Blue Ribbon Chili

Hope you had a nice time watching the Super Bowl last week.  How rockin' is Madonna?  I was impressed.  At our office park at Children's last week, there was a Chili Cook-Off.  Employees were invited to bring their crock pot full of chili to the tasting room where our executives tasted and judged each entry.  I decided to enter the contest with a brand-new recipe.  I'm so excited to tell you all about it!  Giada is my favorite Food Network chef.  She's adorable, relatable, and her recipes are not too labor intensive - and they are always delicious.  I went to the Food Network website and did a search for "Giada Chili", and up popped her Short Rib Chili.  I read through it and it looked manageable, so I went for it.  Ohhh hhoooo oohhhh, let me tell you that I really came across a gem of a recipe with this one. 

I arrived at work on the Friday morning before the Super Bowl and set up both my crock pot full of Short Rib Chili next and my bowl of Creamy Polenta and toppings (bacon bits, chopped green onions, sour cream and lime wedges).  I didn't think I would win the competition because there were some really good looking chilies present.  But I thought my chili was pretty darn good - very different from a traditional chili so I guess you could say that I had "high hopes." 

The executives judged the chilies - this took about 45 minutes.  Afterwards, all contestants were called into the big room where the party was taking place and then came the announcement.... Third place went to so and so... Second place went to so and so... First place goes to.... (drum roll, please) "Christa Davis!"  I know it's just chili, but I was soo excited!  Wooo hooo!!!  I think I was so excited because I really enjoy cooking, but having a couple of picky family members results in no one getting all that excited about what I cook.  So, to have won the chili cook-off (out of 8,000 employees!  Okay, Okay - only 9 entered, but still!!), well, it was thrilling for me!  The judges said they were fighting for the last bits of the winning chili  - my crock pot was empty when I went into the room to retrieve it.

It was really not that labor intensive - some chopping and pureeing on the front end -and then it cooks for 2 1/2 -3 hours before you have to debone and shred the meat.  I would absolutely make it again and again.  I only do recipes again if they meet 2 criteria - they must not be too labor intensive AND they MUST be delicious.  For example, I made some enchiladas a couple of months ago (a recipe I got from Pinterest), and I took pictures throughout the whole process thinking I would blog about it.  Let me just say that it took 3 HOURS hands on - chopping, food processing, rolling, mixing, etc. - I was exhausted when I was done and while the enchiladas were good, they weren't THAT good.  I felt like I could get the same result in 1/4 the time, so that recipe got chunked. 

For the chili, I retrieved the some of the interesting ingredients for the recipe:

I browned the beef short ribs (seasoned with salt and pepper) on all sides in a little olive oil and then I set them aside.

Then, I cooked my chopped red onion and garlic. 

While that was cooking, I cooked a couple of chipolte peppers (in sauce) in water on the stove.  Then I pureed that mixture in my little blender which resulted in a chipolte "stock."



I then added all of the other ingredients and put the short ribs into the pot to cook for 2 1/2 hours.

After the 2 1/2 hours, I took the short ribs out, took the meat off the bone and shredded it.  Then I added the shredded beef to the pot as well as the black beans.  Then I let it cool and several hours later, I skimmed the fat off the top (the meat produces a lot of liquid fat which, when cold, turns into a lovely layer of solid fat on the top) - ew - gotta get ride of this, folks.

I urge you to try Giada's Short Rib Chili.  Click here for the recipe.  My tweaks are below:

• Instead of New Mexican Chiles and Ancho Chiles, I used 2 chipolte peppers (in sauce) instead.  I added them and cooked them in the water and then pureed the mixture.
• Instead of Dark Agave, I used 1 TBS molasses and 1 TBS Light Agave.
• The recipe says to sprinkle some shaved dark chocolate on top - I forgot about this completely - so I'd be curious to know what it does to the taste!  I bet it's pretty good!

Matt loved it.  I served it with sour cream, chopped green onions and bacon bits.  I also made Giada's Creamy Polenta (recipe is found with the Short Rib Chili recipe), and this soaked up all the juices from the chili - it was just all around DELICIOUS!  Because I went home with an empty crock-pot, I ended up making more for the Super Bowl. 

Now that Winter has finally come to town, go for it and make this chili!  It was delicious!!