I broke in the pressure cooker Jess gave me with Charlie's chili recipe (see comments to "The Mystery of Jerry" entry). I enjoyed the process and results. Ian, who can be picky, seemed pleased and ate nearly all -- a feat he generally only reserves for junk food.
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After dinner, the copper pipe leading to the washing machine burst, saturating our kitchen floor. We called up our friends at Lorden Oil in Townsend. The service tech who arrived later told me he had taken care of something like a hundred calls today. The cold breaks the bones of these old houses. But not ours! What initially seemed like a cf tried and true turned out not so bad. He put a valve to stop the line and told me the next step -- which he didn't have time for tonight since we were an unplanned stop -- would be quick and painless.
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My birthday karaoke party was rescheduled for tomorrow, but has now been rescheduled for January 2010. Too many conflicting schedules among the tried and true. My brother told me, "Just come up to Nashua for the UFC tomorrow! We'll celebrate." So I will. Originally, I was thinking of frying squid with limes and chiles. After paying a big bill, I shifted into a more frugal mode and came up with two small dishes: cheddar stuffed grilled jalapenos and fried plantains with spinach that sounded good and ended up costing little. A buck for the peppers and plantains. Four something for the spinach, with much left over for sandwiches and salads, and four for the cheese, with some no doubt left over for general munching. A regular old Thoreau of the teethsmashing set, I am.
Tomorrow, I need to pick up some pork butt at Blood Farm for a party next weekend. I can't buy it then because I'll need to get it in the oven by seven a.m.
I also bought some pork that I'm going to marinade and make into savory breakfast burritos. A little radish? Sure, sure. I eat weird in the mornings. Just ask Jess. I suspect by now she has nightmares in which she wakes to find me skewering sea urchins by the light of the moon.
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I've never cooked it for a whole hungry family before, so I don't know how many leftovers you ended up with. But I'll tell you this: like a good homemade red sauce, this chili will freeze up in bowl size portions for a couple of months. When you come home starving and there's nothing fresh in the fridge, its good to see a hearty bowl of red waiting for you in the ice box. Just 5 minutes to thaw in the meecrowaf and you're pullin up to the chuck wagon in style. Did you alter the recipe at all? If so, how?
ReplyDeleteI wasn't kidding on your FB comments. Gimme a day in advance and we'll weatherproof that basement. I had trouble with mine the first year too till I got medieval on it midwinter. During the whole power outage, my basement temp never got below 48! Just from insulation! Glad you managed to catch and secure it fast though...
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteWe've already done some insulation work there since you saw it, based on advice from a plumber, and the temp seems good. The leak was on the second floor. But next time you come over, take a look and we'll see if there's something else we can winterize. I can get all supplies from work at cost.
We had exactly one and a half bowls left over. Billy found out I was making chili and, once again, offered me five dollars if I saved him some. He is apparently addicted to my cooking.
I ate the half bowl myself for lunch today, with brown rice.
Aside from the anchos we discussed -- it was too late for me to avoid using fresh peppers - here are the alterations:
1. Half the meat was ground turkey. This was done for Jess, who doesn't care for beef and is indifferent to pork. As hard as that is to believe. So it was half turkey, half stew beef in big chunks that I could pick out.
2. Since I used whole canned tomatoes to cut costs, most of the ingredients went into the blender. So the onions, garlic, etc were pureed.
You set the cooking time at 20-25. I went to the side of 20, but would go to 25 next time. I would also use country ribs and steak and chipotles, since Jess isn't much of a chili person anyway, despite my efforts. But it would make Ian happy. This I know.
Ah, the dreaded upper floor pipes. Now I get it. Happened to me too once on a cold snap up in vermont. SOB. That's too bad. Yeah, we'll look it over, check for drafts, etc, but it sounds like you already did what you could. Start looking for friends who can blow in wall insulation!
ReplyDeleteawesome, I personally wouldn't puree the garlic. Makes it a bit stanky (there's a chemical reason for that). Onions definitely though, a good way to maximize the flavor in a short time.
Turkey, huh, hmmm, I mean I could see it (and I used to use ground chicken for a vegetarian in my life a few years ago), maybe it would add some body and a nice dose of tryptophan.