Sunday chili with the sweet pea

Owen and I have been wanting to make chili all week. I found a low fodmap recipe so we decided to give it a try. I mixed the spices together while he chopped. Low fodmap means (at least for me, no garlic, no onions, no gluten, no beans). Side note: I so want a low fodmap cooking competition….or a cooking competition where they have different challenges: vegan, gluten-free, low fodmap, etc.

Anyway, weirdly enough, you CAN use garlic and onion flavored oil in low fodmap cooking, as long as the solids are taken out before anything else is added. The fodmaps are water-soluble so if you add anything else that would give off water (like vegetables or meat) the fodmaps would go into the oil, but if you take them out before them they’re ok, as they’re not oil soluble. At least I think that’s the correct explanation. Anyway, we started by making garlic/onion-flavored oil, then sauteed the green onion and leeks (I can have the green parts of these), added the meat, browned a bit, then tomato sauce and water. We cooked it in a dutch oven in the oven. We checked it once and we’re horrified how tough the meat was. We turned down the temp and kept going though…..and SUCCESS. The meat was falling apart and the flavor was perfect. Oh, and Owen had added green pepper and some salt at the halfway mark. When we tasted it at the end we didn’t change a thing. It was heavenly.

LOW FODMAP ALL BEEF CHILI
Fodmapeveryday.com

Our Low FODMAP All Beef Chili is easy to make in one pot and as spicy and satisfying as any you can make – IBS friendly or otherwise! Makes: 12 servings Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes Author: Dédé Wilson

• 4 pounds (1.8 kg) boneless chuck roast, cut into chunks
• 2 tablespoons garlic infused oil  made with vegetable oil or purchased equivalent
• 1 small white or yellow onion, peeled and quartered
• 1/2 cup (36 g) finely chopped leeks, green parts only
• 1/2 cup (32 g) finely chopped scallions, green parts only
• 1 tablespoon ground chipotle powder
• 2 tablespoons ground cumin 
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups tomato sauce; make sure it does not contain any onion or garlic – many of them do!
• 3 to 4 cups water
• 1/4 cup fine ground cornmeal

1. Fit a food processor with a metal blade. Add the meat in batches and pulse on and off until coarsely ground (a little coarser than the ground meat that you typically buy). Scrape into a bowl and set aside; repeat until all the meat is ground.
2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven (such as a 6 quart) over medium heat and add onions. Sauté for about 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, or until onions begin to soften, but do not brown. Remove all onion pieces from the oil and discard. This is vital in order to keep this recipe low FODMAP. Now add the leek and scallion greens to the oil and sauté for about 2 to 3 to 5 minutes, stirring often, or until softened but not browned.
3. Stir in the meat, coating with the oil and leek/scallion mixture and cook for several minutes until browned, stirring often.
4. Stir the chipotle powder, cumin, paprika, smoked paprika, oregano, salt, cayenne and pepper into the meat mixture. Now stir in the tomato sauce and 3 cups (720 ml) of water to combine. Cover, adjust heat to a low simmer and cook for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally making sure it does not burn, adding additional water if necessary. Check liquid level and meat doneness. The meat should be tender and there should be some liquid, but it should not be soupy. Simmer a bit more if needed. Taste chili, adjust salt and pepper if desired and add cayenne if you want more heat.
5. Place cornmeal in a small bowl. Use a ladle to remove some cooking liquid and add it to the cornmeal, stirring to make a paste. Add this to the chili and stir in to distribute. Simmer covered for 10 more minutes to thicken chili. Chili is ready to serve, but we think it is even better on days 2 or 3. Cool to room temperature and either refrigerate in airtight containers for up to a week or freeze up to a month. (Defrost in refrigerator overnight). Reheat on stovetop over low heat.

Changes we made: We didn’t grind the meat, we left it in chunks. We cooked it in the oven instead of on top of the stove. We cooked it about an hour longer at a lower temp, but of course if the meat had been ground we wouldn’t have needed to. We used the whole can of crushed tomatoes so cut back on water accordingly. Oh, and and we sprinkled the meat with salt and added some halfway. After it sat a couple of hours it really mellowed so I might add more cayenne next time. Oh, and I didn’t have garlic infused oil so we just added garlic when we made the onion oil. The recipe suggested serving it over rice, which would of course make the optimistic listing of ’12 servings’ more realistic, but I’m just not used to chili that way so we had it straight up.

That, a little work done, a fire in the fireplace, and the viewing of a few Master Chef Canada’s made for a lovely Sunday.

Onward.