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Serving Up a Bowl of Hub Luv Chili
Today I'm cooking up a little "Hub Luv" chili in honor of fellow hubber Jenubouka. If you don't know her, you must go immediately to her profile page and follow her. In addition to being an awesome hubber and food writer, Jenubouka has worked as a professional chef and has been generous enough to post some of her amazing recipes here.
Jenubouka's recent Hub, Great Beef Recipes For The Frugal Family | How To Cook Cheap Cuts Of Beef, caught my eye. This Hub-of-the-Day-worthy entry provided excellent advice to families seeking more economical choices of meat at the butcher's counter. It included detailed information on cheap cuts of beef, advice on the best way to prepare them, and a couple of recipes to boot. As soon as I read the recipe for Braised Short Ribs, I knew I had to make it. In fact, my comment to the Hub was, "I'm sure I will be making this very soon."
That was Thursday. By Friday, I was at the grocery store hunting down beef short ribs, unsuccessfully, as it turns out. The butcher pointed me to something called "Country Style Ribs," which did not have bones. Jenubouka later explained that the cut comes from the same region of the animal, although without the bones the sauce would be less gelatinous. Bone or no bones, I grabbed a package of ribs and headed back to the kitchen to start cooking.
As Jenubouka cautions in her Hub, the best way to cook cheap beef cuts is low and slow. That means you will need to consider the time when making the recipe. In my case, I had the luxury of time because my husband was out of town on business, getting back late, and I wanted to surprise him with a fabulous dinner when he got home.
And the dinner was fabulous. The ribs were cooked to perfection. But what really made the meal was the sauce. The recipe calls for ground cinnamon and chocolate, which I had never used before in a beef recipe, but I found added layers of flavor that aren't even recognizable as cinnamon and chocolate.
Since I was cooking for two, I was left with a lot of sauce, despite my best efforts to consume as much as I could on the mashed potatoes I served on the side. Not wanting to see any of that savory goodness go to waste (and in the spirit of Jenubouka's frugal living theme), I decided to repurpose it in some way. My mind went immediately to chili. I know chili's been done with chocolate before, although I've never made it that way. So I decided to give it a try. And now I have a new killer chili recipe, thanks to Jenubouka. And to spread around the Hub Luv, I'm sharing it with all of you.
Beef Chili with Jenubouka's Chocolate Sauce
Ingredients:
1/2 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
4 cloves roasted garlic, minced (I happened to have some leftover roasted garlic that I used; substitute 2 cloves fresh garlic)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can pinto beans, drained
2 cups Jenubouka's chocolate sauce (see link above for recipe)
Preparation:
Brown ground beef in large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add onion, celery, green pepper, jalapeno pepper, and garlic. Cook until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper and stir for one minute. Add tomatoes with juices, beans, and chocolate sauce. Simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow flavors to meld.
Top with grated Colby-jack cheese (optional) and serve with corn bread.
Makes 4 servings.
Additional Reading
Learn how to repurpose a culinary disaster into a delicious meal with When Bad Things Happen to Good Cooks: How to Fix a Bad Dish.
Comments
I've never heard of putting chocolate in chili before, but I bet it's delicious. How could anything no be better with chocolate added? Pinned.
jenubouka's chocolate sauce sounds like it was inspired by mole, what of my favorite flavor cominations. It does make a complex and delicious chili. Our weather is just now starting to get cold so I'm sure we'll be in the mood for chili soon. Thanks!
This is a great recipe, and I love that you turned leftovers from another Hubber's recipe into another meal! I'm definitely going to try this sometime in the next few weeks.
It is too bad that Jenubouka is no longer on here, though. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Chili and chocolate sauce?! ? It just might work. Thanks, I will check out
Jenubouka, too. i could use a good chef in my life!
Hi Deborah,
So glad that I ran across this recipe of yours using the sauce from another recipe. Will have to check out that short ribs recipe. My mother used to made delicious short ribs...and they are not always the easiest to find from the butcher as you found out. The cinnamon and chocolate sauce sounds interesting. Will be some new flavors to try. Often I take bits of leftovers from one meal and repurpose them into another creation. LOTS of things end up in my homemade soups. Up, useful, interesting and will share.
Ok, this chili sounds amazing and not sure how I missed this one before Deborah. But have now, pinned to try this for my family (we love Chili) and have of course voted, shared, and tweeted too!! Also very lovely and warm tribute here and am now following Jenubouka too.
I can't imagine chilli in chocolate sauce, but I'd be willing to try it, I guess.
Chocolate sauce with chili sounds very interesting! I have tasted chocolate sauce at one occasion and I liked it very much. I also like real chocolate with chili so I think this sounds like a perfect combination. I wish that I could be as creative as you in the kitchen but I am glad you share this recipe!
Tina
Interesting...chocolate sauce in Chili. I can't do it. I trust you, but I can't. I'm not that daring :)
I did as you advised and am now following Jenubouka, reading her hubs now, ta!
Debs, I am just getting back into chilli and I usually cheat and use a packet of seasoning but I would be happy to give this a try next time. I am intrigued by chocolate sauce with chilli, I bet it's yummy!
Voted up n shared!
This looks and sounds delicious! Might I add that, maybe, you can also add balsamic-roasted tomatoes to add another kick to the flavor? Sorry, I just absolutely love balsamic!
-KD
Much gratitude and appreciation for the awesome mention deb! But your chili idea is by far the real star here. As a professional culinary brat, I love, love to see a recipe transform into another mind's creation as you so brilliantly executed here.
This made my day! To see a fellow foodie as yourself, develop another dish, from another cuisine hallmarks the spark of the latest food trend.
So hat's off to you for setting a new food trend of 2012!
You are killing me, Deborah! I bookmarked Jenubouka's beef recipes and was inspired to make some beef chicana from my past in the pool. Which I have on the stove today. Soooooo, I'm bookmarking this, too. Why don't you make it easier for all of us fans and write a cookbook with tales of your cooking and hostessing adventures? Dynamite!!! Voted up and everything else (of course).
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