I hate having a full freezer. It just feels like I’m sending good food to slowly shrivel-up and die, frozen and surrounded by darkness. I can never remember what I put in there, and then all of a sudden it’s full. Mostly it’s just odds and ends, leftovers that I couldn’t part with but also didn’t want to eat anymore. I’ll be trying to unsuccessfully fit one more Tupperware in, and lose it when my Tetris of frozen morsels spill out onto the floor. Then I crack and get overzealous and try to cook through all the freezer food in a week. Tonight is day one of that week. Wish me luck.
Tonight’s cookin’ song:
Tonight’s takes:
Husband: “Really good. Classic chili. Nothing weird about it. Using prime rib instead of ground beef gives it a really nice texture. This is probably the most expensive chili you’ve ever made.”
Helen (8 years old): “Really good. A good way to use up leftovers. 10/10. And I agree with Baba, nice texture with the prime rib. I also like the savoury-ness”
Hector (5 years old): “I’d say it’s good. For the dark pink beans - they have more texture. The corn overflows it. The light brown beans are very good. 90/90.”
What I used:
1 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
leftover prime rib roast (from Christmas dinner)
1 large can crushed tomatoes (796mL)
2 cans black beans (398 mL each)
1 can pinto beans (540 mL)
~2 tbsp cumin
~1 tbsp oregano
~1 tsp chili
~1 tsp paprika
3 dried Anaheim chilis, rehydrated
olive oil
~2 tbsp bacon fat
salt
Served with:
Monterey jack cheese
sour cream
pickled jalapenos
corn
cilantro
What I did:
Had PK dice the leftover prime rib. He trimmed off the major pieces of fat.
Got olive oil and bacon fat warming up in my largest Le Creuset. We had so much prime rib, I made a really big pot tonight. Probably enough for 8 servings.
Diced onions and garlic in mini food processor.
Added onion and garlic to the pot. Added a good pinch of salt and sweat until translucent.
Added spices (cumin, oregano, chili, paprika) and toasted for a good 2-3 minutes.
Once the spices were fragrant and starting to stick to the bottom, added tomatoes, beans, and one full can of water (796mL). Scraped up any bits sticking to the bottom.
Added beef and bay leaf. I only added the bay because PK wanted me to. Bay to me is like vanilla: totally f’ing useless. Who is going to taste one bay leaf in a spicy, tomato-y, topped with cheese and sour cream, chili? Just like who can tell there was 1 tsp of vanilla in a cake stuffed with filling and sugar-y frosting? Such a throwaway ingredient.
Tasted, and added another good pinch of salt. Brought to a simmer, stuck the lid on ajar, and set the timer for an hour.
Turned my attention to the chilis. Added boiling water to three chilis. I wasn’t sure how many to use and didn’t want to overdo it.
After 30 minutes, the chilis were pretty tender. Removed the tops and blended the chilis with a bit of the water from the bowl in the mini food processor. Pulsed until the chilis were mostly pulverized.
Added the chilis to the chili and let it simmer for another 25ish minutes. That’s it. Done!
Choose your own toppings adventure. Serve!
After the first few bites, I got out my favourite hot sauce. This stuff is the BEST. Get yourself some.
Next time:
I’m kinda a chili hater (as evidenced here), but this was really good. Obviously prime rib really kicked it up a notch. But I find that anytime I use leftover roast beef or pork, I enjoy it way more than when it’s just ground beef . Next time, I’d make it exactly like this. I don’t really have any critiques, and neither did the family (shockingly).
😋😋😋
-Ellisa