Baby, It's STILL Cold Outside...Three Pepper Chili

  I think I have finally figured out the reason my husband only makes us chili once a year! That is because he makes it by the gallons. We end up freezing enough for the next six months. Believe me when I say we have it as all kinds of meal preparations for months, on rice, on pasta, on a bun as a sort of a sloppy chili jose, and one of my favorites is as a chili cheese dog for a quick lunch. His preference is just a big bowl of chili with a few good slices of bread and butter; which for him is kind of funny, as I have said before he is not a soup or stew kind of guy. However come wintertime, every year he wants to make a ginormous pot of chili. He was searching for the perfect recipe when I mentioned that my absolute favorite chili pepper has to be the poblano. I fell in love with the poblano pepper quite by accident many years ago, when we went out to dinner at the now defunct Don Pablo's Mexican Restaurant. I ordered my usual mix of a trio of typical mexican fare while Michael ordered a poblano pepper steak (I am still searching for the resaurant's secret recipe) and was given one of those "you have got to taste this" bites. My love affair or obsession if you want to put it into perspective with the poblano pepper began with that one bite. We then frequented the restaurant for that most wonderful dish quite often.

  In any case it is probably safe to say that he has never made the same chili over again. This is what he came up with Three Bean and Beef Chili from Ellie Krieger at Food Network. He has adapted it to fit our tastes and what we had on hand in the freezer and pantry. He compromises on the heat level as I am not a burn your face off, fire from...well you know where kind of girl. I like my heat level at a nice Medium and Mike loves the burn your face off, HOT_HOT_HOT. Well here we go.

Gather your ingredients.

Char grill your peppers.

Cool, peel, and seed them. Then chop the peppers, onions, celery, and garlic.

Saute onion, celery and garlic. Add ground beef and sausage, cook until no longer pink.

Add the peppers, diced tomatoes, the puree and your spices.

Add your water, broth or beer of your choice. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Add the beans and cook for another 20 minutes.

Enough chili to feed an army!

Three Pepper Chili

adapted from Ellie Krieger

at Food Network

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, minced 

1 red bell pepper char grilled, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

1 yellow pepper char grilled, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

2 poblano peppers char grilled, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

3 celery ribs, diced 

2 carrots, diced- ommitted

1 pound extra-lean ground beef

1 pound mild italian sausage

1(28-ounce)can tomato puree  

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 cups water, broth or beer

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, seeded and minced

2 teaspoons adobo sauce from the can of chipotles

1 tablespoon cumin

2 teaspoons chile powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon rosemary

1 -1/2 teaspoons cayenne

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon cilantro

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed-ommitted

1 (15.5-ounce) can dark red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 (15.5-ounce) cans light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15.5-ounce) can pinto beans, drained and rinsed-ommitted

Directions

Heat the oil in large pot or Dutch oven over moderate heat. Add the onion, garlic and celery, cover and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the ground beef; raise the heat to high and cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until the meat is no longer pink. Add in your peppers (all) and the adobo sauce from the can. Stir to incorporate. Add in your spices, cumin through to the oregano and cook a few minutes more to combine. Stir in up to 2 cups of water , broth or beer of your choice. Add salt and pepper. Cook, partially covered, stirring from time to time, for 30 minutes. Stir in the beans and continue cooking, partially covered, 20 minutes longer. Season, to taste, with salt, pepper and cilantro.
Top with your choice of a variety of toppings.

Makes approximately 20 servings. (Serving size 1 1/4 cup)

This is truly a very winter warming chili. I hope most of you are finally starting to warm up now. Here it is still in the 20's overnigth and in the mid-forties during the day. When is Spring ever going to get here?
Michael and Carla