Chili Cook off at the Clos La Chance Winery

It is no secret that I like to cook, however there are certain dishes I have never attempted. Chili being one of them. Somehow deep down in my bones, I have always felt that I could do a decent job with Chili. Having spent my formative years in India, Chili was not a dish that I was familiar with until I came to the USA. I was introduced to Chili in Van Nuys of all places. Original Tommy's Burgers with Chili on them!! Oh my, what a revelation. This tiny joint (a large company albeit) on the corner of Victory and Van Nuys has left an indelible mark on my psyche and needless to say my taste buds!! Which brings me to the Chili Cook off. There I was sitting at my desk and out pops a email notification from Clos La Chance inviting folks to participate in a Chili Cook off fundraiser at their scenic winery. The temptation was too hard to resist. A couple of email exchanges later, I was officially entered into the contest. As usual, I had fabulous support from my better 3 quarters who has always encouraged me to try new things. Thanks babe.

In doing some research, I found much to my dismay the same outline for making chili in many recipes that I reviewed. A few variations here and there but most of the recipes follow the same tired path. How does one then, make their chili stand out? Let me tell you, it's not an easy task. No wonder the same basic recipe is used over and over again. So the quest for a good chili started with an experiment or two or three and then finally it dawned on me that I should be myself and not follow recipes. Below is what I did to create my chili. I didn't win, but I did get many compliments and I do know what I need to do the next time to change a few things to make this better. Your mileage might vary. Here is what I did.

KJ's "Finger Less" Chili with Sour Cream Avocado Sauce and toasted Cumin 

Serves 8 to 10 people

2  Pounds Ground Chuck (please, no lean meat, you need fat)

1 Pound Chorizo (but you could use Linguica as well)

6 Roma tomatoes

4-5 Tomatillo's

2 Anahiem Chili's

1 Large red onion 

6  Jalapeno's

1 Habanero

10 cloves of Garlic

2 tablespoons Ancho Chili Powder

2 tablespoons Pasilla Chili Powder

1 tablespoon Roasted Cumin Powder

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 Cups Chicken broth

1 ham hock

1 bay leaf

2 bottles of dark ale or stout

1 large can of any beans you like (kidney, cranberry etc)

1 can tomato sauce (good quality organic sauce)

5 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 Shots El Patron

Sour Cream Sauce (Optional)

2 Avocado's 

2 Cups Sour Cream (mexican sour cream)

1/2 cup Fresh Cilantro

1 tablespoon Roasted Cumin Powder

1 tablespoon Honey or Maple Syrup

Juice from 2 limes

Salt to taste

Preparation

Light a grill. When the grill is hot enough, put tomatoes, 4 jalapeno's (keep 2), garlic (wrapped in foil), tomatillo's and Anahiem Chili's on the grill. Char them like their mother's hated them. Take them off the grill and let them cool. Keep the grill on and grill the chorizo or the linguica. Remove from grill and chop.

Put 3 tablespoons of Olive oil in a large pan. When the oil is hot enough, put the ground beef and brown the beef. While the beef is being cooked, chop onions and coarsely chop the roasted garlic. 

Remove beef from the pan by draining it. Leave the oil in the pan. Heat the remaining oil and add the other 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil to it. Add the chopped onions and saute them for 3/4 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and bay leaf. Saute for another few minutes. Add the Ancho Chili, Pasilla Chili and Roasted Cumin powder to the pan. Saute for about another minute and add 1 bottle of the dark ale. Drink the other bottle. 

Let the sauce reduce to almost a paste consistency. While the sauce is reducing. Add charred tomatoes, peppers, tomatillo's and the Habanero pepper in a blender and mix and make a puree out of it. I don't remove the skin from the peppers or the seeds. I like the texture with them in the sauce. Set aside.

Add cooked beef and chopped Chorizo or chopped Linguica to the reduced sauce in the pan.Mix thoroughly. Add the tomato and pepper puree to the pan and 2 cans of good quality chicken broth and the can of tomato sauce. Stir and slide in the the ham hock.Tell the women and children to leave the house and put on some nice music and take 2 tequila shots. Thank you Bill Hassell for this tip :-) Simmer the mixture for about 45 minutes making sure that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. 

Drain the beans and add to the pan. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Check for salt, heat and sweetness, adjust accordingly. Remove the ham hock from the chili carefully with a tong and cut the meat from the hock and shred with a knife. Put the shredded ham hock meat removed from the bone back into the chili. 

At this point. Your chili is ready.

For the Avocado sauce. Put all of the ingredients in a blender and make a paste. Check for salt before removing from blender and if the paste is too thick, add some water but be careful not to make it too thin.

Serve the chili with a dollop of Sour Cream Sauce and some Corn Tortilla Chips

Enjoy!!!!! 

Our tendencies towards star athletes!!

A funny thing happened right as the Lakers were starting to celebrate their 16th NBA championship. Someone asked Ron Artest about his performance during the final and on National TV, Ron in his exuberance thanked his therapist who helped him overcome anger. Normally, such a statement would raise few eyebrows only for the fact that it is unusual for a professional NBA player to boldly proclaim this in front of an audience of millions. For those who are not aware, a few years ago, during a game against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Ron Artest was involved in a major on court brawl while playing for the Indiana Pacers. Ron went after a spectator who had apparently thrown diet coke at him during the game. Ron was suspended for 70 games by the erstwhile NBA commissioner David Stern and lost about $7 million in salary that year.

Fast forward to the Lakers and this episode. The day after the championship, the airwaves were abuzz over Ron's comments. Radio sportscasters were asking listeners to call in and comment on the on air admission of therapy. I usually don’t listen to sports radio talk show but I had tuned on to the radio to catch a world cup soccer score and instead, what I heard was a constant mockery of what Ron said and other comments about Ron’s admission of drinking Hennessy during half time of games in the years past. I want to make something very clear. I am no big fan of Ron Artest and hardly know anything about the man but I did spend some time reading about Ron’s history, his upbringing and the trouble he has been in over the years. The media today focuses on labels. Ron Artest has been labeled as the “bad boy” of NBA and that label is likely to stick with him for the rest of his career. Never mind that he has upped every team’s performance that he has played for and his defensive intensity is an envy of many players. Why then does the media, specially the Sports Radio talk show hosts spend so much time on putting someone down who has the gumption to take steps in improve himself and admit openly that he has had problems and chooses the biggest stage to announce that his therapist has helped him. Isn’t getting help supposed to be a good thing? Half the men I know don’t have the courage to admit their wrong doings much less admit seeing a therapist. Hell, most men I know feel that going to a therapist a sign of weakness.

In the Celtics series alone, there were many instances where Ron was being baited to get into an altercation so that perhaps he could get technical fouls or better yet be ejected, but he showed poise and proved the Celtics wrong by making clutch shots and being instrumental in helping the Lakers win their 16th Championship.

I think our society likes to see people who are talented and successful, fail. Somewhere deep down inside, we take pleasure when the likes of Tiger, Ron or Kobe for that matter, stumble. We tend to forget that players and artists are human beings just like us and have weaknesses much like we do. We should instead try to remember that there is much to learn from them, such as their determination to get better and make amends.