heat and add sour cream and a pinch of salt.

In your skillet you are going to layer everything…this is how we did it. We start with a layer of chips, layer of chicken, layer of beans, layer of suiza sauce, then layer of three cheese blend, then repeat this two more times for a total of three layers! Cheesey goodness! Make sure you save a fairish amount of suiza sauce for the top layer, and be sure to really cheese it up. Put the skillet in the oven for about 7-10 minutes, so all the cheese looks melted.

Take out of oven, chop the tomato and sprinkle all over, and use the rest of the chopped onion and do the same, now smother with that tangy, creamy, superb suiza sauce and DEVOUR!!

Ooh it’s good, even typing this my mouth is watering.