1/24/11

Cooking With Love: Chili Edition

Another episode in playing Top Chef…

 

I decided to give another recipe I got from Chef Carla –

The Pork & Roasted Butternut Squash Chili
w/Crisp Grit Rounds.

chili1

Yes. I made it with ground pork – I am a firm believer in supporting the much maligned swine industry. If you don’t, good for you – make it with something else (Chef Carla made it with tofu as an option too), just don’t get your panties all in a bunch.

 

It was a huge hit here at True Blessings Estate. LOVED IT. If you are interested in whipping this up for your family, I uploaded the recipe to goo,gl.e docs. Click on image above to print it out.

butternutsquash 

chili2chips3gritrounds1

A couple of hints that I learned along the way to make this recipe go smoothly…
- Chop, cube & roast squash in ahead. Then you won’t be rushing to get it done and can just add them in when ready.

- Cook your grits ahead and let set. You can crisp as chili is simmering. You don’t have to use a mini-muffin pan like I did. You can also just scoop out rounds into a baking sheet – flatten with spatula.

 

The family enjoyed this so much (and I bought more squash than originally needed), I decided to whip up another batch on Sunday for the game. I also started up a batch of apple chips too and as I was slicing, I sliced a finger chip taking off about an eraser sized hunk of the tip of my index finger.

 

My kitchen turned into a mini trauma center as I would rather bleed to death at home than in an ER. Instead of Cooking w/Love, I was now Cooking w/Blood. YUCK. My family went to work and pulled out all the stops. Coagulation stick (felt like  I was being stabbed in the eye), tourniquet, bandages, pressure, ice…but the final straw that sent me howling for real medical attention was the liquid bandage spray. It felt like they were sawing my finger off with a chain saw. Princess Erin whisked me off to Minute Clinic while the FireMarshall & the Queen Mum stayed back to clean up two hours of carnage. I didn’t know a finger could bleed so much.

 

In under 40 min I was seen at the clinic and even had a flu and pneumo shot to boot. I’m all bandaged up now.

BooBoo

Poor Boo-Boo Kitty. The chili was worth it. I hope you enjoy.