3 posts tagged “onion”

I don't claim that this is authentic anything. This is just a delicious simple chili that I've grown up eating and that has won a number of chili cookoffs in my hometown. It reminds me home and of my father, the man who makes this chili. And mine is almost as good as his. Almost.

We have one medium onion, chopped, a pound of ground turkey (it actually calls for ground beef, but all I had in the freezer was turkey and it works), 4 15 oz cans of whole tomatoes, 1 28 oz can of dark kidney beans, garlic salt, chili powder, sweet Hungarian paprika (Spanish is more bitter and in this I prefer the Hungarian), and sugar (in the pinch bowl).

First we brown the ground beef then sautee the onions:

Then, we add our cans of tomatoes:

Since we used whole, make sure you mash them well. Then, add seasonings. Now, I don't measure my seasonings. I go by taste. I will say I used a lot of chili powder and I didn't dump it all in here. I added it over time until the chili was nice and dark and had the proper flavor. I used a little over half a 2.5oz container total throughout the cooking time, if that tells you anything. I probably used a teaspoon of paprika and 2 teaspoons of garlic salt. Also, add a couple of pinches of sugar as well to take the edge off the tomatoes.

Then, we cover it and let it cook on low for, oh, an hour and a half:

After that, I added the kidney beans:

I continued to cook it for another hour or so, tasting and adding more chili powder along the way. Finally, it had reached the right consistency and flavor. I topped it with a little shredded cheese:

This recipe was built on one given to my dad by my mom's former boss... a man who just happened to be Cajun. This is easily one of my favorite dishes that my dad makes. Now that I'm in California, if I want it I have to make it myself. So, I did.

So, first things first, we need stuff chopped. Jason is my onion chopper (since for some reason my eyes are extra-sensitive to onions):

After he was done, I cut up 1 stalk of celery...

...1/2 lb of andouille...

...and 4 chicken breasts. Then, I came to the realization my small skillet would cut it, so it was time to bring out the weapons of mass frystruction: my 15 1/4" diameter iron skillet.

I threw the stuff in there along with 1 tsp of minced garlic, some black pepper, some salt, some sage, and some cayenne pepper.

I sauteed that well...

Then, I put it in my 8 qt saucier along with 5 cans of chicken broth (and 1 can of water) and allowed it to boil some.

Now, we have the fun part... the roux! I used the smaller iron skillet for that. 1/3 cup of canola oil and add flour until it's at the right consistency.

Not quite dark enough...

This is more like it...

Once the roux was done, we add it to the pot and let it simmer until it's thickened.

And, there it is. Serve over steamed rice.