pork and black bean chili
We took the kids camping last week. It was mostly ridiculously fun, but it was also chilly and a bit damp. It took me all of about five minutes after getting home to start working on some chili to warm me back up. This is my basic chili recipe – I make it so often that I’m pretty confident that I could do it in my sleep. I had some pork in the freezer that we needed to eat – we buy a pig from a local farmer a few times a year, so I’m always subbing pork in for beef. While I was out in the freezer, I also grabbed a big container of black beans and a jar of stock that were waiting for just such an occasion. Freezing these kind of staples ahead of time makes it easy to throw together a real food meal in no time (see those links for directions and tips). I also had some tomatoes from camping that were a little smashed, so I used this is an excuse to use them up.
Nothing says the start to cooler weather like chili, so make some of this soon!
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/2 cayenne pepper
- 2 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp oregano
- 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2-3 sweet peppers, diced
- 2-4 hot peppers (I used jalapenos, but use whatever you want depending on how spicy you want it)
- 4 cloves garlic, smashed
- 6-8 small-medium tomatoes
- 4 cups black beans , cooked
- 4 cups stock
- Salt to taste (you're not using any canned ingredients, so you may need a bit more salt than you think)
Instructions
- Break up the meat in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the spices and mix them into the meat. Add the diced onion and garlic. Depending on how fatty your meat is, you may need to add a little fat (I prefer lard, but olive oil would work). This is a bit like making sausage with your ground pork since the spices will have the chance to really set in with the meat.
- While the meat is browning, throw all but two of the tomatoes into a blender. Puree them until they are thoroughly pureed.
- Dice the remaining two tomatoes.
- Add the diced peppers (hot and sweet) to the meat mixture. Cook for another 4-5 minutes or until the peppers are softened up.
- Add the stock, the tomato puree from the blender, and the diced tomatoes.
- Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer for at least 10-15 minutes. It tastes better if you can let it simmer for for 45 minutes or longer and tastes even better the next day.
- We serve ours with some salsa verde on top when we have it, along with some sharp cheddar and sour cream or Greek yogurt.
Notes
A sarabytheseason original.
