Beefy Chili Stew Yumminess...

Recently I have noticed several gourmet spice shops popping up around town. Other than perhaps the cool kitchen gadget stores, few establishments make me happier than a good spice shop! I could spend an hour just walking around and sniffing jars and daydreaming about my kitchen. The cool thing with most of these stores is that you can buy most of the spices in really small quantities, which makes it fairly inexpensive to try stuff out.

I "just happened" to be driving by Penzey's Spice Shop late Saturday afternoon and somehow 4 little 1 oz jars of Chipotle Powder, Ancho Chili Powder, Adobo Seasoning and Smoked Spanish Paprika hopped into my purse on the way out (paid for of course!!) Just a few days before I had dog-eared a chili recipe on the Cooking Light website that caught my attention because it uses beef stew meat instead of ground beef and I liked the sound of that.

So... Monday morning I set out to take my spices for a test drive and give this new recipe a whirl! HERE is a link to the actual recipe as posted on the Cooking Light website.

However, I ended up making a bunch of changes to the seasonings and I improvised on a few ingredients so below is a recipe that I almost feel like I can call my own.

Jenny's Beefy Chili Stew
(Using the word "beefy" makes me giggle... Don't ask me why)

1 1/2 tsp canola oil, divided
1 1/2 - 2lbs pounds beef stew meat (depending on how beefy you want it)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped, roasted anaheim peppers (I had these in my freezer from the farmer's market and they were awesome! You could replace with chopped bell pepper or some kind of canned pepper)
1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2/3 cup cabernet sauvignon or dry red wine
1 1/2 T brown sugar
2 T tomato paste
3/4 tsp ancho chili powder
1 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp adobo seasoning
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp fresh, chopped oregano
1 - 28 oz can whole tomatoes, in juice, roughly chopped
1 - 15 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 - 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 - 15oz can sweet corn, rinsed and drained
Salt to taste

(** I know that looks like a lot of ingredients, but the whole thing came together pretty fast)

- Add canola oil to a hot pan and brown the stew meat. Toss into the crock pot.
- Add onion (and bell pepper if using) to the pan. Saute 3 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute another minute.
- Add wine to the pan and scrape up any of the browned bits.
- While it simmers gently, add the next 9 ingredients (through the oregano) and mix.
- Pour over the stew meat in the crock pot and then add the remaining ingredients.
- Cook on high for approximately 4 hours or until meat is tender.
- Garnish with chives, cheddar cheese, sour cream, Fritos (if you are my dad!), etc.

And if you are interested, I learned a few new facts about the spices I bought thanks to an extremely knowledgeable clerk:
Ancho Chili Powder - Ground, dried Poblano chilis, ranges 3-5 out of 10 on a heat scale
Chipotle Chili Powder - Ground, smoked, dried Jalapeno chilis, about a 6.5 out of 10 on a heat scale
Adobo Seasoning - Typically consists of garlic, onion, black pepper, oregano, cumin and cayenne

Enjoy!