Homemade Chili with Black Beans and Lime

I love a hot flavorful bowl of chili on a cold day.  The hearty meat and beans in a rich tomato sauce brightened up with fresh cilantro and lime juice is a great winter treat.  I decided to use the ground pork I got from Active Live Farms to make this recipe last weekend.  I make this recipe with beef, pork or even ground turkey and have for my vegetarian friends I have substituted and equal amount of brown rice and lentils.

 Ingredients

1 Tbsp Good Olive Oil

1 Medium Onion medium dice

2 Medium Carrots fine dice

2 Stalks of Celery fine dice

4 Cloves Garlic fine dice (also from Active Live Farms)

1 Tbsp Tomato Paste

1 or 2 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (chopped fine)

1.5 Tbsp Mexican chili powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp Grape seed Oil– because of the high smoke point and neutral flavor (alt canola oil)

1.5 pounds lean ground pork (you could use beef)

¼ cup rye whiskey

2 Cups Chopped tomatoes (in season), or 1 Large Can of Tomatoes drained

1 cup chicken stock or one can of dark beer

2 cups of cooked black beans (or canned)

2 tsp Oregano

The juice of one lime.

One hand full of fresh cilantro chopped.

Go through your list of ingredients and have them prepped before you start out.  When building the flavors in a chili you want to caramelize the ingredients which means using higher heat and if you try to prep while you cook you run the risk of burning.

In a heavy bottomed pot or Dutch oven on medium high heat, heat up the grape seed oil until very hot then add in the ground meat and about a tsp of salt to draw out the water.  Add Cook until browned well.  Remove to a mesh strainer and drain the fat (note the grape seed oil and a lot of the salt will be drained here as well).

Reduce the heat to medium and in the same pot add the olive oil and heat until it starts to flow easily, don’t allow it to smoke.  Add in the Onion, Carrot and Celery.  Stir and cook for about 3 minutes then add the garlic.  Cook until the onion and garlic start to get a little color but don’t let the garlic turn brown it will be bitter.  Add in the Chili Powder, Cumin, 1 tsp salt, tomato paste and chipotle peppers, cook until you see the tomato paste loosen and it releases a little oil.  Add the rye to the pan at this point and deglaze the pan, add in the ground meat and stir to coat the meat with all of the flavors in the pot.

When the liquid has boiled off add in the tomatoes, cook stirring occasionally until they start to break down.  Add in the chicken stock and black beans (I prefer these over kidney beans because of their small size and nice flavor).  Allow to simmer covered for a couple of hours, if it starts to dry out add a little more stock.  This will tenderize the meat and blend all of the flavors that you have built.  Uncover and continue cooking for about a half an hour to thicken.  Add the oregano and lime juice during the last half hour of cooking.  During the last 5 minutes or just before serving add chopped fresh cilantro.

As always you have to finish by tasting and seasoning.   Add additional salt, chili powder, or cumin to your personal taste.  You can also add crushed red pepper or my preference diced fresh jalapeño peppers to bring up the heat.

Garnish with cumin dusted sour cream or grated cheese and enjoy.