Tuesday 13 January 2009

A typical dinner recipe...

My SO has a few favourites among the things I cook that he frequently requests. Since, vain little creature that I am, I love them too, I have no problem complying.

Here is what I made for dinner last night:
CR/Paleo Chili
5g bacon grease
150g (1/3 lb) carrots, chopped in large dice
150g onion (1/3lb), chopped in large dice
150g celery (1/3lb), chopped in large dice
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 lb (454g) 90/10 ground beef (grass fed if you can get it)
2 28oz (1500 g) cans Fire Roasted Muir Glen tomatoes, or any other brand you favour
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp green jalapeno chili flakes
1 tsp ground pasilla peppers
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large stewpot with high sides, over medium heat, saute carrots, celery, and onion in bacon grease until onion is translucent and carrots and celery are softened, 5-7 minutes.
2. Add garlic and saute for one more minute.
3. Lower the heat to low and add beef. Saute until brown, stirring to ensure all the meat is browned evenly.
4. Add in the two cans of tomato and the bay leaves. Turn up the heat to medium, give all the ingredients a good stir, and watch the pot until the mixture boils.
5. Lower the heat to medium/low and cook for two hours. For the first 3/4 of an hour, do not stir the pot. Let the tomato mixture burn on the bottom, it adds a delicious flavour to the chili. After the first 3/4 of a hour, stir occasionally, scrapping the bottom of the pan to incorporate those nice charred bits into the chili. When the mixture seems to be getting dry, add a cup of hot water and keep cooking.
6. After two hours, add the chili powder, cumin, chili flakes, jalapeno flakes, pasilla, and salt and pepper. Give the pot a good stir, and let cook for one more hour, until the mixture is a deep red brown.
7. Serve with any garnish you like. This recipe feeds the SO and I for a couple of days, lunch and dinner. I had it with a side of braised cabbage.

4 comments:

Marc said...

Rachel,
Sounds wonderful!

Question;
I like to cook with bacon grease also. Recently I asked my friend if bacon grease classifies kind of like lard? He said no and wasn't sure on the health implications of reheating bacon grease....
Any thoughts?

Marc

Cave Cooking said...

Interesting. Lard and bacon fat are not far apart. One difference would be that bacon fat has gone through the curing process, and lard has not. Also, because I just pour off the grease from the frying pan, my bacon grease is not 'pure' but has some bits in it. But other than that, they are the same thing.

The thing is, bacon fat probably already a totally saturated fat, which is why I'm not concerned about reheating it. The concern for heating/reheating fats come from the fact that when you heat fats that are partly unsaturated, you oxidize them and change their chemical structure. But reheating bacon grease, ghee or other fats that can't oxidize shouldn't be an issue. I could be wrong, but that's my thinking.

Marc said...

Thank you.
That was my opinion on it too.
I will investigate it a bit further and let you know if i come up with anything else.
Like you...my bacon grease also has those super yummy bits in it.

One more thing;
Since you like "Ankimo"
Check this out. www.catalinaop.com
It's an amazing source for top shelf product. The ankimo and the ikura are some of the best I've ever had.
Marc

Cave Cooking said...

AWESOME! Thank you SO much for that link!