Chili and beans

I bought some interesting Anaszi beans at the China Ranch Date Farm when we were in California last month. These days I make lots of beans in the pressure cooker, and (sorry, Kroger) these were a cut above supermarket dried pintos.

So I mail ordered more, plus some other varieties from an outfit called iGourmet.  Of course they give these beans clever names, which is good marketing. They look colorful, but all tend to cook up creamy and pink. They are perfect for eating plain with tacos, making re-fried beans, or chili.

Speaking of chili, there's nothing wrong with hamburger or ground turkey, but if you have time (or a pressure cooker) chili is good made with real chunks of beef.  Scrappy meat like chuck steak works the best, and it doesn't cost more than hamburger these days, go figure.  Dice up the meat and brown it thoroughly in a heavy pot, add diced onion and peppers, jalapenos if you like it hot, and saute a little longer.

Then add a couple cans of crushed or diced tomatoes, chili powder to season, and let it braise very slowly until the meat is fork tender.  This takes a few hours. Finally, add some of those cooked "artisan" beans and you'll have a darn good chili dinner, with plenty left over for the freezer.