Bad Ass Beef Chili and Cast Iron Skillet Corn Bread

This is a Sunday dinner.  I say that only because it is a stick to your ribs, prepare you for a grueling work week (probably have leftovers), cozy up on the couch with a movie sort of dinner. I recommend that it cooks low and slow for at least three hours, and who in their right mind has that time on a work day? I was looking for a creamy, thicker chili  and I was pretty pleased with myself.  The best thing about chili is there are no rules; you make it the way you like it (don't like kidney beans, try black beans), you top it the way you like, cheese, sour cream, saltines, scallions, whatever.  I have also found that whenever you tell someone you made chili, they always like to tell you 'their way' or 'the way my mom did it'. Personally I came from a Cheddar and saltines type of family. My best friend grew up eating it with white rice. I like the stories, I like hearing the different ways people grew up with food. You can usually get an idea or learn something.

So if you are toughing the New York winters like I am or you're somewhere even colder (God Bless ya) or you moved to Florida and just have the AC in your condo really high, make this and curl up on the couch while you eat it (the rest of the time I recommend the dinner table)!

   (No one actually eats a portion this small when it comes to chili)

What you need....
1 can of tomato paste
1 can of tomato sauce
1 15 oz can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
1 15 oz can of Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 lbs of ground beef
1 Poblano Pepper-chopped small
1 Small Onion-Chopped Small
3 cups of beef broth (you can use another kind of broth or water, if you like)
1 TBSP Brown Sugar
1 TBSP Hot Sauce
2 TBSP of Chili Powder
1 tsp of Cumin
1 tsp of Oregano
1 small pinch of Cayenne
Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper

**Tip: When buying canned tomatoes or beans, get the low sodium or no-salt option.  Better to have the control of what you add to your recipe.

How you do it...

1.  In a heavy bottom pot (I like the dutch oven) over medium-high heat drizzle olive oil.  Once it has gotten hot, add the beef and brown, while breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Once everything is cooked, remove to a bowl and drain any liquid from the pot.

2.   Lower the heat to medium, add some more oil to the pan and add the chopped pepper and onion. Cook about 5 minutes or until they are soft.  If they start to brown, turn down the heat.

3.  At this point you are going to add the cooked beef, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, broth, sugar, hot sauce, cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt and pepper.  Stir to combine. 

4.  Turn the heat up to high and bring to boil, then reduce to very low and let simmer for 2 hours uncovered. Stir every 20 or so minutes, just to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot.

5. After two hours, add the beans.  Let cook for one more hour. 

** If at any point you think it is too thick, add a little more water, if it is too watery, turn the heat a bit to cook off some of the liquid. If you do this though, keep an eye on it.

6.  After about a total of three hours (give or take) you are ready to go.  I served mine with the below corn bread recipe, Cheddar cheese and sour cream. 

I never made corn bread before today. The Cast Iron Corn Bread came from the Godmother of Domestication, Martha Stewart. The cast iron gave it a rustic feel with a nice buttery crust. You can serve the chili over the corn bread, crumble the corn bread on top of the chili or eat the corn bread for breakfast the rest of the week (I might have done this). 

Here is Martha's Corn Bread recipe.  I see that the recipe only has three stars, those people are stupid, it deserves at minimum 4.  Maybe they just didn't have it with my chili.  Must be the problem