Yesterday I bought this 3″ thick gorgeous chuck steak. Salt and pepper, a large can of crushed tomatoes, one Vidalia onion, chopped. I covered it with foil and baked for 3 1/2 hours. It was served over egg noodles. Yum. I have more left for tomorrow for lunch.
Dinner will have to be vegetarian or light, like chicken. Why? Because Friday morning my butchers have a one-day sale on grass-fed beef. It comes in coarsely ground and they re-grind it to sell. I’ve pre-ordered four pounds of coarsely ground beef for my Texas Chili. I pride myself on grinding my own meat for chili but if my butchers say they’ll save me an hour on prep and washing my meat grinder I’ll trust them as they’ve served me well for years.
Fall has been in the air even though it’ll be warm today. A brief summer is not the time for stews, pot roasts or chili. Ah, what the heck. Chili and corn bread. Lime, cheese, onion toppings. Maybe a few guests. We’ll see.
I took Mom’s recipes to a new level and now they’re mine, pot roast, chicken saltimbocca (on the blog) and others. At the core is the 50’s use a can of this, a packet of that. I even took Lady Bird Johnson’s quintessential Pedernales chili recipe from 1962 where she fed JFK and 5,000 guests at their ranch outside of Austin TX and made it my own. I don’t buy chili powder. I buy from Penzey’s Spices, available online though I seem to always move to a neighborhood with a Penzey’s and Whole Foods within a mile radius. Imagine that! Ancho, chipotle, and others, plus cumin.
It’s a good chili. My Swedish neighbor taught me kottsbullar (Swedish meatballs) so I taught him Texas chili. All is right in the world. Enjoy the day. Dee
Cooking with Dee 