Leftover Chili
Leftover Chili Recipe - Best Online Steaks
How to Make Amazing Chili with Leftover Gourmet Steaks
When I make chili, I make a lot of it and freeze it in convenient one-quart freezer bags. It appears in my house during football season and throughout the winter. Aside from being delicious, chili is also a pretty good "healthy meal," provided you don't load it up with extra fat from sour cream or cheese. The meat we will use will add flavor and a gourmet taste to the bowl, without eating huge quantities, and the kidney beans are a great slow GI carbohydrate. Everything else in the pot comes from vegetables.
I have never used recipes, I just wing it, so I took pictures of every step along the way for my both recent batch. Chili is the perfect dish to experiment with and develop your cooking-without-recipes skills. Remember the number one rule of cooking, and especially seasoning without using a recipe: You can always add, you can't ever subtract.
Any other is for chili is going to talk about tenderizing cheap cuts of meat or use ground beef. I hope you are not expecting pedestrian chili from me. I will be using leftover USDA Prime and high-end gourmet quality steaks in my chili. To be honest, I often throw a few extra steaks on the grill when I'm making chili. I don't have to worry about tenderizing meat. It is already tender, and you will never find a cheap beef cut equal to, or even close to, the flavor of a leftover gourmet steak.
Start with about this much olive oil or extra virgin olive oil in a heated nonstick pot.
Peel two large sweet onions.
Chop the onions into medium-sized chunks.
Add the onions to the pot, they should sizzle.
Put about this much finely chopped garlic into the pot. It can be fresh, frozen, or jarred.
Here is some leftover Top Sirloin King Cut Steak from Omaha Steaks. We smoked this, so it has even more flavor.
Dice them into bite-size pieces.
Add to the pot.
We had some leftover Ribeye steaks from Chicago Steak Company
and Kansas City Steaks.
Dice them up and add them to the pot.
Add about this much sliced garlic. I am using dried, but it can be fresh too.
You are probably going to have to go to the store or Amazon.com to get this Chili Base. You can use chili powder if you wish.
Add about two tablespoons of base.
Stir so the chili base covers all the meat.
Chop up some celery.
Chop up some carrots.
Add them to the pot.
I like these chopped green chiles, but add any chiles or peppers you like.
Add and stir.
Add one large can of tomato puree.
Add one large cam of crushed tomatoes, but you can add any type of tomatoes you like.
Add three cans of Hunts Fire-Roasted Tomatoes. These are worth keeping in your pantry.
Add Sweet Spanish Paprika.
Add about the same amount of Onion Powder.
Add as many cans of rinsed Kidney Beans as you like. I used four.
Add three Bay Leaves in a spice bag.
Add to the sauce and stir.
Cover the pot, I like glass covers so I can see what's going on in there.
Adjust burner to the lowest setting you have and let it cook on the stove for four hours stirring, every 30 minutes.
Turn off the heat and stir.
Do your final seasoning adjustments. Add Chili Powder as needed for flavoring. I didn't need a lot. Stir. There is no right or wrong. Add the flavors you like.
Cover and leave on the stove for two hours with NO HEAT. That's right, burners are off. Note: I use arrowroot for thickening, but this batch didn't need it.
After two hours stir and taste for seasoning. If you have make more adjustments you'll do it here.
Put the burner back on at the lowest setting and give it another two hours, stirring every 30 minutes.
Turn off the heat and remove your Bay Leaves. Let chili sit for about 20 minutes before serving.
Top with cheese or sour cream and enjoy!
There it is, amazing chili with leftover gourmet steaks! Since I am freezing most of this for the football season and the colder weather, I tend to keep the spices mild and adjust the heat accordingly for whoever will be enjoying this with me when it comes time to eat. My fantasy football buddies like it spicy hot. Family and friends tend to go lighter, but the beauty of this recipe is that everyone will notice the quality and compliment you on the beef.
Enjoy!
Kevin Bouchard