Recipe 7: Black and Orange Chili (aka Black Bean and Pumpkin Chili)

Black and Orange Chili (aka Black Bean Pumpkin Chili)

This recipe came about as a craving for chili, and a desire to clear out the last remaining beer straggler from the fall in my fridge.  I like beer, but I’m not a huge consumer of it, and moreover, I’m doing Dryuary.  Which...well, sigh.  I miss you, wine.  But after a week, I kind of stopped caring, and am actually kind of enjoying the weird sense of freedom I’m enjoying.  Is that weird?  Anyways, I wanted to clear it out, and had a pumpkin beer, a can of pumpkin, and a can of black beans, so I thought I’d revisit pumpkin chili!  

It turned out better than my first attempt (I thought, but then again, I was starving by the time I ate it!), but in the future I’m going to up the spice profile.  My long term, committed relationship with sriracha seems to have increased my tolerance of spice, but that’s just me.  Spice as you like, and leave room to build!  I wanted to use turkey for this, but due to the New Years holiday and a storm that left New England grocery stores looking like the apocalypse had hit, there was none to be had!  I used chicken.  Meh?  I think turkey, or another lean beef or pork would be slightly more flavorful.  Or even TVP, if you amp up the spice profile a bit.  Lastly, I tried to aim for black and orange throughout, as I think this might be a fun recipe to revisit in October, when pumpkin beers and pumpkin flavors invade the universe again!  This could also be a great recipe for a viewing of one my favorite holiday movies: Nightmare Before Christmas!  

Black and Orange Chili (Black Bean Pumpkin Chili)

Serves roughly 6

Black and Orange Chili (aka Black Bean Pumpkin Chili)

Ingredients

Recipe 16: Chocolate Chorizo Chili

Chocolate Chorizo Chili

Ladies und Gentlemen.  When you are having a bunch of lady nerds over for the Ladies World Series* (aka, the Downton Abbey season 3 USA premiere), there is no choice but to opt for decadence.   The dowager would have it no other way!  After having an unforgettable dark chocolate and chorizo tapa a few years back at some mysterious tapas restaurant in Manhattan at a friend's birthday party,  I hit up the Googles and came across a Cooking Light recipe I promptly bookmarked.

I've been circling this recipe for a longggg while now, and thought this would be a totally appropriate locale.  Because really - beer, chocolate, spicy hot British man servants?  There really is no recipe more appropriate for this event.  I combed over about three very, very different recipes, pilfered them for things I liked, and decided not to use things I didn't like (Cooking Light, Nigella Lawson via Baking with Bree, Feasting at Home).  What came of this?  Sheer deliciousness, boys and girls.  I've been shockingly positive in the new year, but this may, just may, be the best chili I have ever had, ever.  I kind of want to enter a chili cook-off with it (dudes, if you do, tell me about it!).

A few notes: 
Definitely splurge on the chorizo.  Most grocery stores will have some, but make sure it is the kind that oozes orange oil all over your hands.
Definitely use a chocolate stout.  I think a general stout will work, but if you can find it, roll with it.  It's well worth the extra burst of flavor you get.  Sidebar note, I used a local beer (Night Shift's Taza beer), which had in turn used a local chocolate company's chocolate (Taza) to brew this.  Even better?  It was bottled four days before I cracked it open - this vital information was handwritten on the label.  Yay local!  Holy guacamole.  A beautiful Slumerville marriage just happened in my Le Creuset, and in your mouth. 

*Oscars has the lock on the Ladies Superbowl title.

Chocolate Chorizo Chili

Serves 8

Recipe 17: White Lightning Chili

White Lightning Chili

For a long time, I've been craving an alternative chili.  When I got caught in a snow storm in the Berkshires a few weeks back, it was, frankly, all I could think about (besides not skidding off the road, duh).  But it took a few weeks longer to make it happen, which left a lot of time to research the multitude of recipes out there for white chili.  There are a lot of options - meat, no meat, different types of meat, certain types of beans, cornmeal, no cornmeal, etc.  

I took a few recipes that I liked the look of (The Pioneer Woman, Cooking Light), and hybridized them.  The resulting recipe is pretty good - but I'm open to suggestions.  I've never had white chili before, so I'm not sure what, if anything else I'd like to add.  Maybe adding the hot sauce directly to the soup while cooking?  Maybe some acidity in the form of lime?  Actually, next time I make this, that's happening.  Let me know what you think, and what angle you take on this white lightning flash in your Le Creuset pan. 

White Lightning Chili in a Le Creuset

White Lightning Chicken Chili

Serves 6-8