Busy work and life has distracted me from writing here! I hope I am back in it now, just because I was away from the blog doesn't mean I have been away from cooking. Unfortunately all of the cooking for spring just hasn't happened for me yet because Mother Nature has not cooperated. I actually made not only a batch of delicious chili but biscuit bread pudding. I am hoping this is the last of that!
I have made this version of chili a number of times, but I have to say this was my favorite one. As I might have mentioned before, I don't do ground meat. I also am not a fan of beans. However, I have always loved the idea of the flavors of chili. So I made beanless pot roast chili! I first seared the seasoned pot roast (salt and pepper and cumin) in a very hot dutch oven. After the pot roast has a good brown crust take it out and add in thinly sliced onions. As the onions cook they pull up the delicious brown goodness left in the bottom of the pan. Then I put it all in the slow cooker. I add 2 cans of light sparkling beer. (like the champagne of beers, Miller High Life). I also add a good handful of cumin and some beef stock. I let the beef cook for about 6-7 hours on low. After the meat is falling apart, take it out of the slow cooker, remove the fat and shred the meat. With th cooking liquid, drain off the fat and put the remaining liquid in a pan on the stove and start to reduce it. Then I add a can of fire roasted chilis, Ro-Tel tomatoes and the shredded meat. To the mixture, I add cayenne pepper, more cumin and some cinnamon. I took the cinnamon addition from a pot roast recipe I make that I got from "Big Daddy's House". It adds a warmth to the chili without the heat.
When I served it, I changed from the typical cheese/sour cream topping to creamy polenta mixed with cream and 4 cheese mexican mix. Instant polenta is amazing! I highly recommend it as an alternative to mash potatoes and this was so good as a fill in for corn bread. I also topped it with some diced avocado.
The other comfort warm food I made was a bread pudding that was inspired by Paula Deen. She made bread pudding using buttermilk biscuits. I used store bought biscuits and diced up about 4 of them and put them in a round baking dish. I then made a custard with 4 eggs, about 2 cups of half and half and then added diced up candied ginger, a good palmful of cinnamon, grated nutmeg, vanilla paste (I have a bourbon vanilla paste I got at the Golden Fig that is DELICIOUS)and white chocolate chips. I poured the custard over the biscuits and then put it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until it rises a little and the custard cooks together. While it was baking, I made a caramel glaze with butter, dark brown sugar and half and half. I added some bourbon in the mixture once it melted and let the alcohol cook out. The scary thing about caramel making is melting sugar. There is something about putting heat on sugar that turns it in to actual molten lava, but OH is it worth it. Make sure to let all the sugar and butter melt together otherwise the sugar stays a little grainy. Who am I kidding though, it still tastes good. I LOVE bread pudding, because of the warmth and cozy feeling it just oozes (sometimes literally), I typically make it with white bread and the biscuits added a great texture and creaminess.
I have made this version of chili a number of times, but I have to say this was my favorite one. As I might have mentioned before, I don't do ground meat. I also am not a fan of beans. However, I have always loved the idea of the flavors of chili. So I made beanless pot roast chili! I first seared the seasoned pot roast (salt and pepper and cumin) in a very hot dutch oven. After the pot roast has a good brown crust take it out and add in thinly sliced onions. As the onions cook they pull up the delicious brown goodness left in the bottom of the pan. Then I put it all in the slow cooker. I add 2 cans of light sparkling beer. (like the champagne of beers, Miller High Life). I also add a good handful of cumin and some beef stock. I let the beef cook for about 6-7 hours on low. After the meat is falling apart, take it out of the slow cooker, remove the fat and shred the meat. With th cooking liquid, drain off the fat and put the remaining liquid in a pan on the stove and start to reduce it. Then I add a can of fire roasted chilis, Ro-Tel tomatoes and the shredded meat. To the mixture, I add cayenne pepper, more cumin and some cinnamon. I took the cinnamon addition from a pot roast recipe I make that I got from "Big Daddy's House". It adds a warmth to the chili without the heat.
When I served it, I changed from the typical cheese/sour cream topping to creamy polenta mixed with cream and 4 cheese mexican mix. Instant polenta is amazing! I highly recommend it as an alternative to mash potatoes and this was so good as a fill in for corn bread. I also topped it with some diced avocado.
The other comfort warm food I made was a bread pudding that was inspired by Paula Deen. She made bread pudding using buttermilk biscuits. I used store bought biscuits and diced up about 4 of them and put them in a round baking dish. I then made a custard with 4 eggs, about 2 cups of half and half and then added diced up candied ginger, a good palmful of cinnamon, grated nutmeg, vanilla paste (I have a bourbon vanilla paste I got at the Golden Fig that is DELICIOUS)and white chocolate chips. I poured the custard over the biscuits and then put it in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes until it rises a little and the custard cooks together. While it was baking, I made a caramel glaze with butter, dark brown sugar and half and half. I added some bourbon in the mixture once it melted and let the alcohol cook out. The scary thing about caramel making is melting sugar. There is something about putting heat on sugar that turns it in to actual molten lava, but OH is it worth it. Make sure to let all the sugar and butter melt together otherwise the sugar stays a little grainy. Who am I kidding though, it still tastes good. I LOVE bread pudding, because of the warmth and cozy feeling it just oozes (sometimes literally), I typically make it with white bread and the biscuits added a great texture and creaminess.
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