Chili con Poco Carne

     I was surprised to look back at my blog and find that I had already blogged about this particular recipe (specifically, about the vegan version of this recipe).  See http://insearchoftheperfectmacaroniandcheese.blogspot.com/2011/04/vegan-chili.html However, since I had made this recipe out of a library book that I then had to return, I don't have the recipe written down in the blog.  I now own that book (The Food Matters Cookbook by Mark Bittman) and, remembering how much I liked the vegan variation so much, I decided to try to make the original recipe with meat.  And, boy, is it amazing!

Chili con Poco Carne from Mark Bittman's The Food Matters Cookbook

Notes from the author: "A perfect example of how a little bit of meat can go a long way.  For a vegetarian version, just leave out the meat- better yet, try the variation.  Either way, this recipe, which reheats beautifully, makes extra for your fridge or freeze.

Makes: 6-8 servings
Time: About 1 hour with cooked or canned beans

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. beef chuck, pork shoulder, or lamb shoulder, cut into small cubes
Salt and black pepper
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp. minced garlic
1 large or 2 small eggplants, cubed
1 zucchini, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 cup quartered mushrooms or a handful of rinsed dried porcini
1 (or more) fresh or dried hot chile (like jalapeno or Thai), minced
1 tbsp. cumin, or to taste
1 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano, or 1 tsp. dried
2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; include their juice)
4 cups cooked or canned kidney, pinto, or black beans, drained, liquid reserved
2 cups vegetable stock or water, or more as needed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley, for garnish

Procedure:

1) Put the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  A minute later, add the meat, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is well browned all over, about 10 minutes.  remove the meat from the pan and pour off all but 3 tbsp. of the fat.

2) Put the pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until just softened, about 3 minutes.  Add the vegetables, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring frequently, until they begin to soften and become fragrant, adjusting the heat so that nothing scorches.  After 10 to 15 minutes, the vegetables should start to brown a bit and dry out.

3) Add the chile, cumin, and oregano and stir.  Add the tomatoes with their juice and enough of the bean-cooking liquid to submerge everything (use some stock or water if you don't have enough) and return the meat to the pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat so it bubbles steadily.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid if necessary, until the meat is fork-tender and the flavors have mellowed, 30 to 40 minutes.  Add the beans and more liquid if necessary, and cook just long enough to heat the beans through, only a couple minutes.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Here's the vegan variation, in case you are interested:

Chili non Carne: Omit the meat from Step 1.  At the beginning of Step 2, add 2 chopped red bell peppers and 2 tbsp. tomato paste along with the garlic and onion.  Let the mixture brown a bit, stirring frequently so the tomato paste doesn't burn, and proceed with the recipe.

I made this recipe very slightly different from the way it is written above:
     I used more meat than written, as the pork shoulder came as one tied-together lump of meat.  1.8 lbs instead of 1 lb.  Also, I discovered something about pork shoulder: Pork shoulder is very fatty.  Don't be a lazy doofus like me and think that one should not trim off the fat before one starts to cook it.  Despite what I thought, pork fat does not melt off into the pan.  I thought I could just pour off the fat later once I cooked the pork.  Instead, it stays right on the meat.  This, of course, means that when one adds the meat back in, one has to go through each piece laboriously and trim the fat from the meat with one's fingers.  Because eating big pieces of fat with a little bit of meat attached is just gross!  So trim the fat off ahead of time.
     Being a stew, I knew that the exact proportions of vegetables wasn't really that important.  I used two crookneck squash instead of zucchini as that was what I had in the house.  I also added in some beet greens because I wanted to use them and I figured they'd be good in the chile.  I added in the whole can of chopped tomatoes because I didn't feel like measuring it.  I had some leftover frozen chicken stock, so I used that instead of vegetable stock.  I have no idea how much stock was added in.  Same with the beans.  I happened to have a bunch of leftover cooked black beans.  Just threw them in there.  I think I used four carrots instead of 2, because they were small and I felt like it.  I also used about 6 New Mexico Green Chiles because they are a superior chile.  Highly recommend that addition if you happen to have fresh New Mexico green chiles (or frozen ones, like we do).  They add in so much flavor!  I think the cumin really makes this dish.  At the end, we didn't have cilantro or parsley around, so we didn't do the garnish.  And it was okay!
     Anyways, as you can see, it is a very flexible recipe that really comes out amazingly.  This is definitely something that I would make again!  Plus, you do get a lot of leftovers for the next day!  Mmmmm....

Chili con Poco Carne.  See all the delicious vegetables in there?

Covered with daiya cheese (A type of vegan cheese).