Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Ribeye Steak Chili

Kristen's girlfriends Dad in Cincinnati has a meat shop - Heringer Meats Inc. and this past Christmas I got some excellent ribeye from him when we returned to Chicago (11lbs). Once I cut up the meat for steaks, I had the end pieces which were too small for steaks and too good meat to throw away, so I made some awesome chili. Awesome because Kiran & Rowan (18 months old) are not letting me eat it - they want it. I will add pictures later to this post

Here's the recipe - try it and let me know how it goes:
2 tbls vegetable oil
2 tbls minced garlic
1 cup diced onion
3 lbs ribeye steak meat, fat trimmed, cut into 1 inch cubes. You can't trim all the fat, so don't destruct the meat. The natural fat adds a lot of flavor. You can always skim some of the fat after the chili is cooked.
3 cups diced tomato in tomato sauce (canned is perfectly OK)
2 cups black beans (you can drain and rinse the beans or use the entire can)
1/4 cup hot giardiniera peppers
2 tbls chili powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (adjust to taste)

I always cook on medium heat, so unless specified, cook on medium heat. Heat the vegetable oil in a stock pot. Add garlic and cook for one minute till it starts to turn brown. Add the onion and cook the mix for about 7 - 8 minutes sweating the onion.

Add steak meat to the mix and cook for about 20 minutes. The meat will start to loose its moisture and pieces will start shrinking. Once all the moisture is lost, you can see the oil in the pot. Add the spices and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occassionally. Stir in the black beans, diced tomatoes and giardiniera peppers. Simmer with the lid on for about 1 - 1 1/2 hr on low heat. 

Once finished, my pieces still retained their shape, but were very tender. If you want to cook it further and want the meat to start shredding, keep cooking.

Good luck.