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jebbypalOkay, Okay, Chili and Spaghetti served together seems to be a very regional thing. It's pretty much one of my Father's favorite dishes and he'd much rather have it than a traditional marinara meat sauce. Give it a try, or just make the chili to go w/ your favorite chili con carne or what have you. This is a quick meal with minimal cleanup and if you do it with a pound of meat, you have about four-five meals for one person ready for the next week.
disclaimer: I guess I should let you guys know that very few of the dishes I'll be talking about will be vegetarian. If any. I grew up in a meat household and with the combinations of my food allergies, vegetarian is pretty much not an option for me. I also don't mention too many options w/ cheeses because I never aquired much of a taste for cheese since I grew up lactose intolerant in the ten years before lactaid became available. Experiment with cheese as you wish. It goes very well with this dish though.
ingredientsOkay, first off, you need approximately a pound of hamburger (85/15 fat percentage works the best -- gives you flavor without too much grease. Other percentages are fine if you prefer). You can also use ground turkey for this, but there are a couple of tricks to it that way that I'll go into at the end. I'm going to do the basic recipe first and then talk about extras to add. You'll also need your 8-10 inch skillet (preferably with a lid or a spatter screen. Otherwise you will have to wipe down your stove top -- caution, make sure your top half is clothed as hot grease hurts) and your 2 quart saucepan to do the pasta in. Also, some sort of chili packet mix from your local store --- I prefer Williams, but that's a regional brand (midwest-south). McCormick makes one as do several others. also, an 8-12 ounce can of tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes. Sometimes you can also get these with flavors, ie garlic or onions mixed in. Whatever you prefer. And pasta of your choice, spaghetti is fine, but if you prefer a shelled pasta or something, that's fine.
Put your skillet on the burner, and use your hands to tear out chunks of the ground hamburger and put them in the skillet. Turn your burner to medium high (if electric, go ahead and do high until it heats up and then turn it down). As the meat starts cooking, use your pancake flipping spatula thingie to break the meat up so it crumbles into balls/individual pieces. Add some salt and pepper. Cover it with the lid and leave it for a few minutes.
While that's cooking, start a pan of water boiling for your pasta. A trick to make sure your pasta doesn't boil over is to add a small dash of salt to the water and a dollop of olive oil (about a half of tablespoon or so is all that's necessary).
Now check your skillet of meat -- the bottom should be brown and you'll have some grease in the bottom. You can leave the grease (my dad does and swears by it) or you can pour it off -- if you want to pour it off, you really do need some sort of lid really. I advise to pour it into the trash can so you don't have to worry about your sink backing up. BE CAREFUL. Basically, put your lid on a little skewed so you have less than a half inch gap between the end of the lid and the side of the skillet. Two potholders wouldn't go amiss -- then you can hold the handle and w/ a potholder on the other hand, hold the lid on tight either at the side or at the top where the lid handle is. Walk to the trashcan (with a plastic or a paper bag in it) and pour the grease into the trashcan. You may need to do this one more time after it's been cooking a while if you got 80/20 meat.
Return the skillet to the stove and the heat (any grease on the side shouldn't cause too much problem. If it worries you, put the pan on a cold burner or the cabinet and wipe the dripple off with a papertowel. Don't get the paper towel near the hot burner though). Take off the lid and use your spatula to break up the meat and to toss it around so that the pink top gets closer to the hot bottom. Put the lid back on.
Your water may be boiling. You can toss your pasta in and stir it up once. If you are picky about your pasta doneness, check how long the bag/box says to cook it and set a timer to get it al dente.
Open your can of tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes. Get your packet of chili mix out. Check to see if your meat is done -- it should all be brownish grey. Use your spatula to break into any big chunks to make sure everything's done. When you're certain your meat is done, pour in the tomato sauce (you can turn the heat off while you do this portion if you want). Check your chili mix instructions -- some will tell you to add water sometimes etc. Check though to see how many ounces of tomato whatever that they tell you to add and compare it to your can -- I find that many tell you to add as little as four ounces of sauce or what have you, but it's very difficult to find that size can anymore. I also hate to waste what I don't use and find that more tomato doesn't adversely affect the chili IMO. But if you used a lot more sauce than what they called for, you won't need to add much water if that's what they tell you to do. Make sense?
Add in the chili mix and stir everything together so the mix is evenly distributed with the meat. Now comes judgement time: if it looks too thick, add in some water regardless of the instructions. If it's too thin, don't worry, it will boil off. Put the lid on and turn the heat back on to medium hi --- once you know it's boiling, you can turn down to med-lo or low.
If your pasta has finished at any point here, just go ahead and leave the meat midway (w/ heat on or whatever depending on where it's at) and pour off the water. A strainer works well here, but if you don't have one and have a spoon that will cover most of the width of the pan, use the spoon to help keep the pasta in as you pour the water down the drain. Now, you can add a pat of butter (about a tablespooon or so) to the pasta or you can add a bit of olive oil. This is to keep the pasta from sticking -- mix it around so the pasta is coated and leave in pan and place it out of your way.
Go back to your skillet and stir things up. Basically, you want to make sure the sauce gets hot, but you also have the option here of cooking long enough to get the consistency you want -- the longer you cook the more the water will evaporate. You'll want to stir periodically so the bottom doesn't burn though. Also, cooking for about ten minutes on a low simmer allows the meat to take up more of the spices. When you're satisified, it's done. Turn the heat off.
Take some pasta and put it in a single serving bowl or on a plate. Spoon some chili over it. Add whatever toppings you desire (sour cream, cheese, what have you, that you think go well with chili). Eat.
Ground turkey options: If you want to make this more healthy, you can use ground turkey. Many places, ground turkey is available in the same pillow packs as ground beef. Other places you'll find a tube of ground turkey in the freezer section. either is fine. However, turkey, like chicken, has blandness issues. To get around that, buy a bell pepper and some sort of onions. Before you put the turkey in, add some chopped bell pepper (about a handfull) and similar amount of onion to the skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom. You can also add chopped garlic or some garlic powder. Saute the onion and pepper for about three minutes and then add the turkey. You won't pour any grease/water off here though because ground turkey gets very vvery dry and you want all the moisture you can get. salt and pepper and then add the rest of the bell pepper and onion as the turkey cooks. Continue w/ everything else as I laid out.
other options: Like with the turkey, you can add onion and bell pepper to the hamburger meat as it cooks to make it more flavorful. You can also substitute two medium fresh tomatoes for canned tomatoes, but you'll then need to add in enough water to make a "sauce". And you'll want to add in some extra salt to taste. Also, if you like hot things, feel free to add flaked red pepper (in your spice aisle at the store) to the meat as it cooks or to the later sauce.
If you need clarification, just comment.
disclaimer: I guess I should let you guys know that very few of the dishes I'll be talking about will be vegetarian. If any. I grew up in a meat household and with the combinations of my food allergies, vegetarian is pretty much not an option for me. I also don't mention too many options w/ cheeses because I never aquired much of a taste for cheese since I grew up lactose intolerant in the ten years before lactaid became available. Experiment with cheese as you wish. It goes very well with this dish though.
ingredientsOkay, first off, you need approximately a pound of hamburger (85/15 fat percentage works the best -- gives you flavor without too much grease. Other percentages are fine if you prefer). You can also use ground turkey for this, but there are a couple of tricks to it that way that I'll go into at the end. I'm going to do the basic recipe first and then talk about extras to add. You'll also need your 8-10 inch skillet (preferably with a lid or a spatter screen. Otherwise you will have to wipe down your stove top -- caution, make sure your top half is clothed as hot grease hurts) and your 2 quart saucepan to do the pasta in. Also, some sort of chili packet mix from your local store --- I prefer Williams, but that's a regional brand (midwest-south). McCormick makes one as do several others. also, an 8-12 ounce can of tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes. Sometimes you can also get these with flavors, ie garlic or onions mixed in. Whatever you prefer. And pasta of your choice, spaghetti is fine, but if you prefer a shelled pasta or something, that's fine.
Put your skillet on the burner, and use your hands to tear out chunks of the ground hamburger and put them in the skillet. Turn your burner to medium high (if electric, go ahead and do high until it heats up and then turn it down). As the meat starts cooking, use your pancake flipping spatula thingie to break the meat up so it crumbles into balls/individual pieces. Add some salt and pepper. Cover it with the lid and leave it for a few minutes.
While that's cooking, start a pan of water boiling for your pasta. A trick to make sure your pasta doesn't boil over is to add a small dash of salt to the water and a dollop of olive oil (about a half of tablespoon or so is all that's necessary).
Now check your skillet of meat -- the bottom should be brown and you'll have some grease in the bottom. You can leave the grease (my dad does and swears by it) or you can pour it off -- if you want to pour it off, you really do need some sort of lid really. I advise to pour it into the trash can so you don't have to worry about your sink backing up. BE CAREFUL. Basically, put your lid on a little skewed so you have less than a half inch gap between the end of the lid and the side of the skillet. Two potholders wouldn't go amiss -- then you can hold the handle and w/ a potholder on the other hand, hold the lid on tight either at the side or at the top where the lid handle is. Walk to the trashcan (with a plastic or a paper bag in it) and pour the grease into the trashcan. You may need to do this one more time after it's been cooking a while if you got 80/20 meat.
Return the skillet to the stove and the heat (any grease on the side shouldn't cause too much problem. If it worries you, put the pan on a cold burner or the cabinet and wipe the dripple off with a papertowel. Don't get the paper towel near the hot burner though). Take off the lid and use your spatula to break up the meat and to toss it around so that the pink top gets closer to the hot bottom. Put the lid back on.
Your water may be boiling. You can toss your pasta in and stir it up once. If you are picky about your pasta doneness, check how long the bag/box says to cook it and set a timer to get it al dente.
Open your can of tomato sauce or chopped tomatoes. Get your packet of chili mix out. Check to see if your meat is done -- it should all be brownish grey. Use your spatula to break into any big chunks to make sure everything's done. When you're certain your meat is done, pour in the tomato sauce (you can turn the heat off while you do this portion if you want). Check your chili mix instructions -- some will tell you to add water sometimes etc. Check though to see how many ounces of tomato whatever that they tell you to add and compare it to your can -- I find that many tell you to add as little as four ounces of sauce or what have you, but it's very difficult to find that size can anymore. I also hate to waste what I don't use and find that more tomato doesn't adversely affect the chili IMO. But if you used a lot more sauce than what they called for, you won't need to add much water if that's what they tell you to do. Make sense?
Add in the chili mix and stir everything together so the mix is evenly distributed with the meat. Now comes judgement time: if it looks too thick, add in some water regardless of the instructions. If it's too thin, don't worry, it will boil off. Put the lid on and turn the heat back on to medium hi --- once you know it's boiling, you can turn down to med-lo or low.
If your pasta has finished at any point here, just go ahead and leave the meat midway (w/ heat on or whatever depending on where it's at) and pour off the water. A strainer works well here, but if you don't have one and have a spoon that will cover most of the width of the pan, use the spoon to help keep the pasta in as you pour the water down the drain. Now, you can add a pat of butter (about a tablespooon or so) to the pasta or you can add a bit of olive oil. This is to keep the pasta from sticking -- mix it around so the pasta is coated and leave in pan and place it out of your way.
Go back to your skillet and stir things up. Basically, you want to make sure the sauce gets hot, but you also have the option here of cooking long enough to get the consistency you want -- the longer you cook the more the water will evaporate. You'll want to stir periodically so the bottom doesn't burn though. Also, cooking for about ten minutes on a low simmer allows the meat to take up more of the spices. When you're satisified, it's done. Turn the heat off.
Take some pasta and put it in a single serving bowl or on a plate. Spoon some chili over it. Add whatever toppings you desire (sour cream, cheese, what have you, that you think go well with chili). Eat.
Ground turkey options: If you want to make this more healthy, you can use ground turkey. Many places, ground turkey is available in the same pillow packs as ground beef. Other places you'll find a tube of ground turkey in the freezer section. either is fine. However, turkey, like chicken, has blandness issues. To get around that, buy a bell pepper and some sort of onions. Before you put the turkey in, add some chopped bell pepper (about a handfull) and similar amount of onion to the skillet with enough oil to coat the bottom. You can also add chopped garlic or some garlic powder. Saute the onion and pepper for about three minutes and then add the turkey. You won't pour any grease/water off here though because ground turkey gets very vvery dry and you want all the moisture you can get. salt and pepper and then add the rest of the bell pepper and onion as the turkey cooks. Continue w/ everything else as I laid out.
other options: Like with the turkey, you can add onion and bell pepper to the hamburger meat as it cooks to make it more flavorful. You can also substitute two medium fresh tomatoes for canned tomatoes, but you'll then need to add in enough water to make a "sauce". And you'll want to add in some extra salt to taste. Also, if you like hot things, feel free to add flaked red pepper (in your spice aisle at the store) to the meat as it cooks or to the later sauce.
If you need clarification, just comment.