Shop Penn

Many people are spending a lot more time cooking at home these days, and SHOP PENN is here to help you shake up dinner time with favorite home recipes straight from the chefs of some of your go-to SHOP PENN restaurants.

First up is Greg Maloney, the head chef at Louie Louie, a popular American bistro that offers a European-inspired menu with seasonal dishes based on a classic combination of flavors.  Chef Maloney is sharing his recipe for a delicious Chili that anyone can make at home with nothing more than basic grocery store ingredients and some time on your hands.

According to Chef Maloney…

I love this dish for a handful of reasons. For one, it is delicious. I love food that is filling, a ‘stick to your bones’ kind of meal. Second, it is not overly complicated in technique or on ingredients. Chili is one of the first things my mother taught me to cook, and although my recipe has evolved a great distance away from hers, it was still an easy thing to make. If you can't find a specific ingredient, it’s easy to tweak. Can’t find a Spanish onion? Use a red or white onion. Can’t find orange bell peppers? Use an extra red one. Want it spicier? Replace the jalapenos with habaneros. Can’t find dried black beans? Use canned. 

And lastly, I'm a home cook that prefers leftovers. I keep my freezer stocked with homemade soups, sauces, stocks, broths, etc., so that dinner on the fly doesn't always have to be Wawa or pizza. This recipe is enough for two people to have for dinner almost all week. And anything that you don’t want to eat that week, freezes and re-heats really well.

Chef Greg Maloney’s Chili
(Serves 8-10)

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons Bacon Fat (or sub canola, grapeseed, or avocado oil)

2 lbs ground beef (you can also sub ground turkey, chicken, veal, or, many grocery stores have a "meatball mix" which works really well)

1 Spanish onion, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper

1 orange bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

2 jalapenos, small diced

1 small can tomato paste

2 cans diced tomato

4 qts stock, chicken or beef

1 lb dry pinto beans

1 lb dry black beans

2 tablespoons paprika

3 tablespoons ground cumin

4 tablespoons chili powder

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 tablespoons picked fresh thyme, leaves only

1 bunch scallions, diced

1) Bring a large pot up to a medium heat and melt the bacon fat in it. Once the bacon fat is melted, add a half pound of ground beef into the pot and cook until the meat is well caramelized and almost crispy. You want to continuously stir the meat, scraping the bottom of the pot and breaking it up so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot, and there aren't any large chunks.

2) Once the meat is fully cooked, remove from the pot and set aside. Allow the pot to come back up to temp and add another half-pound of meat. Repeat the process, working in batches until all meat is cooked thoroughly and is well caramelized (the caramelization is very important to the end result. It produces a much more robust flavor to the chili). 

3) In the same pot, add the onion, carrot celery and garlic, and sauté until vegetables are caramelized and soft. Add bell peppers and jalapeno, and cook until tender. Once the fresh vegetables are all tender, add the tomato paste, and mix thoroughly with the veg.  Let cook, stirring continuously, for about 10 min. 

4) Add all remaining ingredients and bring up to a simmer on low heat. Cover and cook long enough that the dry beans are tender. The longer you cook it, the better the flavor will be. I will often times cook the chili until the beans are tender and then continue cooking even longer just for better flavor. When the beans are cooked, if the chili is too thin, uncover and cook on a medium heat until the excess liquid is cooked off. If the chili gets too thick at any point in the cooking process, simply add more stock. 

5) Garnish the chili however you'd like, but my favorite toppings are some chopped cilantro, sour cream, scallion, and some queso fresco.