Lamb Chili

I stumbled into creating this Lamb Chili from needing something quick, wanting something warm, and having one large lamb chop leftover to use up to feed my family of three.

(Jump to the recipe file here.)

Earlier this spring I tried the “Classic Grass-Fed Beef Chili” recipe from a cookbook called Naturally Delicious by Danny Seo, and the first time, as with the first time I make any recipe, I followed it to a T, and it was delicious, deceptively so, because it only cooks for 30 minutes, and one of the ingredients is one 16-ounce jar of store-bought salsa, which just seems like cheating.

Cheating or no, it works!

It’s a really flavorful chili in 30 minutes flat.

[Just some thoughts and notes on my original source: Naturally Delicious is a random, handy little cookbook with recipes ranging from beet-balsamic yogurt (which I put on grilled lamb chops) to pho flavor cubes (which are like bouillon cubes for making ahead and storing in the freezer so you can whip up really flavorful soups, broths and sauces at the last minute. Which is sheer genius to me; I love storing bits in the freezer to turn into pieces later.) That book runs the gamut of slow-, everything-from-scratch recipes, to cheater’s chili using salsa. It’s a fun little modern cookbook, that most likely I won’t make every single recipe in, but the ones I do make, I’ll make often.]

Back to how Danny Seo’s beef chili evolved into lamb chili for me, and the differences that made it really something special; you see, I didn’t just swap out the type of meat.

The first time I made the beef chili, my daughter had a soccer game, and so I whipped this chili together up to the last step where you add the beans, and fed each of us a really small bowl before her game, then I added the beans, and when we got back home, we ate the rest for second dinner. (I’m pretty careful with beans, prefer that they are pressure cooked to break down the large amount of lectins they contain, and really do use them sparingly. You’ll never catch me making brownies made of black beans, and I never want to sit down and eat a big bowl of beans. I just don’t like them that, that much and don’t think they’re really the best for you unless they’re prepared correctly. Happily most all canned beans of any type are pressure cooked in the canning process; you’ll just want to let canned beans simmer for 20 minutes to rid them of any bacteria that also like beans.) The point of this story being that I really liked this chili without the beans!

The next day, I ate some of the leftover chili on top of a bowl of chopped arugula, and learned a second important life lesson: I really like chili served on chopped arugula or chopped radicchio. It’s a perfect fit.

The last swap I made from Danny Seo’s chili, which calls for one diced fresh bell pepper was a jarred, fire-roasted red bell pepper that I had on hand for making Helen Fletcher’s Torta Rustica.

So! Right now, I am posting my favorite-as-of-late chili recipe: Lamb Chili (without beans, with arugula), and I’ll give it a little bit and later post the original Classic Grass Fed Beef Chili recipe (because it’s a recipe worth having in your back pocket too.) You’ll soon have dueling, ueber quick chili recipes: for Mother’s Day you can make a bean-less lamb chili with arugula, and for Father’s Day you can make a beef chili with beans and radicchio!

Lamb Chili

You’ll Need

(makes 4 2-cup servings)

• 2-4 Tbs olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, roughly minced
• 1 red bell pepper, from a jar of fire roasted red peppers
• 1 lbs. lamb (either chops, stew meat, or ground*)
• 2 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 15oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 16 oz. jar of fire roasted, store-bought tomato salsa
• 2 cups chopped arugula (about ½ cup per person, after chopping)

*Using ground lamb will save you the step of mincing the lamp chops or stew meat pieces.

For Garnish:

• ½ cup shredded cheddar and white cheddar cheeses
• 3-4 scallions, chopped
• 3-4 stalks-worth of fresh cilantro leaves, plucked from the stems
• A handful of grape tomatoes
• 1 dollop of sour cream per person

First, if you’re using lamb stew meat or lamb chops, you’ll want to start by mincing the lamb. If using ground lamb, you’ve just saved yourself about 10 minutes! (If you have a meat grinder, you can grind the lamb – I have one, I just didn’t want to get it down from the top cabinet and then have to wash all its bits, so I minced my lamb with a sharp paring knife. You’ve got options!)

In a heavy bottom large stock pot, or my favorite these days, in a Dutch oven, heat 2-4 Tbs of olive oil over medium-high heat. Dice your 1 onion, roughly mince your 3 cloves of garlic and add to the pot. Stir briefly to coat.

Dice your jarred bell pepper and add to the pot.

Cover and allow everything to simmer together for about 5 minutes.

Then add the lamb pieces and spread out over the bottom to allow those first sides of all the bits to cook and brown just a little. In about 2 – 3 minutes, stir the lamb around to brown the rest. This should take about 5 minutes total.

Stir in the spices: 2 Tbs chili powder, 1 Tbs cumin, 1 tsp coriander, ¼ tsp salt, ¼ tsp black pepper, and ¼ tsp cayenne pepper. Stir to coat everything in the spices and allow the lamb to take them on for about 1-2 minutes.

Add the 2 cups beef broth, 15 oz jar of salsa. (I had a jar of fire-roasted pepper salsa, which worked really well with the lamb, so I do recommend using one of the fire-roasted varieties rather than a fresh salsa like the kind you find near the deli section, for example.) Add the 15 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes.

Stir everything together and bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes.

(If adding beans, add 1 15 oz can of beans of your choice, kidney, pinto or black work well, but be sure to simmer for a full 20 minutes.)

While your chili simmers, prepare the garnishes.

Grate your cheese.

Slice your scallions and pluck your cilantro leaves.

Chop your arugula.

You can go ahead and place about ½ cup of chopped arugula in the bottom of each bowl, and when you ladle piping hot chili on top, it will blanch the arugula just a bit. If you think you’ll want your arugula blanched a little more, you can place all of the arugula on top of the chili in the stew pot in the last 2 to 3 minutes, cover the pot and let it steam on top of the chili. Then you would scoop the arugula into the bowls, then ladle the chili on top.

To serve, place arugula in bowls, ladle chili on top, then sprinkle with cheese, scallions and cilantro and a dollop of sour cream.

(I’ve seen mention of possible snow expected one more time this year for a fellow food blogger in Canada, and it’s even chilly (no pun intended) here in Moab this week.

Therefore,

I hope you enjoy this bright, winter-into-spring-back-into-winter dish!

Enjoy!

­–Becky

Download the recipe file here.