Beef, Black Bean and Chorizo Chili

Here's part 2 of the beefy stew-y goodness.  Despite the brief glimpse of spring we had here in DC a week ago, winter has come back once again.  This weekend called for chili to keep us warm and to occupy us during a march madness that was so mad our pool is already over before the final four play.

They really should call this 'chunks of beefy goodness with that smoky tasty flavor in a stew'.    Chunks may not be a very appetizing word though. This to me is much more of a stew than a chili, not that I mind.  But there is no ground beef in this chili. The recipe calls for stew meat which ends up being chunks of delicious beef flavor.  And the chorizo and chipotle peppers in adobo really make this delicious.  The flavors in this stew were very different from the other chili we've made (Cincinnati style). 

We used the same wine from the previous recipe, Yellow Tail Shiraz/Cabernet blend and then my husband used it as a compliment to his chili. It really brought the spicy, peppery flavors out of the wine, which for me is not all that pleasing, but I get it.

This DEFINITELY will not fit in a slow cooker. Or at least mine. I think I have a 5 qt slow cooker and this was way too much.  So once again we used the incredibly awesome dutch oven.  Instead of cooking for 1 hour and then 30 minutes, we put the rest of the ingredients in (during the add lime and wine step), brought to a boil and then simmered for about 2 hours. Tasted good to me!  We also didn't add the masa harina OR the cornmeal suggested as a substitute. We just let a little bit more of the beef broth boil off to make the consistency thicker. Yea, it may have altered the serving size and calories, but I didn't want to mess with throwing cornmeal in this chili. It smelled way too good.

As of today's post, 23 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5.  This is definitely going in the book. A lot of reviewers said that this was really spicy for them. I don't know if they have weak taste buds, but we didn't notice a lot of heat.  It's definitely got the chipotle smoky flavor, but we'd probably throw a habenero in next time to kick it up a notch.  We served it with cornbread muffins.

Give it a whirl....

Recipe by Julianna Grimes, Cooking Light, November 2007

Yield: 10 servings (serving size: about 1 cup chili)

Ingredients

• 2  links Spanish chorizo sausage (about 6 1/2 ounces), thinly sliced
• 1 1/2  pounds  beef stew meat
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped onion
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
• 3  tablespoons  tomato paste
• 2  teaspoons  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 2  teaspoons  unsweetened cocoa
• 1  teaspoon  ground coriander
• 1  teaspoon  dried oregano
• 1  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1  cup  dry red wine
• 1/4  cup  fresh lime juice
• 2  (14-ounce) cans less-sodium beef broth
• 1  (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
• 2  tablespoons  masa harina
• 2  (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1  (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation

Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add chorizo to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned. Remove chorizo from pan. Add half of beef to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until browned. Remove beef from pan. Repeat procedure with remaining beef. Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes.
Remove 4 chipotle chiles from can, and chop. Reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Add chorizo, beef, chopped chiles, tomato paste, and next 6 ingredients (through ground cumin) to pan, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in red wine, lime juice, beef broth, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Gradually stir in masa harina. Add pinto beans and black beans; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes.

Kitchen Notes

Look for masa harina, the corn flour used to make tortillas, in the Latin foods aisle at the supermarket, or substitute fine-ground cornmeal. Use kitchen shears to cut up the tomatoes in the can.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 325 (30% from fat)

Fat: 11g (sat 3.8g,mono 4.7g,poly 1g)

Protein: 25g

Carbohydrate: 31.4g

Fiber: 8.4g

Cholesterol: 53mg

Iron: 4.7mg

Sodium: 898mg

Calcium: 104mg