Community Corner

Wicked Good* Chili For Super Bowl Sunday

Whether you're cheering for the Patriots or the Giants, your fans at home will be singing your praises when they taste this chili.

In my opinion, chili is ideal to serve during the Super Bowl: it's hot, nourishing, can be made the day before, and is easy to keep warm on the stove so the cook won't miss even a minute of the game or the commercials!

I saw several great chili recipes in a recent issue of Family Circle magazine. I tweaked this one a bit, but did not change one very special ingredient: smoked paprika. 

Thinking that a small spice jar of smoked paprika would be really expensive, I was surprised to see the Badia brand for $1.69 at . You will be rewarded by the huge amount of flavor it adds to the chili.

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I've made chili using many different ingredients such as ground beef, ground turkey, and chicken.  This one uses flank steak.

Beef Chili with Smoked Paprika

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Serves 8

1 tsp. vegetable oil

2 lbs. flank steak

1 sweet onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 T cornstarch

1 cup low-sodium beef broth

1 cup dark beer (ShopRite sells Guinness in individual bottles)

1 T apple cider vinegar

2 T tomato paste

2 T molasses

2 T chili powder

1 T smoked paprika

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground pepper

1 can (14.5 ounces) fire roasted diced tomatoes (Hunts makes one), undrained

1 can (15.5 ounces) red beans, drained and rinsed

1 can (15.5 ounces) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

 

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large, oven-proof Dutch oven (such as Le Creuset), heat oil on medium heat. Add flank steak in batches and brown each side. (You may need to cut the steak to fit the pan.) Remove flank steak to a rimmed plate and continue until finished with all pieces of the steak.

Turn heat to medium-low and add the onions to the pot, stirring. Add garlic and stir for just a minute. Don't allow the garlic to burn.

Mix the cornstarch with a little of the beef broth until there are no lumps. Add to pot along with remaining beef broth, beer, and remaining ingredients. Stir well to scrape up any browned bits from the pan.

On a cutting board, slice up the browned flank steak into bite-size pieces. Add the flank steak pieces along with any juices from the plate and board into the pot and stir well. 

Put chili in oven and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. About every hour, stir the chili. Add a little bit more beef stock or beer if necessary.

The chili is done when the meat is tender and falls apart easily when separated by a fork.

You can serve the chili as is, over rice or noodles, and topped with various toppings such as sour cream, shredded cheese, sliced scallions and fresh cilantro, if desired.

Look for other chili recipes such as beef brisket chili, Cincinnati-style and chicken and bean coming soon before Super Bowl!

*If you grew up in Massachusetts (like I did) you will understand the "wicked good" phrase.  It's on the same vein as wicked cool, wicked awesome and wicked easy. I believe the phrase originated from a Boston-based potato chip manufacturer (I forgot the name) whose packaging had a small witch on it that noted the chips were "wicked good."  Does anyone else remember this?


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