So Many Dishes

Once upon a time, I was known for my chili. Not that my original version was anything special: it was onion, maybe some green pepper, a pound of ground beef, a can of tomatoes and another of kidney beans, and my “secret ingredient”—a package of French’s Chili-O. In grad school, it was cheap, easy, could cook in the crockpot all day, and was very popular at any party Ken’s department threw. Since that group, both students and faculty, could find any excuse for a get-together, I cooked a lot of chili.

I branched out to other chili recipes over the years. I even won a friendly chili cook-off with my version of a Cooking Light chili that included Italian sausage and red wine.

These days, though, Ken is the chili master of the house. He has several versions that he cooks, and I’ve already posted his pork and hominy chili. A few nights ago, he made my absolute favorite, a recipe named easy elk chili.

We did actually make this with elk one time. We found ground elk at Sprouts, although, as I recall, it was blended with some beef. These days, Ken uses ground bison, which is available at Publix. In addition to bison, the recipe lists venison or lean beef as substitutes.

Ken has made numerous changes to the original recipe, which he found in one of our Cooking Light annual compilations. In the past, he has added chopped carrots, but this time he used a sweet potato instead. The sweet potato was a great addition, but I missed the carrots. He said that, next time, he’ll add both. Instead of chipotle chili powder, he uses a mix of chipotle chili powder and Penzey’s Chili 3000 blend, plus a “healthy dash” of allspice. That’s one of his notations in the cookbook.

Easy Elk Chili

• 1 pound ground elk, bison, venison, or lean beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and diced
• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 teaspoons Penzey’s Chili 3000 (or regular chili powder)
• Dash ground allspice
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
• 1 (15-ounce) can red beans (or red kidney beans), rinsed and drained
• Reduced-fat sour cream, to serve
• Shredded Cheddar cheese, to serve

Combine ground meat, onion, and garlic in a Dutch oven, and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add wine, bring to a boil, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the carrot, sweet potato, water, seasonings, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, and beans. Bring to a boil. Partially cover, reduce heat, and simmer 2 hours.

To serve, top bowls of chili with sour cream and shredded cheese.

The recipe says that it makes six servings, but it only provides four servings for us. We think cornbread is the perfect accompaniment.

Happy eating, everyone!