Chili

Root’s Southwestern World Chili

 

(aka Billy Jack’s Canyon Stew)

This chili recipe combines the flavors of the American Southwest with a touch of South Asia. It is neither overly Hot! or salty. Kids and adults alike love it and it tastes great re-heated. It is thick and hearty and leaves your house smelling great for an autumn afternoon.

 

INGREDIENTS:

2lbs. Pork – ground or chopped into stew piece size

2lbs. Beef – ground or chopped into stew piece size

2 Medium Onions - diced

1 Head of Garlic – finely chopped

12 – 14 ounces of Chopped Green Chilies (canned) – or use fresh chopped peppers if desired

8 ounces Mushrooms - chopped

29 – 30 ounces Tomato Sauce (depending on size of can)

30 ounces Beans – Black, Red, Pinto, mix and match, whatever you like

½ cup Rice

1 packet William’s Chili Seasoning – (2lbs. of meat size)

1 ounce (general) Curry Seasoning

1 teaspoon Black Pepper

Olive Oil

You’re going to want to use a big clad-bottomed lidded pan or a Dutch oven – something in the 8 quart range for this recipe.

 

THE METHOD:

Set your burner to medium high heat and pour in a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Most meat is pretty lean so you’ll need enough to prevent it from burning.

When the oil heats up, add your meat, onions, and garlic. You’re going to be stirring and breaking up the meat for several minutes.

Once you get the meat heated up and the color changes a bit, add all of your spice (the William’s, curry powder, and black pepper) and stir it in for a couple minutes.

NOTE:

I do not call out added salt. Typically canned beans have salt added and so does tomato sauce. In one of my variations, I add the tiny packet of Mahatma Yellow Rice, and it is loaded with salt. Therefore salt is at the cook’s discretion.

Next add the chilies and stir them in.

Then add the mushrooms and stir them in.

NOTE:

If you use fresh chilies, or even elect to substitute a bell pepper or two, get them in earlier.

Add your tomato sauce and beans and stir them in.

Add your rice and stir it in.

Set your burner to low, and cover the pot. Check and stir it occasionally.

After about 15 minutes, you may want to add ½ cup or 1 cup of water. The rice will suck up a lot of liquid, and you may like your chili to be less thick.

Simmer for another 15 minutes. Let it cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

 

NOTES AND VARIATIONS:

Regarding the meat – using chopped meat over ground makes for a fantastic chili. The workload adds to the time but the flavor is excellent and makes for a great chew as well. I recommend a piece of chuck for the beef component and tenderloin or chops for the pork.

Another variation on the meat is to pull out some of the beef and pork and add ground sausage. I like Mendolia’s here in Kansas City. Sausage adds a good amount of salt and fat, but good sausage comes with good spice.

You might question the addition of mushrooms. Mushrooms will add that meaty umami flavor to your chili. Chuck is probably the meatiest tasting meat, and pork has its own flavor of course. A small addition of mushrooms will push that meatiness right up to the top. By finely chopping them, you’ll never know that they are there, if you don’t go for the texture of cooked mushrooms.

If I were to do a vegetarian version of this chili, I would probably triple the mushrooms and double the beans. I would also add more olive oil. Maybe consider slightly mashing some of the beans before you add them to give an extra saucy component to the base of the chili.

I always use canned chilies. In the past, I have used bell peppers, but I think they give too much of a salad effect. Chilies give that deep exotic flavor – chopped and canned take a step out of the process. If you are knowledgeable on chili varieties, they are what makes this dish. You might back down on the curry powder a bit if you move into more dynamic chilies than the basic green ones.

Speaking of Curry powder… My local has a decent one in the spice aisle. Back in the day I used a Garam Masala for this recipe when my former local had a good one. If you have a good G.M., it makes for a great addition over a generic all-purpose curry. You can add a touch of cinnamon to your generic curry powder and get some good results. Even cocoa and a pinch of sugar.

Beans – If you use dry beans in your cooking, you may want to add salt to the chili. I like black beans in my chili for their firmness. But I also like pintos and reds. So I add all of them. Use what you like best.

Garlic – Go big. I use the whole head. This is chili, deal with it. And the garlic really sets the taste on eleven.

Back to Salt – William’s original chili seasoning has none, and curry powders typically are salt free. Every canned good has salt added unless the label says otherwise. And you use a packet of rice instead of plain, it has salt. There is salt everywhere, so keep that in mind before you add any to this recipe.

I like to serve this chili with cheddar cheese. Sometimes I like sour cream. I’m a big fan of Tabasco, so I drip on some of that. And I like good old original Ritz crackers. And I like chili dogs with this chili. And I eat it for breakfast sometimes. And sometimes I make a second batch before the first one runs out.

It's been a while since I have posted here. The last few years have been about exploring some new directions. A fairly steady amount of concrete countertops have been bid, and a good few kitchens have been made. Fireplaces of all kinds have been done as well. Painting, printmaking, and sculpture have been a big part of my past year as well. I'm running pretty hard with some good ideas there and adding a few collectors.  Requests for furniture keep popping up. The current piece is an oak-topped piece with legs cut from steel plate.

This first low table is reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine from a c.1870 building.

This fireplace surround wraps the existing brick structure.

This table leg system sits under a 9-foot by 42-inch walnut top.

The Bendy Leg is a big concrete sculpture (10-feet long and 65 inches tall) that now lives with a family on the east side of Kansas City.

This sculpture is called Footprint of Buddha. This picture was taken at a show I had at the end of 2012 and into January 2012 at the Bohemian Gallery in downtown Overland Park.

This fireplace surround is in a house in Mission Hills. We set it so that it actually hangs on the wall.

The latest table in process. This piece is 36 inches tall and 18 inches deep.

This small sculpture is called Servant Bowl. It's carved in mahogany and inspired by similar work from New Guinea

 Side table with the wide and flat legs that precedes the current hall table I'm working on.

Concrete hearth

This is part of 200 square feet of countertops for an office building. These tops are 1.25 inches thick.

Concrete Countertops - New Options for Spring

New options are coming online for concrete countertops this spring at Root Concrete.

Recycled glass terrazzo is gaining in popularity around here, and more requests are being made for glass as a decorative option. After several years of research and development, we are building a quality product that stands up as well as our regular concrete. Glass and concrete don't do so well together at the chemistry negotiating table, and we have been looking for the right mediator. All points indicate success, and it gives our concrete a higher level of green sustainability.

Thin concrete slabs have been requested more than once this year. Thin concrete poses a whole new range of challenges in construction, but we have driven a couple smaller slabs (24 inch sq.) down to 3/8 of an inch thick. We have yet to find the maximum size for the thinnest posssible piece, but production of up to 12 square feet is a nice size to work with right now.

Graphic images, set into a terrazzo slab, have been an old standby with stone and terrazzo for centuries. We have been using CNC technology and special mold making techniques to bring this process into the 21st century, and allow and a more complex graphic to be realized in concrete. Throw in some fiber optics, and you can have some standout concrete like none other.

Furniture has been one of our unmentioned options for years. Last year some of us focused for a few weeks and we put a show together in Kansas City. Since then a few orders have been trickling in, and we have responded with some great pieces. We use a lot of reclaimed wood, steel, concrete, found objects, wheels, and metal castings from our mini-foundry. Drop a line, and we can send some more images.

Thanks for reading, and look for more to come,

Dave Root