Super Simple Chili Recipe

This recipe is so easy- you'll love it! And while the chili was delicious, the side dish of fennel and cabbage was the major hit!

Let’s cut to the chase- if you’re anything like me you skip past the story about the recipe and jump right to the ingredients and method- so, here you go!

One thing to note before you start… I am a freestyle kitchen cook, meaning, I don’t have exact measurements. I go by eye, experience, and intention of my flavor palette. I’m not a trained chef and haven’t taken any classes- I learned from trial and error, A LOT from my mom, some from my dad and my years working with him in the restaurant, and the rest from our friends, Google and IG. You’ll notice my recipes aren’t exact- this leaves room for you to modify and create in a way that suits your taste buds. But if you follow my general instructions, you’ll definitely have a yummy dish of you own.

Ingredients

• 1 lb organic grass fed and finished beef

• 1 can organic kidney beans - rinsed and strained

• 5-6 mini peppers - chopped

• 1 large tomato chopped

• 3/4 of an onion - chopped

• 3-5 garlic cloves - pressed

• 2-3 bay leaves

• 2 dried chipotle chilis

• 1 dried New Mexico pepper (it’s ok if you don’t have this, any dry chili can work)

• organic tomato paste - 1-2 tablespoons depending on your preference. Less for a “lighter” sauce. You can also use half a can of tomato sauce or a can of diced tomatoes and skip the tomato in the recipe)

• 1/4 tsp cumin

• salt

• black pepper

• 1/4 tsp paprika

• 1 tsp dry oregano

• 1/2 tsp chili powder

• fennel bulb - shaved like slaw

• red cabbage - shaved like slaw

• watermelon radish - chopped for slaw

• arugula - 1 big handful per serving

• apple cider vinegar - 1 tablespoon

• lime juice - 2 tablespoons

• honey - 1 tsp

• avocado oil

Method

For the chili:

1. Heat a pan to medium heat. Add about a tablespoon of avocado oil to the pan, let it warm. Add onion, garlic, and a little salt and saute for about 3 min. Add beef and brown. (some people do the meat first then add the garlic and onion)

2. Add the peppers and tomato, saute for a few minutes

3. Add the seasoning, the bay leaves, dried chilis and pepper, tomato paste, and 1 cup of water - mix and bring back to a simmer. When it comes to the seasoning, taste and tweak if you need! That’s the fun part. If you think it needs more salt, add it! More (or less) cumin, do it.

4. Put it on low heat and cover, and let cook for 60-90 minutes- the longer the better. You can even let it simmer for 2 hours.

5. Check it occasionally to be sure you have enough water and to stir it a little.

For the Fennel Cabbage Slaw:

1. Heat a pan to medium heat

2. Add avocado oil

3. Add fennel, cabbage, and watermelon radish and saute - as far as how much think in terms of how many are eating. You don’t need to cook all of it. You can always use the prepped ingredients the next day! Also, consider which ingredient you like best as far as how much of each to put in, what flavor do you want to pull? I chose to do equal parts of all 3 and it was so good.

4. After a few minutes add arugula, honey, salt, lime juice, and apple cider vinegar. Again, taste it. Once the ingredients have softened, it’s ready!

Enjoy them side by side, the tang of the slaw is so yummy with the chili. I added a drizzle of sheep’s milk plain yogurt to top- I wish I had cilantro, I think that would have been the perfect touch.

Enjoy!