Oct 13-15 Chili with Chorizo

Oct 13     Wing night at the pub
Oct 14     I was sick in bed and Shack cooked rigatoni with meat sauce for the boys
Oct 15     Chili with Chorizo


I made the mistake of taking some new drug that my neurologist gave me after drinking a couple of glasses of wine. You know, they say not to drink when you take everything so I did not heed this particular warning from my pharmacist. I will not make this mistake again. I spent the entire day in bed on Friday wanting to die and was in no shape to cook anything for anyone. The only reason I even ate myself was because my friend, Kate, was an angel and went and got me Pho. That meant that Shack got to make meat sauce again because he isn't part of this challenge and I am sure they weren't thrilled that I was in bed wanting to die but I do know that they were pretty thrilled that they could cook whatever they wanted for once.
Saturday, I woke up feeling quite a bit better but it was cold, windy and generally horrible outside so that meant either chili or stew and chili was requested. To make it a bit different, I bought some mild chorizo but Shack asked that I don't make fancy changes and to keep it really simple. I liked the chorizo in my sloppy joes and thought it would work really well in a pot of chill and I was right.

Chili with Chorizo


small glug olive oil
500 g ground beef
300 g mild chorizo sausage, removed from casing and broken up into chunks
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
796 ml can kidney beans
2 tbls cumin
5-6 tbls chili powder
1 heaping tbls mexican oregano
341 ml bottle of beer
700 ml tomato puree
1 cup chicken stock
kosher salt

optional to serve: sour creme, grated sharp cheddar, cilantro, lime and tortilla chips

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over med heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes before adding the meats. Brown the meat until all the pink is gone. Add the cumin, chili powder, and a pinch of salt and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the beer, the stock, the beans, tomato puree and oregano. Stir well and bring to a light simmer, cover partially with the lid and let it cook like that for an hour. Taste after an hour and adjust seasonings if you need to, add more salt if it needs it. Keep cooking it until it has reduced to the consistency that you like at this point. We like our chill pretty thick so I usually have to cook it for another 45 minutes or an hour.

We all eat it differently so I serve all of the condiments on the side - Shack likes it with sour creme and cheddar, I like a bit of cheddar, cilantro and a squeeze of lime  and The Kid likes it naked. We all like to eat it with some tortilla chips