Boswell Chili

Hey guys. Hope you've been enjoying your latkes, and now you can have the authentic Boshenke accompaniment. Boshenke being the communal name for Emily, Iain and myself, a merger of our last names that is an inevitable title for our forthcoming restaurant (forthcoming being in approx. three decades). This is based on my Dad's recipe, and is only slightly modified from it because I couldn't find some of the right ingredients in Ireland, where I first learned how to cook for myself. If you want to make this a meat recipe, you can sub out one of the cans of beans for 1lb. ground meat, cooking the ground meat in a skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink, and draining off the grease that sweats from the meat for later use. Add it in with the beans, corn, tomatoes and spices.

Boswell Chili

Ingredients
2 bell peppers
2 15oz or so cans of beans, whatever kind tickles your fancy
1 32oz/28oz/whatever big variety of can diced tomatoes
1 onion
5 cloves of garlic
10oz package frozen sweet corn, about 1 1/4 cups
1/3 or so of a thai pepper or as much as you like of another spicy variety
160z broth of some kind. I made my own from some leftover broccoli stems and scallions and the husks of onions and garlic I chopped for this meal. Pretty straightforward, just cut everything up, saute it in butter on medium or so heat to soften and release flavor, but don't let anything brown or cook too much, then cover in water and boil/simmer for 45 minutes - an hour. Instant veggie broth. Just be sure to drain it and toss the solids, they're kind of gross.
2 Tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon salt
olive oil

Supplies
Large pot
Cutting board
Knife
Wooden spoon

Tuneage
Minnesota Public Radio! They had some sweet harp music on the air at cooking time.

1. Cut things - dice your onion, cut out the stems of the peppers and cut everything into nice little chunks, 1/4-1/2". Mince the garlic and spicy pepper. SAFETY WARNING: always wash your hands after you cut spicy peppers, *especially* if you are male and plan on going to the bathroom. There are certain things that are OK to visit a man's secret regions, chili oil is not one of them.

2. First saute - drop some olive oil into your large pot - a couple tablespoons, maybe? I never measure oil. Just put enough so that whatever you're frying doesn't burn, but not so much that everything gets soggy and greasy. Heat it up to just above medium and throw in all your sauteables - the onion, peppers, and garlic, and this is when you cook your meat, too, if you're eating omnivorously. Cook this until the onions are translucent, stirring well to keep things from sticking to the bottom.

3. Add and stew - throw in the tomatoes, corn, beans, broth, and spices - the salt, cumin, and chili powder. You don't have to be exact with the cumin and chili powder. I usually add a little more. This most recent recipe was blessed by fate and my approximate heapings turned out to be exactly right. Let this boil first, then reduce down to a gentle simmer and let it go for at least 45 minutes, preferably and hour and a quarter. Don't cook it so much that the peppers get really mushy. I have never had this happen but I believe it to be theoretically possible.

And you're done! Taste it at the end to make sure it's good. If it's not flavorful enough, add more salt and/or oregano; if it needs more of a kick, add chili powder; if it's too thin or needs fortification add some cumin. Dress it with grated cheddar. My dad puts cilantro on it and while I like cilantro, too, they didn't have it in Ireland so I never remember to get it.

Peace, love, chili!

Chimichangas Chez Boz

Hello my fellow chefs! Tonight I will reveal to you one of my favorite recipes, one which is sure to delight you and those with whom you share your living space. I learned how to make chimichangas from Megan and Jill Carle's excellent book College Cooking. This recipe is based off of theirs. It is also vegetarian, but you can make it carnivorous if you want, just sub out the can of beans and some cheese for a pound of ground beef or turkey. This recipe makes 9 chimichangas - 10 if you don't eat as much of the filling as I did before frying them. They're great to freeze. When you're ready to defrost just pop it in the oven until it's nice and crispy.

Chimichangas

Ingredients

4 cloves garlic

1 onion

1 bell pepper

1 160z jar salsa

10" tortillas (probably ten)

1 can refried beans (or make your own!)

1 can red/black/pinto beans (leave this out if you're using beef)

4 scallions, green ends removed and reserved for broth

~2 cups cheese

1 thai pepper (SEEDED.)

white pepper

salt

dash cumin

olive oil (if veggie, put a decent amount in the wok, if meat, just a dash, 'cause the beef makes its own nice oil as it cooks)

a lot of canola oil

Materials

Wok or equivalent sized skillet

Skillet or frying pan with a goodly sized rim

Knife/cutting board

Wooden spoon

Pincers

Paper towels

Soundtrack

Views from a Train by Richard Wylie, and Richard Goode playing Beethoven's Piano Sonatas Opp. 109-111. If you haven't heard those late sonatas, grab a copy and go listen RIGHT NOW! I don't care if you don't like classical music! This stuff rocks out.

1. Preparation Cut up onion and bell pepper into 1/4-1/2" chunks, finely chop the garlic, dice the scallions, and seed the thai or other spicy pepper. If you use a different pepper you may need to use more, or less, depending on the kind. One thai pepper was enough to make 9 chimichangas pleasantly spicy for us three. And may I emphasize, do remove the seeds or you will find your dish inedible!!!

2. The filling Put some olive oil in a wok, heat it up to medium-high and saute the garlic and spicy pepper for just a moment to let the flavors come out, then add the onion, green pepper, and scallions, and saute this for a bit until the onions are starting to get translucent, just a few minutes. If you are a carnivore, add the beef with the onion and green pepper and cook until the beef is brown. If you are not, add the drained can of beans, some salt and a dash of cumin, and some white pepper. I didn't keep track of how much white pepper I used, but it was a goodly bit. Just keep adding it to the filling at your leisure, until it tastes good. Though don't add too much of the pepper until the very end of this step. What you want to do now is cook the veggie/bean mixture until the onions and green pepper are soft enough to be appetizing, but not soggy, because that's lame. So keep tasting them. It should be maybe 7 or 8 minutes, with you stirring constantly to keep stuff from sticking to the bottom. When the veggies are cooked (or the beef is no longer pink anywhere), throw in your jar of salsa and let that cook for about a minute, then turn off the heat and add the refried beans and your cheese, and stir that around for a while until it's all mixed together. At this point, taste it and it probably will need some more salt, so go ahead and add that and any more white pepper if it needs it. You could also add more cumin if you wanted a more robust flavor. I figured it was already so heavy with the beans and cheese it didn't need any more fortification.

3. The chimichanga Go get out your tortillas and put about 3 large wooden spoonfuls of filling into each of them, then fold them over like the pros do and set them into a nice chimichanga pyramid. Your next step will be to fill a skillet with canola oil - you want a lake about 1/4" deep to fry these babies in. Heat the oil to just under high heat - I used a setting of 8 on a 1-9 burner scale. You probably shouldn't test it with water to see if it's hot enough, unless you want blazing hot canola oil spattering everywhere. Just wait a bit and feel the heat above it with the back of your hand. Then place in the first chimichanga. It should start sizzling nicely. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side, until it's nicely golden but not so much that it starts blackening. Turn it over with the tongs and be super careful not to let it splash down and spray oil on you. I did this once and got a nasty blister living on my thumb for a while. When it's done, take it out of the frying pan - I actually put two chimichangas in at one time because of the pan's size - and let it dry on a paper towel to get some of that grease out. When it's done drying, set it aside on your cutting board and while it's drying stick in some more chimichangas. Keep doing this until they're all nice and crispy.

And you're done! This goes nice with a little caesar salad to balance the heavy fried goodness of the chimichanga. Mm, very filling, and so tasty. Couldn't hurt to have a nice brown ale with it, too. Me, I just had some ginger ale because I was feeling a bit under the weather. Sabor!