Sunday, February 12, 2012

Bacon 12 Chili Pepper!



Bacon 12 Chili Pepper! I read about this on Class Factotum's site. The post where she takes Tupperware to a Chili Cook off to take home the leftovers. It's pretty usual for me to have 6 different pepper at all times - I am a pepper fanatic. (This is bringing back visions of old Dr. Pepper commercials. "I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?") I always have Red Bell, Poblano, and Jalapeno peppers. Usually I have Yellow, Orange, and Green Bells, too. So I got some Anaheim, Fresno (a totally wonderful small red pepper with a little heat and a wonderful flavor that is underutilized), Serreno and Wax peppers. That wiped out the pepper department of my local market. I think what made this Chili special, besides the Bacon, was that I was forced to improvise with Pickled Peppers. (No tongue twister jokes for me!) I added chopped Pickled Banana Peppers and Pepperoncini. I chopped them all and added an equal amount of chopped yellow onion and fried it all up in Olive Oil. I got something new to me - the local butcher called it Arkansas Bacon. I asked where they got it from, meaning what part of the animal - would it be leaner? And of course the butcher said "Arkansas" and laughed, but picked out 2 pounds of the leanest strips for me. Next time I make this, (and it is terrific, so there will be many more batches of it), I'll use at least 4 pounds. So now I've got all 12 chilies, onions, bacon, frying in oil, add 6 cloves of minced garlic, 3 cans of diced tomatoes, 2 small cans tomato sauce, 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried), 1/4 cup cumin, 1/8 cup ground New Mexico peppers (the New Mexico pepper is called a Hatch pepper and these are my absolute favorite pepper, but they are almost never available fresh and even when they are available, they are not widely distributed), and salt and black pepper to taste. Boil this until you are ready to eat. Remember that hot peppers get hotter the longer you boil them. (At least that's what I believe.) I am a Pinto Bean lover, so I add 1 pound (dried weight) of them that I've soaked and cooked, but it's just as good without - and more authentically Chili.

7 comments:

  1. The local garden center near our home gets Hatch chili's every year and roasts them. You can then buy them and they are fantastic!

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  2. I think of chili as being one of those frugal recipes, you know with beans and ground beef and onions all being fairly cheap. However, bell peppers are pretty expensive here (they come from Spain) and I can't say I've ever seen (nor would I recognise) different varieties of hot peppers. People do sometimes grow them in greenhouses here, I think. I must admit I was in my 30's before I learned to like spicy foods. There aren't any great Mexican restaurants around here, so I 'settle' for Indian food. I will have to start looking around for chilis as one of my very favourite dishes is chili rellenos (but then I was here 10 years before I could ever find Monterey Jack cheese - my favourite - over here, and even now it's rare). I should start an import business!

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  3. Hi Debbi! Yum! The thought of freshly roasted Hatch chilies makes my mouth water. Wichita is part of my husband's territory, so when Hatch season begins, I'll drive up with him and fill the car. Thanks!
    I keep looking for you wearing the new Kate Spade bangles. I love the ones with the diagonal stripes and figured you'd get them to go with those great RicRac ones of yours. And the ones with the bubbles are pretty cute too. I liked how you talked about the river in Wichita and how towns get divided like that. So true.

    Hi Shelley! I love Chili Rellenos and make them with Poblanos, which are darker green and a tiny bit spicier than the ones most recipes use. Your idea importing Monterey Jack cheese is genius. I even use it in Lasagne. Here I was a little envious of you getting to live in England, and now I find out that not only is Jack cheese difficult to find, but bell peppers are expensive! That is pretty sad. When I was in Seattle, we got cheap hot house peppers from Canada, and now in Tulsa, they are even cheaper and grown right around here. So I have been spoiled by very fresh peppers all of my cooking life.

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  4. I want to come for chili! I've had the Arkansas bacon; we call it hillbilly bacon and I think it is a lot like Canadian bacon.

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  5. Hey Terri - If you're ever in Tulsa I've got lots in the freezer! I think Arkansas Bacon is what the Candians would make if they understood that bacon is not ham and real bacon should make its own fat when you fry it up in the pan.

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  6. Well then, Brits don't understand bacon either - it looks the same but it produced water in fried, not grease and it never gets crispy. I'm getting homesick again!!

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  7. Bacon that doesn't get cripy? That's just wrong on so many levels! I feel like running out and getting you some bacon and mailing it to you. (I wonder if that's even possible?)

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