Contributed by: David LaFerney
Source: From a word of mouth recipe that I was taught by my Mother.
By thawing the meat in the microwave, you can literally have this on the table 30 minutes after you start.
1 pound of ground beef
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic (I usually use the kind that is pre chopped in a jar)
1 large onion chopped
1 bell pepper (any stage of ripeness) chopped
12 oz more or less of canned spaghetti sauce (Prego, or hunts for example)
< Or 12 oz tomato sauce Or 6 oz of tomato paste and 6 oz of water
1 package of chili seasoning Or 1 tablespoon chili powder
Or your herbs and spices, hot sauce, Salsa or what have you
Or plain old salt and pepper if it is all you have. It will still be great.
1 tablespoon of cooking oil (I prefer olive oil, but you can use any kind including butter or margarine)
30-60 oz of canned beans (I prefer 1/2 or more of this to be pork and beans, and the remainder to be canned pinto beans, but any kind of pre cooked beans will be fine including left over home cooked ones)In a heavy 4-qt. pan over medium to high heat, start browning the onion, peppers, garlic and meat in the oil. Add the chili seasoning or spices. When the meat is browned, pour the meat mixture into a colander to drain any fat that has cooked out. While the meat is draining, lower the heat to medium and add the tomato sauce to the pan. Stir until the sauce comes to a simmer (this will loosen the brown bits from the meat) and then add the meat mixture back to the pan. Add the beans and return to a simmer (stirring often to prevent sticking) then lower the heat to very low and cover. This is the time to taste the sauce and add more salt, pepper, spices or hot sauce if needed. Simmer for a few minutes and serve with corn bread, crackers, corn chips, and/or grated cheese and iced tea. This makes good leftovers for a few days.
Tips:
1) When a recipe calls for browning meat, try not to add too much meat at one time. If during the process you see a noticeable amount of water bubbling away in the pot, then you are sweating and not browning. If this happens, there are several things that you can do:
A) Turn the heat up
B) Push the meat (and veggies) over to the side of the pan, and brown things a little at a time in the center especially until the water evaporates.
C) Remove some of the food from the pan and brown a little at a time.Remember, browning means the food should actually have some brown on it (caramelized) not just boiled gray.
2) Leftovers will freeze pretty well, think “chili dogs”.You might notice that this is very similar to “30 minute Spaghetti”. Recipe overlap makes it easier to shop and keep your kitchen stocked with staples. .
Jones :: Sep.14.2007 ::
Entrees, Soup ::
