A favorite............. revisited

I am about to share one of the better chili recipes I have come across.  I wrote the original  entry  a few years ago. Since then I have found this recipe that's a pretty good replication of the ever popular Wendy's chili.


1 pound ground beef
1 - 14.5 Oz. can tomato sauce
1 - 14.5 Oz. can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 - 14.5 Oz. can kidney beans (with liquid)
1 - 14.5 Oz. can pinto beans (with liquid)
1/2 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced green chilies
1/4 cup diced celery
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 teaspoons cumin powder
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
   salt if needed
1 cup water (instead of water I use beef broth, gives the chili a richer flavor)

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet over medium heat; drain off the fat.
2. Using a fork, crumble the cooked beef into pea-size pieces.
3. I saute the onion & celery instead of putting it in raw.
4. In a large pot, combine the beef plus all the remaining ingredients,
and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring every 15 minutes,
for 2 to 3 hours.
For extra heat I will add a few dashes of Frank's hot sauce or a small can of Hatch red enchilada sauce.

Makes about 10 servings.

Most of the time I make this I double the recipe.

 This was posted  in 2009 but we are still enjoying the meal and now we have found a great chili to make this chili size

In many parts of the USA the weather is a bit warm and may not be chili weather. Where we are in southwestern Colorado there is still snow on the mountain peaks and it's a bit cool in the evenings.

This is one of my favorite go to dishes for a cool lazy Sunday evening.

Start by making your favorite chili recipe.....................now follow the photos and you'll end up with a delicious dish.

start off with a burger patty in a bowl suitable for chili



next ladle chili over the burger


follow that with some diced onion and grated sharp cheddar

There ya have it.........my olde standby go to meal when you want something hearty, warming and comforting. Add some toasted sourdough bread and a beverage of your choice, just remember to make enough because seconds will be requested I'm thinking.

From the nostalgia corner of our minds

Ellie at Kitchen Wench is having an event, Nostalgia, memories tied in with food so Doodles and Moon bumped their heads together and came up with this. The deadline is 3/23/07 so there is still time to send her your thoughts. Here's ours.

When my sister and I were young, seven and fourteen we had just moved to Southern California and as parents do ours made friends and these friends were happy to introduce our family to many sites and tastes we did not have in Indiana.

I'm sure our parents ate chili at one time or another but it wasn't common fare at our table. The place these friends took us to was the Night Hawk Cafe. It was a typical diner, stools with a few tables but they only had one thing on the menu, chili size. Having it with or without onions and cheese was the only choice on the menu.

The diner was about two blocks from the Los Angeles Coliseum and I think it was there when they had the first Olympics in the 30s. There was no decor and I'm not even sure it was all that clean; I remember the windows being greasy on the inside. You didn't go for the ambiance you went for the wonderful spicy mixture ladled over a fried hamburger patty and topped with chopped raw onions and cheese. This came with a french roll and butter. That was it. Simple, the best I've ever tasted and I've been chasing that taste ever since.

Doodles has a pretty good stab at the memory with her version. Little grime on the window and a squeaky stool and we'd be kids again. Ah, nostalgia it's time travel you take in your head.


Chili Size … (and no I don't know why it was called that)

under the mound of chili is a small hamburger pattie

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb ground sirloin
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
chili powder to your taste
1 large onion chopped
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
salt & pepper to taste

Method

Brown 1 lb of the beef. Ground beef can be ground finer in a food processor after cooking but before adding rest of ingredients. Add the onions and seasonings and cook another maybe 5 minutes. Add tomato sauce and simmer to for 20 - 30 mins. If too thick add low sodium beef broth, if too thin add a bit more tomato sauce.

Now for the interesting part. Make hamburger patties out of the remainder of the ground beef, cook to desired doness that you prefer. Place patties in a wide soup bowl, pour chili on top finish off with chopped onions and shredded cheddar cheese if desired. Serve with a hard roll for sopping up the remainder of the chili. And don't forget your adult beverage. I like a good beer with this dish but serve whatever your pleasure.

Any Los Angelenos remeber this place? Yep nostalgia is a wonderful place to be right about now. Thanks Ellie for coming up with this event.