This week, the tables at the local Japanese farmers’ market are overflowing with fruits, vegetables, and especially garlic. My friend Atusko’s landlord is a farmer, and he gave her a bag containing 100 single cloves of garlic “seconds” that he could not sell. She passed the garlic on to me and it inspired tonight’s dinner.
With the autumn breeze dictating a sudden wardrobe overhaul, the season’s first steaming bowl of chili was like a promise of warmth on the cold nights to come.
Layers of flavors meld together for satisfying bite and a lingering, medium-spiced aftertaste. Red table wine brings out the hues of the tomatoes and beef, cumin seeds and crushed red peppers offer added mini bursts of flavor, and large chunks of garlic take the spotlight as they are slowly simmered to soft, mellow perfection.
My serving of Garlic Harvest Beef Chili was placed next to a paddle of rice and topped with shredded sharp cheddar, a dollop of real sour cream, and enough cilantro to make it obvious that fresh herbs make my heart sing.
Sarah’s Garlic Harvest Beef Chili
Serves 12
15 minute prep time
1 hour 15 min stove-top cook time
2 pounds London Broil, cut into 1 cm. cubes
Two medium onions, chopped
100 whole, peeled cloves of garlic (I cut some mutant cloves down to normal size!)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
26 ounce can of tomato sauce (I used Hunts Garlic & Herb)
30 ounce of diced tomatoes (or two, 15 oz. cans) with juice
5 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon oregano
1 heaping tbsp cumin powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup dry red table wine
2 and 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup masa harina
Water to make masa harina slurry
Steamed rice (5 cups dry)
Toppings (optional—see below)
Toppings:
Sour cream, sharp cheddar cheese, chopped fresh cilantro, and a bottle of hot sauce for the daddies and the shirtless egg-muscled sons who are trying to impress them
Directions:
Prepare the rice in a way that it will be done at the same time as your chili – about 1 hr 15 minutes. (I love my Zojirushi rice cooker because I can prepare the rice way ahead of time and it will keep the rice warm for whenever I need it.)
In a Dutch oven, sauté the onions and whole garlic cloves in cooking oil until soft. Add the cubed beef and cook until browned. Stir in salt, spices, tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine and water. Stirring occasionally, simmer, partially covered, for an hour or until the beef becomes tender.
Mix a little water with the masa harina to make a slurry (if you do not add water, you’ll have masa chunks in your chili … yuck.) and stir the slurry into the chili. Cook for another five minutes until the chili thickens slightly.
Place a scoop of rice and then add a serving of chili next to it, overlapping the rice slightly. Down the middle, sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Top with a dollop of sour cream. Sprinkle with cilantro (and hot sauce if you’re a show-off).
Will you share your favorite autumn dinner recipe with me?
