Welcome to yet another iteration in our quest for the perfect chili.

One of our favorite local restaurants, Beezy’s, serves an amazing Pinto Poblano soup; it combines the best aspects of chili, black bean soup, and refried beans–with zang! The poblano features heavily in a lot of their scrambles as well. I was familiar with the poblano in its dried (ancho) form, but had never really paid this superlative pepper much heed. So I got to thinking: Why not switch things up a little and use roasted poblanos in my usual chili? And while I’m at it, why not ditch the carrots and celery and use red and green bell peppers? With the poblanos in action, I was able to tone down the spices, relying more on the fresh peppers for zest. The poblanos, along with a dash of smoked chili powder and a splash of red wine, made this a much richer, smokier chili. Best served with cornbread made in your grandma’s skillet.

Roasted Poblano Chili

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1/2 large green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 1/2 large red bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 3 medium – large poblano peppers; roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 6 cups (1.5 large cans) cooked tomatoes, peeled
• 2 cups cooked red kidney beans (~3/4 cup dry)
• 2 cups cooked black beans (~3/4 cup dry)
• 1 cup cooked pinto beans (~1/4 cup dry)
• 2 – 3 cups liquid from beans and/or water
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp smoked chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/4 cup of red wine (we used a zinfandel [Paul Dolan is vegan])
• salt, to taste

If you’re using dried beans, start them first. They’ll be just about ready when you need them (if you’re pressure cooking them), as the poblanos will take a while too.

For the most part, this is a pretty easy recipe. It’s roasting the poblano’s that’s a bit tricky. Everyone has a different story about how this is best done. Some folks like roasting directly on an oven burner, some like cooking directly in a skillet, some like broiling in the oven, others like using a toaster oven. We have an electric stove, so the range (first) method was right out. And the toaster oven is just a smaller, more concentrated oven, right? So toaster oven it was. Pop the poblanos in on the toaster oven’s highest setting. When the tops start to bubble and turn black, flip them. Bake until both sides have bubbled up.

(Meanwhile, start the onions, red and green bell peppers, and garlic [in that order] cooking in a large pot over medium heat, in high heat oil of your choice.)

When they’re done, put them in a ziploc bag for 15 minutes. This allows them to sweat (which allegedly makes them less bitter and makes them easier to peel). For peeling and seeding, you want to wear latex gloves. These aren’t as bad as jalapenos or habaneros, but you still don’t want their juice in your eye. Unless you’re into that sort of thing, in which case you should invest in some Pukka Sauce ™ and be done with it. The skin should peel off pretty easily. The poblanos will be a bit soft, so you’ll want to be fairly careful. Once you’ve gotten the skin off, remove the seeds. You should be able to tear them open and just pull the seeds out. Now you’re ready to dice them up, which you should do.

Throw them in with the onions, peppers, and garlic.

Once the onions and pepper are soft, add in the herbs and spices, then the tomatoes. Next, add in the beans, along with 2 – 3 cups of bean liquid or water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for at least 30 minutes, ideally longer. Add in the wine if you’re using it and salt to taste.

Serve with cornbread.

Cornbread

We used this cornbread recipe. Secrets two, there are, spake thusly: (1) use your grandma’s cast-iron skillet to bake in, and (2) flip the pan upside down to dump out the cornbread cake, then flip it again so it’s right side up. Marvelous!

Perusing Chow Vegan, we stumbled on this post about chili fries. This seemed like just the thing on an unseasonably warm fall day.

Unlike Chow Vegan, we love beans, so we pressure-cooked some up and made our own chili. We followed the recipe for Spicy Baked Potato Chips, but cut the taters into fry shapes and left out the cayenne, since the chili had enough kick on its own.

We topped it with Follow Your Heart cheddar which, while helping to scratch the cheese part of the chili cheese fry itch, wasn’t ideal. Don’t get me wrong–these were awesome–we just don’t eat a lot of processed stuff and these types of cheeses always feel really processed to me. A homemade nacho cheese probably would have been a better choice, but we’ve been a little nooched out lately and most faux-cheese recipes are centered around the nooch.

Cheese aside, the awesome thing about these is that, though they felt like a total indulgence, they’re actually not bad for you. The fries (a bit of a misnomer here) are actually baked (using a high heat oil–safflower) and the chili was made from scratch with canned tomatoes, freshly cooked black beans, carrots and celery from our garden, and onions from a local farm. Once you get over the psychosomatic “I destroyed myself” feeling, you realize you actually feel pretty good after eating this. Huzzah!

You: loves chili, has a surplus of butternut squash from this year’s garden

This recipe: loves being eaten, smelled, is chili, contains butternut squash

Is it love?

Fall Harvest Chili

• 1 large butternut squash
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 6 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, gutted, and diced finely
• 1 – 2 green chilis (any variety–YOU pick the heat…it’s like a Choose Your Own Adventure for your mouth!), seeded and diced (optional)
• 2 small – medium carrots, peeled and cut into half disks (go to page 12) or diced (go to page 38)
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 zucchini or summer squash, cubed (optional)
• 1 can (cups cooked, I think) Great Northern white beans
• 1 can canellini (white kidney) beans
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 tbsp cumin seeds, lightly toasted then ground
• 1/4 cup chili powder
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp dried or 1 heaping tbsp fresh oregano
• salt & pepper to taste
• water
• oil

Cut the butternut squash in half and cook facedown in oil on a cookie sheet or bread pans at 400 degrees for 35 – 45 minutes. Cook it for slightly less time than you normal would, as you don’t want it all mushy, just some parts. There should be some pieces that a person with teeth could chew. Once you’ve put this menace in the oven, sautee the onion in oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add in the celery, then the carrots, then the chilis (if used). Add in the zucchini/summer squash now (if using).

In another pot, take care of all the tomato blanching nonsense (unless your were awesome enough to can, in which case you’re already done). Once the onions are starting to brown, add in all of the spices and mix well. Add in the tomatoes when they’re ready. Add in the beans after that. [If you're using canned beans, include the water from the two white beans; if you've cooked the beans yourself, use about 1/2 cup water from each white bean if you still have it.] Stir well, add some salt and let simmer.

When the squash is done, prepare yourself psychologically for the hassle of wrestling this beast out of its skin. Better, if someone is around who expects to eat this shit and isn’t helping, make them do it. They will invariably do a poor job. But fuck it. Seriously. You can now blame *every* problem the chili has on this hapless helper. “Does this taste too salty?” >> “You shoulda done the squash right, bitch.” “Do you think this needs more chili powder?” >> “Do you think you could do the squash right next time?”

So, once the squash is out of its skin, add in all of the mushy parts. Cut the remaining squash into chunks, the size of which you find enjoyable to chew, particularly in conjunction with other items on your spoon. This will vary by both mouth and spoon size. If you are feeding other people, remember that you can control for spoon size, but not for mouth size. Optionally, you may select a more optimal group of friends based on oral aperture.

Let the chili simmer for a spell before eating.