Chili and Cornbread

Dear Teresa,
Yes, after 40 years your chili recipe is still the best! I wonder if you still make it. I remember it came from a book of recipes for diabetics. You were interested in good nutrition way before the rest of us. I made it Sunday and shared some with a neighbor whose husband always did the cooking. When he died she was reduced to take-out every day. She really appreciated your chili. So did we!

Teresa's Chili

2 pounds lean round steak (I often use less -- Sunday it was a pound of London broil. I've used hamburger too, and then it's very quick.
4 C. sliced onions
4 cloves garlic, smashed
2 T. bacon bits (I use about 1/8 pound real bacon.)
4 T. chili powder
1 T. flour
1 can tomato juice (I use tomato sauce and water usually.)
1 large can tomatoes
3 bay leaves
1 t. salt
1 T. dried oregano
1 T. wine vinegar
2 t. light corn syrup (I use honey.)
2 C. red kidney beans (I usually use dried beans and cook them ahead of time, but this time I used organic canned beans, and they are good.)

Cut the meat into cubes, removing fat. Brown meat in an iron skillet. Remove and set aside. Fry the bacon, if using it. Remove when crisp and then sauté the onions until slightly brown and clear. Mix the chili powder with flour in a small bowl, and add enough tomato juice to make a paste. (If using tomato paste, add a little and then some water.) Add it to the onions. Put this in a large pan with a lid. Add meat and the can of tomatoes and remaining juice or tomato sauce. If using sauce, add some water. I added somewhere between one and two cups. Simmer 1/2 hour.

Add the rest of the ingredients, except beans.  Cover and simmer 2 hours. Add the kidney beans 15 minutes before serving.

We warm the beans and serve them on the side.

This is great with cornbread, and this is the easiest recipe I know.

Cornbread

Melt 3 T. butter in a 10" skillet in a 500° oven (yes, that hot!).
Mix together
1 C. cornmeal
1/2 C. flour
1/2 teaspoon each: salt, soda, baking powder
1/2 T. sugar

Add
one egg
1 C. buttermilk

Pour into hot iron skillet. (I tried my expensive other skillet, and it turned out badly.)  Swirl it around so the butter gets mixed in, but not completely. Bake until firm, about 10 minutes.

This makes a kind of dry cornbread, so we like to add a small can of corn to the batter.

Lentil salad and apple crisp

Lentils cooling

I've been trying to NOT cook on Sundays. A former neighbor, Geula, kept a Saturday Sabbath. "You should try it, Kathleen," she said, promising I'd love a day without thinking about food. Geula would make chicken salad Friday night, if I remember correctly, and in that spirit we've had tuna salad sandwiches on the last two Sundays. I made the salad and -- in one case -- chocolate chip cookies Saturday night, The week before, we were going to have cold shrimp, but it looked wan, so at the last minute I sautéed it lightly with sugar and salt. Last night I forgot, and I'm tired of tuna anyway. So I'm cooking again: we'll grill grouper sandwiches, and this morning I made a lentil salad and apple crisp. I did mix the topping last night, but today I peeled and sliced green apples. Geula was right: not cooking is easier, but you've got to think ahead.

Crumble topping for apple crisp

Mix in food processor:
1/3 C. light brown sugar
3/4 C. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. (or more) cinnamon
6 T. butter

When it's in little pieces that stick together, whirl in quickly:
1/4 C. (I use more) chopped walnuts
1/4 C. oatmeal

Slice enough apples for an 8" square pan. Cover with the topping. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes or until fruit is soft and top is lightly browned.
*Also good with a mixture of apples and cranberries, or with plums or berries.

Here are recipes for several good salads, including Alice Waters's Goat Cheese And Lentil Salad. I went easy on the garlic, and serve the cheese on the side because Clark doesn't like it. The ugly lentils in the picture above are from the step where they are cooled on a cookie sheet. I could have stopped right here; even minus the dressing, they are delicious. This would be good to make on Saturday night, if I could only get myself organized.