Simple Beef Chili

I recently bought the cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks, because anyone who gets 100,000 hits per day on her food blog is clearly doing something right. If you haven’t seen her website click here Pioneer Woman. Basically her gig is that she makes relatively simple, comfort food and she shoots amazing photos of the cooking process and posts her recipes with lots of commentary mixed with gorgeous photos. I have to give it to her, her shots are good, and there are lots of them (sometimes too many, but no one asked me).

So, I made her “Simple, Perfect Chili,” and since I’ve never actually followed a recipe in my life without making a half dozen changes I thought I’d post “The Pioneer Woman Cooks Chili edited and adjusted by Inside the Kaganoff Kitchen.” My family loved the end result and I have to say, it was delicious and took almost no time to prep. So this is an easy, high fiber, low carb, high protein, low fat chili that tastes absolutely super. Thanks Pioneer Woman, I wouldn’t have gotten to my version without you.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks Chili

Adjusted by Rachel Kaganoff Stern

(serves six)

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• 1 large onion, chopped fine
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 pounds ground beef (I use organic grass fed ground beef )
• One 15-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup Masa (Mexican corn flour)
• 1 cup water
• 1 can pinto beans (drained - pintos can be hard to drain, don't sweat it either way)
• 1 can kidney beans (drained)
• 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with chilies (don’t drain)

Brown the ground beef in a large pot with the garlic and the onions. Once it is browned drain off the excess fat. Add the tomato sauce and the spices and the salt. Stir together and cover. Reduce heat to medium/low for 30 mins. Add ½ cup water, stir well, reduce heat to low and cook an additional 30 minutes.

I measured out the spices and they were too lovely not to photograph.

After the beef has cooked for an hour, place the masa in a medium bowl and pour in the cup of water. Blend together with a fork or a whisk until it forms a smooth paste. Add the masa to the chili and mix well.

Add the beans and chopped tomatoes and cook on low for ten more minutes. Serve with whatever you like on chili. Sour cream, grated cheese, green onions or white onions all work. We like our chili over rice. You can also cool the chili and freeze it.

Pot Roast

I have a cold. One of those miserable, horrible, head so stuffy you can hardly think straight, lousy colds. All I want is comfort food, and it would be really great if someone would come over and make some for me. It made me think of the food my mother makes whenever someone is sick. In our house the recuperative food of choice is Pot Roast.

My paternal grandmother was born in Harbin, Manchuria and spent her adult life in New York and then Sacramento. She was a wonderful cook. One of the most interesting things I inherited from her was her box of New York Times Food Section recipe clippings. Her food interests were quite broad and it appears that she was more than willing to try things that were well out of her comfort zone.

This post includes her recipe for Pot Roast as remembered and interpreted by my mother. It is total comfort food, tastes great the day it is made and even better the next day. My mother makes this for my family whenever someone has to recuperate from something (childbirth, surgery, excessive holiday shopping). My entire family LOVES this pot roast. It is quite easy to prep, but you do need to be home for most of a morning or an afternoon for it to cook.

Pot Roast (6 servings)

• 3½ to 4½ lbs pot roast (cross rib, shoulder clod, chuck)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 medium onions, cut into 6-8 sections each
• 2 cups celery, chopped in large pieces
• 4 carrots, chopped in large pieces
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped in large pieces
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon thyme
• a pinch of sugar
• ¼ cup flat leaf Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 14 ½-oz can chopped tomatoes
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• ¾ cup red wine

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

In a heavy fry pan or deep Dutch oven, brown pot roast on both sides in hot olive oil. Remove pot roast from pan to a covered deep oven-safe pot.

Brown the onions, garlic and chopped peppers in the pan drippings until soft. Sprinkle vegetables with flour and brown over medium high heat, stirring quickly, 1 minute.

Add the canned tomatoes, bay leaf, tomato paste, red wine, thyme, sugar, chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Stir this mixture until it thickens slightly. Let simmer for 5 minutes uncovered. Correct seasoning.

Pour the tomato mixture over the pot roast, spreading evenly. Cover the pan, place pot roast in oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Bake 3½ to 4½ hours. 30 minutes before serving add celery and sliced carrots to pan.

Serve over flat noodles or mashed potatoes.