Yesterday Kim and I did a bunch of grocery shopping at the St. Lawrence market in preparation for various food-makings.
For supper last night I made delicious delicious chili which we paired with yummy sourdough bread. I was intending to post the recipe but I realized that I don't really have a solid recipe and I generally make it up as I go. So I've decided to write a vague description of the steps and ingredients.
First, brown a bunch of lean or extra lean ground beef. I used somewhere between 1.5 and 2 pounds last night. Next chop up some sirloin steak and pork chops into cubes. Try to get a bit more of this "real" meat than of the ground beef. Now get a big pot. A really big pot. I had to buy a bigger one just for chili. Heat some oil in the bottom of the pot and then fry a big chopped up onion with a bunch of fresh minced garlic in the oil. Add the meats and sear them for a while before throwing in a couple chopped up peppers and a bunch of chopped celery. Mix this all up and let it cook for a few minutes. Then add a big can of diced tomatoes, a smaller can of tomato sauce (just the cheap stuff) and a can of tomato paste. Finally add the beans (with liquid; if it doesn't thicken up after an hour or two of simmering you can always add flour or cornstarch to fix it). One can of pinto beans, one of white kidney beans and one of red kidney beans. Mix this all up and then add the spices. There are a lot of spices, so it's better to prepare them in advance. I use 4 parts beef stock, 2 parts oregano, 1 part flour, 2 parts cumin, 1-2 parts paprika, 6-8 parts chili powder, 1 part cayenne powder, 1 part cinnamon and 1 part ground coriander (last night 1 part equaled a half tablespoon). Go easier on the cayenne, paprika and chili powder if you're concerned about spiciness. Although the chili powder is the stuff that gives it that "chili" taste so I don't like being stingy with it. Mix everything up, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer for 1.5-2 hours. Taste it as it cooks and adjust the spiciness if necessary by adding chili powder or cayenne to make it more spicy or sugar to make it less spicy. Serve with delicious fresh bread and grated cheese. You can also add a dollop of sour cream if it's too spicy, the fats take the edge off.
We also bought food yesterday to make Beef and Broccoli sometime this week.
Today we walked through the rain to "Goed Eten" in Kensington Market to get a waffle. Matt recommended the place a while back but we didn't have a chance to try it out until today. The waffle was very tasty indeed. It came with fresh fruit, fresh homemade ice cream, and real whipped cream. I took a before and after photo using my new lens for my camera. It's a 50mm f1.8 fixed length lens and I quite like it. It's fast and sharp and fun to use. Anyway here are the photos:
