Now, I know it’s a rarity around here to cook a chili that’s not in the Crock-Pot, but tonight we did just that (though not to worry, a Crock-Pot creation is coming near the end of the week!). Truth be told, I’ve had the ingredients for Robin Robertson’s Beer Chaser Chili, fresh out of her One-Dish Vegan cookbook, available for a couple of weeks and haven’t done a thing with them. Tonight, that was going to change!
Once I got home from work, I pulled out my trusty workhorse Le Creuset and diced up half of a huge onion from Mr. Lopez’s farm stand, then pulled both a green bell pepper and a jalapeno from the back yard and added them into the French oven as well with a bit of oil. After the veggies were translucent, I added in some spices (Mrs. Robertson has a book to sell, so I won’t get into all the whys and wherefores), two cans of pinto beans, some crushed tomatoes, some veggie “beef,” and a bottle of Dixie Blackened Voodoo (a favorite around here). Then I set the chili to boil, turned the heat to Low, and covered it to cook for more than half an hour.
Within the last 20 minutes of cooking time, I put a pan of tater tots in the oven to bake. “Chili Taters” is a perennial favorite dish of ours from our local chili joint, Hard Times Café, and tonight inspiration struck to try it at home for the first time. Why, pray tell, haven’t we done this for years? The blend of starchy potatoes and chewy protein is a wonderful marriage indeed.
And that marriage lasted throughout this meal, that’s for sure! First of all, we loved the flavor of this chili – it’s the first time I’ve made this particular variation before – and secondarily we loved the merger between the tater tots and the chili itself. As per usual, I put my tater tots on the bottom of the bowl and topped them with the chili (as Hard Times does); LeeLee put his chili on the bottom and topped it off with the tots. It takes all kinds, doesn’t it?
At any rate, we’ve got a ton of chili left over for tomorrow’s lunch, which is always a beautiful thing. Time to bust out the Thermos and get to work!
:)