Chili Really

This has been a tradition at our annual holiday parties.

We make this every year on Christmas morning. Any friends we can scare up come by for lunch and sometimes sit long into the afternoon drinking champagne after enjoying a bowl. Feel free to experiment and make this recipe your own.

Ingredients:

• 2 white onions, chopped

• 6 cloves of roughly chopped garlic

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 3 fresh sausages removed from their casings. (An assortment of chicken, beef, and pork)

• 2 pounds of ground beef

• 1/4 cup chili powder

• 2 tablespoons black pepper

• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

• 1 dark beer

• 1 teaspoon red chili flakes

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• salt and pepper

• 6-ounce can of tomato paste

• 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes

• 2 cups of chicken broth

• 1 can of adzuki beans

• 1 bunch of fresh cilantro roughly chopped, include stems

• zest and juice of one lime

• fresh sliced avocados for garnish

• sour cream for garnish

• cilantro for garnish

• grated cheddar and Monterey jack cheese for garnish

• fresh corn tortillas

Sauté 2 onions in olive oil. When beginning to soften, add chopped garlic.

Remove the sausage meet from their casings and add the meat from the 3 sausages along with the ground beef to the onions. Brown all of this slowly while stirring occasionally.

Add chili powder, black pepper, cayenne pepper, Dijon mustard, dark beer, red chili flakes, sugar, salt and pepper.

Add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, adzuki beans and a bunch of fresh chopped cilantro. Let this simmer gently for about an hour or more then add the lime zest and juice. Taste the chili. If it needs more chili flavor, add more chili powder. If it’s too thick, add broth, more beer, or water.

To serve, put chili in a bowl, add a few slices of fresh avocado and grated cheese to top. Pile on some fresh cilantro. Serve with tortillas.

Note about chili powder: There are many kinds of chili powder. Some are mild; some are hot (chipotle is hot). I use a a mix of some ancho and some chipotle. If you want to simply use the mild stuff that comes in a jar, it will still turn out fine.