A Fundamentally Quick Chili

Better than fast-food chili

Once again, I regained some of the inspiration to cook and blog a little; maybe it was all the stress from college or lack of inspiration. Either way, I hope to be back better than before!

One of the most notorious things about chili is that most recipes require that it needs to cook for 6-8 hours in a crockpot (one appliance I'm not keen on getting). Truth be told, this recipe (adapted from The FamilyFun Cookbook) takes less than an hour to make since it uses canned beans instead of dry ones. I used the sweet corn chili recipe as my base and substituted the corn with jalapeno to spice up the evening.

Chili
1 1/2 lb of ground beef
1 cup of chopped onion
1 1/2 green bell peppers
1 can of red bell pepper
2 cans tomato paste

1 can of red kidney beans, drained
1 tbsp cumin

salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp chili powder
Plenty of Tex-Mex seasoning
1 medium tomato, diced
1 to 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp oregano
1 jalapeno, diced
2 cups of cooked rice

Topping
Crispy bacon, chopped
Crumbled feta cheese

First off, crumble the ground meat into a hot skillet with butter and brown.  I took the liberty of lightly seasoning it with the tex-mex seasoning while it cooked.

While it browns, saute the onions in a large pot until just translucent with the oil. Add to the onions the peppers, diced tomato and paste, jalapeno, beans and seasoning until just about cooked (about 15 minutes on medium heat).

Add the browned beef to the bean casserole and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, until the ideal thickness is achieved. Pour the chili over the steamed rice.

Chop some crispy bacon roughly and top the chili with it and the cheese. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

Corn beef hash with egg

Last week was a slow one cooking wise due to the amount of work the new semester's is dishing out. This dish was a quick option for a satisfying dinner for not my boyfriend and I, but for his neighbor and his roommate. It comes from my old standby book, The Best Ever 20 Minute Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood, adapted to the ingredients available. To save up more time, I used microwavable brown rice instead for the usual steamed white rice.

4 eggs
1 can of corn beef
1 onion (I replaced it with a green onion), diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp paprika
tex-mex chipotle seasoning
2 boiled potatoes, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups of cooked white rice

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil on a large deep skillet and cook the onion and green pepper until translucent. Season the corned beef with the nutmeg, paprika, seasoning, salt and pepper. Combine the diced potatoes to the corned beef.

When the peppers and onion are ready, add the corned beef hash to the skillet and cook about 10 minutes until . Flatten the hash about to about two inches and make four wells. Break the eggs inside the wells. Season the eggs to taste and cook thoroughly.

Serves 4

Pepper and cheese hamburger patties

A quick, healthy and much more satisfying way to spruce up your cheeseburger

Pepper and cheese patties
-1lb of ground meat
-1 red pepper
-1 green pepper
-1/2 cup of assorted grated cheese
-2 tbsp of vegetable oil
-salt and pepper for taste

Before you start handling the meat, chop the peppers into tiny pieces and separate them. Take a handful of ground meat, divide into two and mould into patties.

Place the minced peppers, cheese and season on one patty and cover with the other one (or just cover with the same one).

Heat up the vegetable oil and cook the patties until it's crisp and well done (this is arbitrary to one's preferences). Serve alone or prepare to your liking.

EDIT 2009/10/4: To make mini burgers use a clean cookie cutter about 2 inches in diameter to cut nice, and even patties.

Added here is my home made cheese bread bun

Homemade Ravioli

One of the many recipes I have backlogged in my primary blog that I would love to go into deeper is the homemade ravioli I made back in April (I'll cover the custard on another post). The dough is a universal recipe, but credit due to Tyler Florence for this one.

Homemade ravioli stuffed with cooked ground meat

Serves 5-6

For the pasta:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 yolk, for egg wash

For the filling:

1/2 pound of ground meat (93%)

1/2 white onion

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1 tablespoon of butter

1 can of tomato paste

1 tsp of garlic paste

2 tbsp of "sofrito" (traditional recipe)

a pinch of salt

Sift through the flour and add the salt. Make a small well inside the flour and add the 4 eggs and oil. Slowly cave in the flour and knead the subsequent mixture until stretchy (remember to flour your hand to avoid sticky messes).

Cut the ball of dough in half, cover and reserve the dough you are not immediately using to prevent it from drying out. Dust the counter, rolling pin and dough with flour. Flatten the dough to 1/8" thickness.

Beat 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Lay out the long sheet of pasta, and brush the top surface with the egg wash, which acts as a glue.

Start by melting the butter and "sofrito" and tomato paste in a medium to large skillet.

Chop the onion, peppers and sautee them in the skillet until the onions are golden brown. Once done, cook the meat in the mixture until fully cooked.

Drop tablespoons of the filling on 1/2 of the pasta sheet, about 2-inches apart. Fold the other 1/2 over the filling like a blanket. fingers, gently press out air pockets around each mound of filling. Use a sharp knife to cut each pillow into squares and crimp the 4 edges with the tins of a fork to make a tight seal.

Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water for 4 minutes; they'll float to the top when ready.

It was a huge hit with my guest for the night, so I hope you all enjoy!