Ingredients:

32 oz. Carrots
16 oz. Parsnips
1 medium sized Turnip
1 or 2 Pasilla peppers
1 large red onion
1 Large Granny Smith Apple
10-15 Garlic Cloves
2-3 inch finger of Ginger, peeled (don’t overdo the ginger)
64 oz quality stock
1-2 cups white wine or sherry
1-2 cups cream or ½ and ½
2 Tbsp. spoons Thyme
1-3 Tbsp Spoons Brown Sugar (if needed)
2-3 Tbsp. spoons Curry Powder
4-6 strips of Bacon cut into bits
1 cube of Butter
Olive oil  
Chives as garnish
Crème fraîche or sour cream as garnish

Preparation: 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Cut the vegetables into about two inch pieces trying to keep them similar in mass.  Place the vegetables, garlic, onion and ginger (sliced into about ¾ inch rounds) on two cookie sheets and spread everything out as much as possible.  Sprinkle with olive oil and mix with your hands to coat the vegetables.  Add salt and pepper.  Loosely cover with foil and roast in the oven for an hour, tossing at least once mid way and removing the foil.  Finish the vegetables under the broiler until they are caramelized if necessary.  Don't overcook them.  

Melt the butter and some olive oil in a large pot.  Add the apple (diced) and sauté until the apple browns.   Add the roasted vegetables, the thyme and curry powder and stir.  Add the stock, stir and bring to a low boil for 30 minutes.  Puree the mixture with an immersion blender.  Add the wine, bacon and ½ and ½.  Correct the seasonings.  If the soup is too thick, add water.

  Serve with garnishes.

Ingredients:

1.5 lb favorite steak (I use Flank Steak)
.5 lb lean ground beef
.5 lb ground pork or sage pork sausage
1 lb pork steak
Olive oil
2 cans 16 oz favorite beans (optional)
4 12 oz. cans of fire roasted stewed tomatoes (may only be available with garlic, which never hurts). 
1 small can of tomato paste (4-6 oz.)
24 ounces vegetable, chicken or beef stock as needed
1 cup red wine or more to taste

VEGETABLES

One handful of cilantro, stalks removed, finely chopped
3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 medium red onion
1 package of portabella mushrooms, discard the stems, chopped
4 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 bell pepper (red), diced
1 bell pepper (orange or yellow), diced
1-2 pasilla chili pepper, chopped (this pepper is medium-hot)
2 jalapeño peppers, chopped—handle carefully or with gloves…don’t touch your eyes!

SPICES

2 tbsp cayenne
2 tbsp ground smoked paprika
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp dried, chopped basil
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3-4 tbsp dried, chopped oregano
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp Kitchen Bouquet (mostly for color)
1 tbsp Cholula (or other) hot sauce
1 8.25 oz bottle concentrated mole sauce 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2-4 tbsp brown sugar (to taste)

SERVE WITH

Cheddar cheese
Sour cream or Crème fraîche
Chopped onions
Cilantro
Cucumber
Corn meal dumplings
Corn Tortillas
Beans

PREPARATION

Sweat the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, pasilla chili pepper, and jalapeño peppers in a large pot (for a more complex flavor, coat these vegetables in olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at  400 degrees for about an hour or until they caramelize and place them in the pot).  Add the roasted stewed tomatoes and bring to a boil.  Add stock, salt and pepper, reduce heat and let simmer until vegetables are tender (about 15-20 min.)   With an emersion blender puree the tomato and vegetable mix until completely blended.  Allow to simmer.

In a separate pan cook the ground pork (sausage), ground beef and spices over medium-high heat until slightly brown.  (Dry spices release more flavor in oil.)

Add the browned meat mixture, tomato paste, bay leaf and Mole sauce to the tomato mixture.  Add more stock if it is too thick (until it is the consistency of tomato soup).  Let simmer while you prepare the remaining meat, vegetables and mushrooms.

Meanwhile, cut the pork and beef steaks in ½ inch chunks.  Brown the cubed meat in the same pan as the ground meat, adding olive oil if necessary and add to the chili.  (At this point you might want to let the cubed meet simmer for as long as needed to make it tender, depending on the cuts chosen)  Sauté the red onion, mushrooms and remaining peppers until just brown.  Cube the Roma tomatoes and add to pan, tossing for a few minutes.  Add the red wine to stop the cooking and deglaze the pan.  Add to the chili and let them finish cooking during the simmering process.  This late inclusion is designed to allow a more chunky consistency in the otherwise uniform slurry (if you are going to let the chili sit overnight, you may want to add these vegetables the next day so they remain fresher).  Let simmer until the desired thickness is achieved, stirring frequently. You can add some dried fruit for an unexpected treat.  (If you need to thicken the chili, add tomato paste; to thin it, add stock.)

Finally, add hot sauce to taste, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar to taste (I like my chili to be a little sweet). 

Remove bay leaf.  Serve with grated cheddar cheese, finally chopped onion, chopped cucumbers, cilantro and chilled Crème fraîche or sour cream.  Serve over beans and tortillas, if desired.

Dumplings