Sunday, January 11, 2009

Chilli con... bison?

So as many of you know, I decided to give eating meat a shot in 2009... it all started with that ostrich at the Black Tomato and has actually ended up with me finding... a butcher :0) So rather than making a chilli with some ground turkey or chicken meat, I decided to give Bison a try. I wasn't disappointed. And I hope that you aren't either...

Ingredients:
Bison (of course)
lg. tin, stewed tomatoes, chopped
Red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
White kidney beans, drained and rinsed
lg. onion, chopped and diced
3 x cloves of garlic, minced
2 x portobello mushrooms caps, sliced
1/2 a green pepper, sliced and chopped
1 entire sweet red pepper, sliced and chopped
2 x carrots, peeled and thinly chopped
3 x celery stalks, thinly chopped
2 x red chili peppers, chopped (if you like it hot, don't seed the peppers)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. brown sugar

Spices:
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tbsp. chili powder
salt and pepper
cajun spices

In a large pot, add the chopped onion and garlic to some hot olive oil. Once the onions have sweated a bit, add the bison. brown it (until no longer pink)... I turned down the heat closer to medium heat, so that I wouldn't dry out the meat.

Once you've browned the meat, add the sliced, diced, chopped (etc.) veggies - mushrooms, peppers, carrots, celery, hot peppers. Let those cook down a bit, adding the spices. Stir that pot.

Add the tomatoes (the entire can, liquid and all), the drained kidney beans, the tomato paste and brown sugar and turn up the heat! Let the chilli really simmer - once it's reached that point, lower the heat, cover the pot and allow the magic to happen - everything will blend together and create this spicy, hearty, lovely meal.

My adventure in eating and cooking red meat has started... I'm already thinking of buying some Wild Boar... oh, what a difference a year can make!

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