Four Pound Chili

Looking through the freezer this afternoon I tried to figure out what to thaw to heat up for a quick meal. Burgers, chicken, pork, we’d already eaten all the staples this week. Then my gaze fell upon a curl of kielbasa resting in the recesses of the freezer drawer, but to my dismay I see that my mom had bought “light” kielbasa, that flavorless image of what polish sausage is supposed to be. In my desperation for something new I stuck with it and put my mind to how I could take this humble, diet friendly sausage to something delicious.

I recalled a dish my girlfriend had made me several months ago, a kind of kielbasa chili that was really quite tasty. Lacking any clear memory of its components and not feeling inspired enough to call her and I went to work creating this wonderful dish.

1 pound of kielbasa

1 pound of bacon

1 pound red kidney beans

1 pound yellow eyed beans

2 medium sized onions

chili peppers (quantity will depend on your desired spiciness, I used one hot pepper and one more mild pepper)

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

2 Tbs red pepper

salt and black pepper

After quickly checking the pantry I noticed we were out of beans so a trip to the local store was in order. Well I looked high and low for a can of kidney beans, a must in any chili, but couldn’t find a single one. In my wanderings I saw that bacon was on sale and picked up a package, a true blessing for the concoction to come. Then just as my hopes were running low I saw a bags of raw, dried beans. Hardly an ingredient I was used to cooking with, and I knew they took hours to cook, but I had my heart set on chili so I went with them and hoped for the best.

And we begin:

1) Wash your beans of quickly, a couple thorough rinses in water should do it. I placed my beans in large pot, like you’d use for spaghetti. They didn’t look like much, but the beans expand a lot when they cook. Cover the beans with plenty of water and season with liberally with salt and pepper. Bring your beans to a boil for a couple minutes, then simmer for at least an hour stirring occasionally. (Like I said they take some time to cook.)

2) After an hour of cooking I decided to start in on preparing the rest of my ingredients. I kept my beans simmering while doing this as they were still a little undercooked.

a. Chop the onions into relatively small pieces

b. De-seed the peppers and chop into pieces smaller than your onion pieces

c. Remove your bacon from its package as a whole big lump and slice it perpendicularly to the bacon strips every ½ inch creating nice bit sized bacon bits

d. Cut your kielbasa on the bias every ¼ inch

e. Open your cans of tomato stuff at this point too

3) At this point my beans were almost done cooking but still needed a more little time. But I figured that adding a little flavor wouldn’t be a bad thing. So drain most of the water off the beans but not down the sink, keep the bean water. I’d say I removed about 3 ½ cups but the beans were far from dry. The beans kind of create their own sauce when they cook and I wanted to preserve that element. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste to the beans and stir in. Add back in some bean water to just cover the beans and add your red pepper at this point. Continue to let this mixture simmer.

4) Heat up large skillet and fry up the bacon bits. I needed to work in batches to get a good browning on my bacon. Separate the bacon from its fat keeping the fat in the pan (I used a spoon with holes it in) and add the bacon to the simmering bean pot.

5) In the bacon fat, sauté the onions and peppers until soft, separate from the fat and add them to the bean pot.

6) Now discard the bacon fat and brown the kielbasa. Again I needed to work in batches to keep my pan hot enough. Add the browned kielbasa to the pot.

7) At this point your chili is essentially done. I just let it all simmer together letting flavors mingle while I made some cornbread to serve on the side.

Yield: I can’t say for sure, but it fed my family of four with plenty of leftovers. It was definitely a pot full though; I mean I measured ingredients in pounds!

I hope you’ll enjoy this great chili. It took some time to cook, but really it’s quite simple to make and tastes great. My dad claimed he could eat it 3 days a week and not get tired of it. And to be honest we have enough left over so that he can do that for at least two weeks.