cincinnati chili

I’ve been waiting a while to make this.

I’ve eaten it only once before, really, so I’m not the best person to ask for an opinion on “the best Cincinnati chili recipe/restaurant.”  all I know is that I had it once at a place called Real Chili in Milwaukee, WI, and I’ve been having cravings like mad ever since.

the recipe I decided to go with is from Saveur, which is one of my favorite food magazines.  take note that all of the recipes I found featured the use of cocoa powder, cinnamon, allspice and/or cloves, which is characteristic of Cincinnati chili.  I know it sounds like an odd combination of spices for a savory dish, but they give the sauce a distinctive and welcomed dimension in flavor as well as a nice dark rich color.  don’t bust it ’til you’ve tried it.  (and then you’ll understand why I had cravings!)

I laid out everything (but the beef) before I left for a week back home in California so that I could get cooking more quickly when I got back … eager beaver, I was.

now, I didn’t have everything listed on the index card (namely, oregano), but I was too eager to wait when I got back home, so … onward I went!

cheddar-wise, I had only some dairy free cheddar sitting in the freezer.  I had heard about daiya somewhere online, and grabbed some in case I had lactose-intolerant guests.

(the verdict, though?  I didn’t like it.  felt grainy, and it did not taste like cheddar.)

I also cracked the spaghetti in half, since I saw the guys doing it back in Real Chili.  it’s so much easier to cook in a small pot (especially since I was cooking for just myself), and MUCH easier to eat than if left full-length!

this is the final dish … Cincinnatti chili 4-ways: half-cracked spaghetti topped with chili sauce, fake cheddar, and chopped onion.  (I LOVE raw onion.)  5-ways would have beans on top, but I didn’t feel like it.

I could do without the daiya fake cheese, but the rest of it?  it tamed the craving.  for the moment.

sometimes you just gotta improvise.

these baby artichokes were on the verge of going bad, so I gave them a quick roast.

drizzled simply with oil, salt, and pepper.

then I thought … why not cayenne pepper?  when in doubt, make it spicy.  (or at least try to.  it didn’t have as much kick as I’d like.)

outer leaves were still tough, but I bit those [artichoke] hearts out!  puahaha.

okay, my attempt to put on a spin on “eat your heart out” didn’t really work …

lemon posset!

what in the world is “posset”, you ask?

I know what you’re thinking, it sounds funny.  it’s like smooshing the words “possum” and “faucet” together, but if only they were as tasty.

I had to do a little research myself to figure out what posset is.  apparently it’s like custard in that it’s cooked milk or cream and has similar textures.  however, posset is egg-less, so rather than being thickened with egg, it’s thickened due to curdling from added wine, ale or … lemon!

similar to the previous post on the “Five Minute Ice Cream” recipe, I came across this recipe on AllRecipes.com while searching for desserts using heavy cream, but excluding egg.

so a warning if any of you want to try this … it’s rich.  it’s STRONG tasting.  that, or maybe I used too much lemon juice.

this is how much I ate of mine:

my cousin, however, gobbled his portion down in seconds, no problem.  I think I’ll take that as a compliment.

easy egg-less berry ice cream!

one of the best parts of working for a company devoted to food is getting access to a bunch of leftover groceries.  for the most part, they’re high-quality ingredients, too, and that makes the “fridge diving” experience even more enjoyable.

this week, a bunch of heavy cream was being given away.

uhm, CREAM???  I’d totally jump on that **** any day.

so needless to say, I stocked up.  I was craving ice cream, so ice cream here I come …

now, I’m also challenging myself to use up the random groceries in my freezer and pantry without making a single trip to the grocery store.  this means I have no more eggs.  but I wanted ice cream, and I’m a stickler for egg-custard-based ice cream.  but I have no eggs.  “oh well,” I told myself.  “make do.”

this is where allrecipes.com steps in to save the day.  I LOVE love love their ingredient search tool, mostly because you can exclude specific ingredients.  by including heavy cream, excluding eggs, and searching for dessert recipes, I came across a very very simple recipe called “Five Minute Ice Cream.”

perfect.

it’s simple: you just blend together 3 ingredients, all of which I now have on hand.  frozen berries, sugar, and heavy cream.  no need to simmer on the stove, no need to pull out the ice cream maker.  just blend and chill.  I guess it’s basically considered an “icebox ice cream.”

all in all, it makes for a very simple index card recipe:

keep in mind this makes basically two servings, and I did cut down on the sugar (it was originally 1/2 C).  also, use an immersion blender if you have it.  I blended mine in the cup that came with my immersion blender, and put the whole thing straight into the freezer.

mmm. craving = conquered.

think I’m going to make this again … I still have another 2/3 C of heavy cream left, plus a bunch of cut up mango in the freezer!

though, there’s also that lemon posset recipe I could try …