Hi Everyone,
I am going to join the blog world chili bandwagon. I have seen many a blog post about chili in the past few days and since I can think about cooking nothing but chili in this weather, I am going to throw in my two cents. This recipe would work for just straight up ground beef too. Bison and grass-fed beef are both very lean red meats. Fun fact: grass-fed beef and bison are far higher in Omega 3s than their corn fed cousins. Omega 3 is the good kind of fat that makes your cholestoral go down and your heart beat strong. Yay grass-fed red meat!!!! The bison I am using came from Thunderheart and the beef is from a Boggy Creek supplier.
In this version of the pie, I am using blue corn tortilla chips, but you better believe I am missing those Fritos. I know that they don’t make me feel so hot, so on the blue corn high road I go. The cheese I am using is not the typical frito pie cheese either, but so melty and delicious is the mozarella from Full Quiver, that I can’t resist giving it a try. All of their cheeses are delicious, but I really have a soft spot for their moz. I have noticed is that I like to cook with beer and chili is no exception. I put some Negra Modelo in my chili and it really helps the flavors come along to drink the rest of the frosty beer while the chili cooks. This is totally a scientific fact.
In other news, I have gotten my website up at long last. I would love for you to visit and let me know what you think. There is a place in there for cooking questions under the classes section, so submit away!
Bison and Grass-fed Beef Chili
1 lb. ground bison
1 lb. grass-fed (and finished) beef
1 big yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 jalepenos, sliced
1/4 c. chili powder
2 T cumin
2 T olive oil
2 T salt
1 t. black pepper
1 c. crushed or chopped tomatoes
1/3 c. dark beer
3 T fine corn meal, optional (if your chili is thinner than you like, add this at the end and it will thicken it right up)
Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions and jalepenos and cook for 5 minutes. I like to get my onions just a little caramelized because I think it adds a great deep flavor. I leave the seeds in the jalepenos because I like my chili pretty spicy. If spicy is not your jam, remove the seeds. Once the onions take on a little brown color, add the garlic and let cook for a minute or so, then add the bison, beef, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and let brown. Once the meat is brownish, add the tomatoes and stir, then the beer and stir. Cover and turn the heat down to low and let cook for 1.5 hours. Every once in a while take the the lid of and stir and smell it. It smells good!
for the pie
Corn chips, if you are going anti-Frito, the chips need to be pretty dang hardy to stand up to the moisture of the chili.
Grated cheese, Full-Quiver or other local cheese
More jalepeno, mine are fire roasted and pickled by Larry from Boggy
Green Onion
Sour Cream, if you like it
Get a bowl, put the chips in it, top with chili and whichever of the condiments that suit your fancy. Then, dig in!!!
Challenge Update
The universe or global warming or whatever caused that cold snap last week tested our mettle with the challenge, but we stayed true. Here is what happened: our water heater busted on Wednesday and due to a part being shipped in, it wasn’t back up and running until yesterday. For a pair of women that aren’t eating out for a year, that meant boiling water to wash our dishes Laura Ingles Wilder style and mooching showers off of our dear friend Mandy. When our hero plumber Michael Hickey showed up yesterday I actually did a dance of joy. I was seconds away from a trip to Taco-Mex to avoid boiling my 110th giant pot of water to do the dishes. We made it, though and I feel way grittier for it!
If you want to get involved in the fight to protect our small farmers and artisan food makers, I encourage you to meet at the Capitol at 10 AM on February 21st for a lobbying day. It is put on by the fine folks at FARFA and a great way to show support and speak up! For information, click here.
I hope that you all keep warm and eat some chili or something really good!
Thank you for reading,
Not That Martha
Tags: bison and beef chili, bison and grass-fed beef chili, bison chili, bison frito pie, boggy creek farm, chili with beer, FARFA, Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, Full Quiver Cheese, Full Quiver Mozarella, grass-fed beef chili, Martha Pincoffs, Michael Hickey- plumber, Negra Modelo, Not That Martha, omega 3s, Thunderheart Bison