Romy Kaye Killer Chili

Posted on October 2, 2012October 8, 2012 by Varg

My wife’s Chili recipe up in here, up in HERE…

Ingredients:
· 3-4 Spanish onions, peeled and finely chopped (about 3 cups)
· 1 bunch of cilantro, coarsely chopped, stems included
· entire head of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
· 2 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, de-seeded and minced
· 1 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped medium
· 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
· 2 lbs. pinto beans, rinsed, picked over, soaked overnight and drained
· Large can of whole tomatoes and their juice
· Small can tomato paste
· 2 lbs. ground chuck
· 2-3 bay leaves
· 1 TBSP dried oregano
· 3 TBSP chili powder
· 2 TBSP ground cumin
· 1 TBSP kosher salt
· 1 ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
· Pinch of ground cinnamon
· Pinch of ground cloves
· 1 oz. (about two 1” squares) dark chocolate
· 1 tsp. ground coffee
· ¼ cup corn meal

Garnishes:
· Sour cream
· Grated cheddar cheese
· Tortilla chips
· chopped scallions
· chopped cilantro
· chopped tomatoes
· pico de gallo or hot sauce

Add the beans to a large, heavy bottomed pot with enough water to cover by 3”. Adde bay leaves. Bring to a boil, cover, then turn flame down to medium and cook until tender. May be done ahead of time. Reserve cooking liquid.
Place a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat. Add ground beef, breaking it apart with wooden spoon, cook until meat starts to brown.

Drain all but 2-3 TBSP of fat from pan and add onions. Cook until they soften. Add garlic, peppers, tomato paste, spices, coffee, salt and pepper. Continue cooking until tomato paste starts to brown a bit. Add whole tomatoes and their liquid, break apart with hands or spoon. Stir.

Add chocolate and stir until dissolved. Add beans and their cooking liquid. Give a big stir to combine, give a big stir and let simmer for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.

Add corn meal and stir well. If it’s too watery, let simmer for several minutes uncovered until thick and hearty. Remove from heat, check for seasoning. Add more salt, if needed and let stand, covered, for 20 minutes before serving. Better if cooled, refrigerated, reheated and served the next day. Serve with garnishes on the side and enjoy.

1 thought on “Romy Kaye Killer Chili”

Romy Kaye says:

October 23, 2012 at 5:49 pm

NICE!!!

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Rejoice!

I say that a lot. I sign many pieces with it. I do this because I believe our lives are a true happenstance. A brilliant occurence from nothingness. We are so rare. We are so unlikely. And simply being born isn’t enough. From there we must survive, endure. So each morning, after our Sun departs and is reborn again. Please, for the sake of your ancestors and the Universe in general, hoist that cup of joe up and say, “Rejoice.”

Ours is a soulful existence. No matter how many McMansions, polyester fabrics, auto-tunes, modified foods and social networks we surround ourselves with, we are all still native, passionate beings made of ancient matter. We are organic and we have soul.

Wood also has a warm, soulful quality. Wood has a memory. It retains smells, traumas, events. It even has a calendar. This is why I have chosen it as my medium, for its old soul. I like to think the wood in my work is in its third incarnation. First a tree, then a home and now art. If you have a room that needs a little soul, get a piece. A room can never have enough soul.

My inspiration and subject matter comes from many sources, among them: Humanism, old ballads, trickster tales, flora and fauna, science, myths and folklore, stringed instruments, brass bands, amber spirits, lady vocalists, general relativity and quantum mechanics. Some of my pieces are there just to make a short, simple statement about what’s important in life. Some are more diffuse and abstract in meaning. A personal drama, an enduring line from a poem or novel, a poignant song lyric, the legacy of an important person, a fleeting thought … these are the subjects of my art.

I use hearts often because they are a very abstract way of depicting the human soul without also employing the very subjective human form. The symbolic heart is an apt representation for a person’s experience and essence. A body can immediatly conjure happiness, sorrow, youth, age, anger, bliss. These emotions can get in the way. Sometimes it’s simply about the experience.

I am the son of a sailor and a social worker, the grandson of a gypsy, a dancer and a nurse. I spent my youth moving from port city to port city, watching a lot of road go by and reading World Book Encyclopedia. After my parents settled down on the Gulf Coast, I was a miscreant youth, destroying cars and taking the wrongs things too seriously and the right things not serious enough. Eventually I began replacing my imagination with experience.

I will use any salvaged wood but prefer swamp cypress and longleaf heartwood pine.

I despise waste. Particularly the waste of organic matter. Trees are magnificent. They were here before we arrived and they’ll be around after we are gone. I’m making an effort to save as much wood as possible. Creating art is fun too. But beyond communicating with folks, but beyond making money ad providing for myself, beyond rescuing flooded parts, beyond reveling in the ethereal aroma of heartpine that hasn’t seen the light of day in 400 years, beyond all that, I am trying to make a simple comment on waste.