Recipe: Douglas' Christmas Chili

Friends recently asked for the recipe to my Christmas Chili that I make each year for our annual Cookie Party Open House. I have never really written down the recipe, as I tend to wing it each year. I have made it enough that I sort of "know" what goes in it. That said, since I typed it up for our friends, I figured I might as well share it with you, as well. The recipe scales up nicely. I regularly make 20 quarts for our party, as seen in the photo.

Douglas' Christmas Chili

2 Tbls Olive Oil
1 Large onion
4-5 cloves garlic
1 lb ground turkey
1 - 12oz package Jimmy Dean Pork Sausage

Finely chop onions and garlic (I use a food processor) then saute until lightly browned in the olive oil
Add turkey and sausage and brown until no sign of pink

Add 1/2 cup red/white wine

Cook until wine is absorbed

(Here is where it goes a bit by look and feel. Add more sauce and beans if you want to make more chili and then adjust the spices accordingly)

Add 5-6 14oz cans of your favorite plain tomato sauce. I get Hunts from Costco, which we always keep around the house.

Add 4-5 cans of black beans

Spoon up the meat, sauce and beans mixture and look at the ratio between the 3. You want to get a good mixture of all three in each spoonful.

If needed, add more black beans

Add splash of vinegar (under a tsp, probably. I have used everything from apple cider to balsamic, It just adds a little "tang" to the final taste.

Spices:
(again, taste this as you add the spices until you get taste you like)

5-6 Tbls Chili powder (not mexican chili powder, but the traditional one with cumin, etc included)
2 Tbls Dried Basil
3 Tbls Oregano
PInch Red pepper flakes
Small pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp Black pepper

Bring pot up to boil and then turn down to low simmer

Typically, it will cook down by about 1/3. The longer you simmer it, the better it tastes. It also tastes better the second day when you reheat it. (SMILE)

I serve this with extra sharp cheddar cheese. Some people like chopped onions on it.

I usually eat this by itself the first day, then have it over some sort of pasta the next and then chili dogs after that. It freezes well so make as much as you want and then store it away in meal-sized containers for a quick dinners.

Food: Eggnog Cake

I noticed we had almost a half gallon of eggnog left in the fridge yesterday and knew it was probably going to go bad before we drank it. So, I looked into the Bakespace recipe vault and came up with this EggNog Cake recipe.

It was very easy to put together, and I think it looks wonderful baked in our "Cathedral" bundt pan. It smells wonderful, too. We haven't tasted it yet, but I am pretty sure it will taste wonderful, too. Can I say wonderful enough? (SMILE)

Eggnog Cake (Recipe at Bakespace.com)

Video: Making the Christmas Lasagna

My wife is of Sicilian descent, so every year instead of turkey, ham or goose, we make our traditional Christmas Lasagna. Over the years we have taken a fairly plain recipe and dressed it up more and more, while still keeping it fairly traditional.

While my wife, Rosanne, puts the lasagna together, I contribute in 2 large ways. First, I make a big batch of my red sauce, which we use in everything from spaghetti to pizza and I also make homemade pasta sheets. I learned how to make pasta at home several years ago and this has become yet another Christmas Eve tradition for us.

In this video (15 mins) you'll see us making the pasta and assembling the lasagna itself. Enjoy!

Making the Christmas Lasagna - iPod Ready Video

Rosanne Makes Parsnip Muffins

Rosanne Makes Parsnip Muffins
Originally uploaded by dewelch

After 23 years together, I see that my baking and my geekdom have had some influence on Rosanne. Here she is mixing up a bowl of parsnip muffins, of all things. She saw them on Alton Brown's Good Eats and decided to give them a try in a desperate attempt to get some vegetables into my and, in a less severe case, the boy's diet.

On the geek side, I was amazed to see her with her Macbook on the counter instead of a printed recipe. Now, if I could just convince her to turn on the live video stream, her geek apprenticeship would be complete. (SMILE)

Sausage Risotto and asparagus

Even with the heat (currently 95 F) we decided to make one of our favorites, Sausage risotto, from the Cucina Rustica cookbook. Rosanne is making some grilled asparagus on the side for her. Much in the same we had to
ignore the rain in Ohio, here in LA you just have to ignore the heat and make what you want. Of course, a summer kitchen would help, too.

Risotto gets a bad rap for being difficult and time consuming, but it is really fairy easy to make.

Rosanne made the homemade chicken stock for the recipe and I was able to use the leftovers of my latest batch of red sauce, which I make every couple of weeks. It is a required pantry item when you have a Sicilian in the house, you know.

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Elsewhere Online: 50 Awesome Crockpot Recipes to Keep You Warm (and Full!)

I am always on teh lookout fo rnew recipes and a little time with StumbleUpon introduced me to this blog post. As Winter approaches, crock pot recipes for hearty foods become even more attractive. Of course, Summer is a great time to use your crockpot, too, since it doesn't heat up the house.

50 Awesome Crockpot Recipes to Keep You Warm (and Full!)
by Maricar on September 17th, 2007

Hot-CiderWith the fall season comes cool weather, school (homework, games, music lessons, carpooling, etc.), thoughts about the holidays, and football. With all the things that are going on, I have even less time to slave away at the kitchen stove to prepare the family meal. But not to worry. Crockpots to the rescue!

(Continues)

(Via Keeping the Castle.)

Foodie Q&A with Chef Joanna from BarCampLA-3

Chef Joanna gives a great presentation about Foodie Issues, including cooking pans, utensils, knives and more.

You can find more information on Chef Joanna at http://chefjoanna.com

Listen to Foodie Q&A with Chef Joanna

Technorati Tags: california, make, DIY, howto, how-to, podcast, tutorial, events, losangeles, presentations, learning, education, food, cooking

Elsewhere Online: Leonardo Romanelli's Pasta e Ceci: An Illustrated Recipe

I am always on the lookout for new recipes, especially for Italian food, since Rosanne is Siciliano. (SMILE) I love Italian food, too though, and soups especially so this recipes for Pasta and Ceci (Chickpea) Soup fits the bill nicely.

Even more, this recipe is illustrated, so you can easily follow along and make it yourself.

Leonardo Romanelli's Pasta e Ceci: An Illustrated Recipe

There are many variations on pasta e ceci, pasta and chickpea soup, and Leonardo's is both easy and quick, once you have the cooked chickpeas. In other words, it's a...

(Via Italian Cuisine.)

Technorati Tags: howto, how-to, food, italian, winter, sicily, Italy, soup, recipe, recipes, cook