Beanless Chili and Cornbread Recipe

The Super Bowl is a uniquely American celebration, more a national holiday than a sporting event. Like any holiday, this one has a traditional spread, and chili is considered the turkey of Super Bowl Sunday.  Likewise, I consider Pale Ale to be its egg nog, though infinitely more quaffable. Bring the heat with the chili, wash it away with the Pale, and repeat. It's slightly higher than usual alcohol content will ready your mouth for another spoonful of red hot magma, while that extra hop kick keeps the flavor drive moving. This Super Bowl is taking place right in Mr Beer's backyard, just over the mountains, so I've chosen our Santa Catalina Pale Alerecipe to raise this chili to new heights. If chili is a rambling flavor drive down the field of complexity, then the bright finish of our desert thirst quencher is it's touchdown.  Over the mountains and through the cactus to the Lombardi trophy we go.

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. chuck steak or round steak
  • ½ lb. pork sausage
  • ¾ cup shallots
  • 1 white onion
  • 4 cups beef broth
  • 12oz Pale Ale
  • 4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
  • 1 6oz can tomato paste
  • 1 green chili pepper, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, chopped
  • 3 jalapeno peppers, minced
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 ½ T chili powder
  • 1 ½ tsp cumin
  • ½ tsp fresh thyme
  • 1T brown sugar
  • 2 T flour
  • Kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste
  • 1 T 60/40 canola/olive oil blend

Directions

  1. Chop and mince all of the veggies. Pre-heat oiled large cast iron skillet.  Salt and pepper flour to taste.  Dice steak into ¾ inch cubes, pat dry with paper towel.  Heat sausage in skillet until slightly under-done.  Remove pork and set aside leaving oil in the pan with the heat on low.  Dredge steak in seasoned flour in small batches, coating all sides.   Increase heat on oil.  When oil begins to smoke slightly, add steak in batches.  Sear steak, rotating cubes to brown all sides.  Steak should remain very rare on the inside.  Remove from heat and set aside.
  2. In a large, preheated, and oiled pot, add onion and shallots, stir until translucent.  Add garlic, stir and add peppers and fresh tomatoes.  Sautee for 2 minutes on High, stirring.  Add beer.  Simmer for one minute, then add remaining ingredients.  Simmer for one hour.  Serve hot with garnish.
  3. Add ghost chili hot sauce for additional heat. Serve with cornbread.

Add ghost chili hot sauce for additional heat. Serve with cornbread.