The ingredients are straightforward and already in most kitchens, all I had to buy tonight was the ground beef and the diced tomatoes.
The first step is to dice the onion and mince the garlic. I usually say that precision in knife cuts matters, heck I even did a whole blog post on it, chili is one of the exceptions to that rule. While you're getting the onions and garlic down to a reasonable size it is a great time to put your pot on the stove and get the butter melting!
Once the butter is melted and sizzling toss the onions into the pot and let them go from this...
The process of sweating the onions and garlic to get them soft with very little color on them takes about 10 minutes, and requires very little effort. I use the time to measure and blend the spices.
With the spices blended and the onion mix cooked add the ground beef and spices. If you are not a huge fan of ground beef it is possible to whip this recipe up with ground turkey or chicken.
Let the onions, beef and spices cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Then add the tomatoes. I find that the petite diced are the easiest to work with, but you can use chopped, diced, crushed or whole tomatoes. I find that folding the tomatoes in and putting the lid on the pot for a good 30 minutes gets the best results.
I might open the pot once or twice to stir the mix and check that the seasoning tastes right. Once those 30 minutes are up the chili is done and ready to eat... but there is nothing wrong with leaving it on the stove over low heat until you are ready to eat. The longer it cooks the more the flavors develop.
When you are ready to eat it add your favorite toppers (cheese, sour cream and chives), find the right beverage (I opted for beer), and dig in!
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