Today is a comfort food kind of day.
It’s Monday. It’s cold. It’s gloomy. It’s a perfect day for a big pot of Primal/GAPS chili and some crispy french fries.
Chili at the witch doctor’s house is a two day process. I started this batch yesterday, so today it’s been simmering in my favorite dutch oven ready to eat anytime we want a bowl. The basic recipe is based on my good ol’ standby Betty Crocker (still my go to cookbook after all the food changes we’ve morphed through over the last few years).
Chili
servings: it feeds two of us multiple meals for about 3 days; could I be any more general?
Ingredients:
3 pounds 100% grass-fed ground beef
3 large organic onions
2 large organic garlic cloves OR 1 teaspoon organic garlic powder
optional: 1/2 cup of diced organic green chiles (or cheat like me and add a 4 ounce can of them, undrained)
3/4 tablespoon organic cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon unrefined salt
1 teaspoon chipotle powder (smoked jalapenos) OR 1/4 cup diced chipotle peppers
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon (in place of cocoa powder since I’m sensitive to it)
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons fat of your choice, duck fat is my preference
Break beef down into small pieces as you brown it to avoid big chunks in the final product. Once beef has browned, remove it from the pot. Add diced onions, salt, and 2 T fat to the hamburger drippings left in the pot and cook on medium low until translucent. Add garlic and spices and cook for another minute on medium. Stir in tomatoes and chiles (if using fresh) and cook on medium for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, to deepen flavor. Add browned beef back in with 3 1/2 cups of water, stir and simmer until desired chili consistency. I cook it for 3 hours the first day, put it into the refrigerator overnight, then cook it for another hour the following day. Voila.
Chili ingredients vary dramatically based on region and taste preferences. What is your favorite recipe?
French Fries
serving size: 1 hungry 3.5 year old and a couple fries for you on the sneak
Ingredients:
2 small organic white potatoes
3-4 Tablespoons cooking fat of your choice, duck fat again here but the next batch will be beef tallow to mimic McDonald’s mouth-watering fries from days gone by
1/2 teaspoon unrefined salt (this will be based on your salt preference)
Extra salt for sprinkling on finished fries
Cut the potatoes into thin ribbons while the fat is warming on medium heat in your pan. Add the potatoes to the heated oil in a single layer, sprinkle with salt, and stir with a fork to coat in oil. When edges start to turn slightly brown (think a very lightly toasted marshmallow), begin to lightly stir and turn while gently loosening any stuck potatoes with the tines of the fork. Keep stirring every few minutes as the edges brown and try to turn any uncooked sides down into the oil to help all sides crisp up. When most sides are a light brown, I turn every minute or so until they reach a perfect crispy medium brown. Turn out onto a paper-covered plate (a paper grocery bag or paper towel work well) to drain and cool and sprinkle with a layer of salt to taste. Note: Any fries that get too brown while the others cook should be fished out and put on the plate to drain.
I prefer to cook my potatoes on medium so they are well-cooked when brown. Most medium-high methods leave the potatoes uncooked in the middle for me and then have to be steamed, losing their crunch. They do soak up a bit of the oil when cooked at a lower temp, but I find it’s a good way to get extra fat in and is tastier that way. 😉
I love me some comfort food.
3 Responses
nom nom!
I would not use a paper bag. Those things get sprayed with pesticides in stock rooms.
Thanks for sharing Sharon!