asses of fire

this weekend was my third time participating in the egan's "asses of fire" (yes, it's really called that) chili cook off. i spent the entire day saturday relaxing and watching a big pot of vegetarian chili simmer.

my first year was a disaster. a misguided decision to add rice about 30 minutes before show time ended in panic as i discovered it was uncooked. luckily, it spent enough time in the crock pot at the bar pre-judging that it had softened. we lost.

year two i was much more prepared. i went the route of a protein substitute (smart ground meat crumbles) which i loved, but i think it may have scared people. we lost.

this year i tried to pull out all the stops. 3 kinds of beans, a topping platter never before seen, and 2 kinds of booze. we still lost, but i think it was damn good.

also, i know this has a shit-load of expensive ingredients. normally i would be a bit more conservative, but this was for a competition!

"josefina tequila-face" (vegetarian chili)

2-3 tbsp cilantro base (look for goya brand in the mexican aisle)
2(ish) chipotle peppers in adobo
hot sauce (i like alabama sunshine...i think you can order it online)
1-2 tsp worcestershire
1-2 tbsp tomato paste
1-2 tbsp chili powder
1-2 tbsp cumin
1-2 tbsp paprika
1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp adobo spice (basically just powdered onion, garlic, tumeric; don't worry if you don't have it)
3 ears corn
1 head garlic
1 onion
1 serrano pepper
1 jalepeno
1 each red, yellow, green peppers
1 can diced green chiles
4-5 vine ripened tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes
3 tomatillos
1 can each black beans, pink beans, red kidney beans
2 portabello mushrooms
handful of rice
1 12 oz corona
3 shots jose cuervo tequila (don't get montezuma...just don't)
1 cup vegetable stock

for the topping tray:

sour cream
taco seasoning mix
limes
avocado
green onion
cilantro
torillas
thinly sliced (pickled, if you like that) jalepeno
queso blanco
pepperjack

the most important thing to remember about chili: it's really hard to screw up. you can use all or none of the ingredients above. it's incredibly versatile and almost everyone likes it. some would argue that meat is an essential ingredient, obviously i'm not one of those people.

begin by tossing the tomatillos, tomatoes, peppers, and garlic in EVOO, salt, and pepper on a sheet pan and putting them in the onion at 400 degrees along with the corn. as these are roasting, dice your onions, garlic, and mushroom and get them going in your chili pot along with the cilantro base, tomato paste, hot sauce, worcestershire and chipotles (i add a little of the abodo sauce as well...this stuff is hot so just follow your own heat preference and be careful). at this point go ahead and add all your spices. i start on the low end (for example if above i have 1-2 tbsp written i will add only 1 and then if i add more broth later during the simmering process i'll add more spice as well)



take your corn, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes out of the oven. peel the peppers and the tomatoes, chop everything roughly, and add it all to the pot. cut your corn off the cob and add that, too. at this point, drain and rinse your beans and add those as well. also add the canned chiles and the canned tomatoes.

add the beer, tequila, rice, and maybe some vegetable stock. really, you just want to make sure you don't add too much liquid. although the good news is you can always cook it off; it just may take a while. i let this simmer at least an hour.

as for the topping tray (as you can see above) just arrange everything to your own personal taste. you can see what i used above. in the left-center there is sour cream flavored with taco seasoning and on the right it's flavored with lime zest (the lime zest was a great light contrast to the dense nature of the chili)

i cut the tortillas into strips and baked those for a nice crispy topping, as well. let me know if you have any interesting chili secrets...next year's competition preparation will begin soon.