It was hella cold the other day. The only thing that really fixes that is having hot pot. But that wasn't really an option so I went for the next best option: chili.
Yup, the yummy comfort food that you want to eat curled up under a fleece blanket with your kitty at your feet while watching hockey.
Normally I'm one of those people that need some kind of recipe to follow when making something I don't usually make, but soup/stew is one of those things where you can be really flexible and throw whatever you have on hand into the pot and it'll still turn out awesome.
I also needed to make enough so that there was just enough for the two of us and not the usual leftover portion to feed another army. You'd be surprised how much finished product you get after you throw in everything even though it doesn't look like it!
Here's what I used (a rough estimate, since I was just guestimating at the grocery store):
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Chili (ali edition) - 3ish servings
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1 large can diced tomatoes (28 ounces I think)
1 medium can of mixed beans
1 small (read:DINKY) can of tomato paste
Ground beef. Whatever kind you have on hand. 300g should be enough
Seasoning spices - black pepper, paprika, chili powder
1/2 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onions
2 tablespoons oil
3 large round buns
Just a whee bit of cornstarch
Why do we need round buns? Because I went the extra mile and made an edible serving bowl! YEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA. More on that later.
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Putting it all together
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Heat the oil in a pan, and add the diced onions. Cook until translucent, and add the beef. Cook for a few minutes on medium heat, and add whatever seasonings you like. I usually throw in black pepper, paprika and chili powder. When the beef is almost done, add in the diced tomatoes, beans, tomato paste and diced veggies.
Turn the heat down to somewhere in between low and medium and simmer for about 30-45 min. Meanwhile, go enjoy the hockey game
*during intermission*
Come back and check on your chili. If it is a bit watery (I added the entire can of tomatoes including the water), then add some cornstarch dissolved in cold water. It should thicken up.
With the round buns, about 1 inch from the top, cut off the top. Scoop out the inside bread guts - I like to use this as filler with extra meat I bought from the store to make meatballs! But that's for another day. Like I was saying, scoop out the bread guts so that the inside of the bun is hollow.
The chili should be done now, and give a hearty scoop of it into your newly created bread bowl. Oh, we went back for refills a few times using the same bowl but there was enough leftovers for one REALLY hearty lunch.
Enjoy!
I love Foodgawker. It's a mish mash of wonderful food ideas submitted by people all around the world. Granted, all these delicious looking posts may not actually taste delicious, but it's sure helluva fun time staring at all of them!
Lately most of the new things I've tried have come from this website. The latest experiment? Puff pastry with beef filling, from A Bit of This and A Bit of That. No, there is no official name for it. At least I couldn't find it on the website.
Here's the picture of what it was supposed to look like:
Did mine turn out looking like that? Nottttttt quite. But I tried.
Anyways that's besides the point. The point is that it was quite straight forward to make (with some oopsies thrown in) and it was helluva yummy. Even the bf enjoyed it (he IS too nice to say if something does taste bad tho .. but the compliment seemed geniune so I'LL TAKE IT!!). It was fun listening to him guess on what on earth I was trying to make.
Here's my take on it:
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Puff pastry with beef filling (ali edition. Adapted from original posting)
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This wonderful snack, if you could call it a snack (it feeds like a meal for two people), has two parts - the pastry and the filling. It's not really puff pastry (it's healthier!), but you could probably use store bought puff pastry instead.
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Pastry
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300g white flour
125g butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons water
1 egg yolk + 1 egg white
1 tablespoon milk
*Notes: I used butter instead of shortening/lard because that's all I had on hand.
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Beef filling
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200g cooked ground beef
Pinch of salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, whatever you feel like seasoning your beef
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup diced onion
*Notes: You can optionally add some ginger, diced celery, cabbage, capsicum. I didn't have any of that stuff but I guess it would make it yummier. Also, don't be too generous on the beef. I estimated about 300g raw beef but after assembling it all together, I found there was TOO much meat. I also used extra lean ground beef, but you can use whatever you'd like. Fattier beef makes for a yummier end product :P
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Putting it all together
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You're going to want to make the beef filling first. Add the oil to a heated pan and cook the ground beef, breaking up the pieces as best as you can. Cook the onions (and ginger if you're using it), and throw in the beef. Add the spices, and cook for about 5 minutes. Try not to dry out the meat as it'll be sitting in an oven for some time. It probably wouldn't hurt to undercook it a bit. Once it's mostly cooked, transfer it to a bowl and set aside.
Now sift together the flour and the salt. Mix together with the butter (I melted it in the microwave straight from the fridge - don't make it too hot tho). Add the water in and start to knead together into a dough. Once it's a nice ball of dough, let it sit for about 15min
*fast forward 15min*
Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle-ish shape. I got no idea how big but the recipe said to smush it out so it's about 3-5mm thick. I just kind of guestimated.
Cut the dough into three progressively bigger rectangles. Roll the first rectangle along its length (rolling like it like it's a sheet of wrapping paper). Place this first roll at the bottom of the next larger rectangle (kind of like joining them) and continuing rolling so that the first roll is enclosed in the second one. Now do the same with the third. Tuck the ends of the roll inside and press firmly. At this point you're supposed to refrigerate for 2hours but I totally missed that step while making it (oooopsie) so I just stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
Here is a very helpful picture from the original posting:
*fast forward 10min*
Take the dough out from the fridge (or freezer), and roll it out into a 15x6 inch rectangle (personally, I just rolled it out into a rectangle until it was thin enough). Spread the filling out lengthwise over the dough. Fold the left part of the dough over the filling, and spread some egg white over the edge before folding the right part of the dough on top (the egg white will help it stick together).
At this point, you should preheat the over to about 250F.
Bend into a "U" shape and move it to a baking sheet. THIS is where some blunders happened. My overestimation of meat meant that it was so bloody hard to bend it into a "U" shape (ended up being just a "bend" lol). That, and I probably didn't make the dough long enough to make it bend into a "U" shape. Oh, and you SHOULD use a cookie sheet instead of a lame aluminum foil baking sheet because the thing is DAMN heavy (you'll have to use hands to support the bottom or else byebye snack!).
Before transferring to the oven, mix the egg yolk and the milk together to make egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the top of the pastry so that it will give it a nice brown top and will help prevent it from burning. Take a sharp knife and make cuts into the pastry that are around 1-1.5inches apart.
Originally, I baked this blob for about 40min at 200F. BUT, I did notice that after 40min, it didn't look like it was really browning, so I jacked up the heat to 450F and let it cook for another 10min and it became a nice brown. Next time I will probably bake it for 30min at 250F and see how brown the top gets and crank up the heat to give it a nice brown top for a few minutes.
And here is how mine turned out:
I know, I know, it doesn't look nearly as nice as the original posting. But it was hella good. And I'd totally make it again.
Enjoy!
