Chili Mac

1 pound corkscrew shaped pasta
2 pounds ground sirloin
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 jalapeno peppers, seed and chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons dark chili powder
2 tablespoons cumin
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper sauce
Coarse salt
1 cup beer or beef broth
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 (14-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
Chopped scallions, for garnish


In a large pot, boil pasta until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a big, deep pot, brown beef in oil over medium high heat. Add onions, peppers, and garlic. Season meat mixture with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Cook together 5 minutes, stir in beer or broth, and reduce liquid by half, 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain pasta. Add hot pasta to chili pot and stir to coat pasta evenly. Remove from heat and garnish big bowls of chili mac with chopped scallions.

Sometimes I use as much garlic as I have on hand.

Hey, I made that last night for dinner!

I used 1 pound of ground beef and 1 pound of ground Veal. Mine had 2 medium chopped onions where you only use 1; and I used chopped fresh tomatoes instead of canned tomatoes. No jalapenos in mine but I put in a good dose of Cumin., chili powder, Paprika, and cayenne. And no beer or beef broth. The noodles we cooked in water, but I like the broth idea.

My wife makes real chili, she got the receipe when she lived in El Paso. It has chunks of beef, plus ground pork and ground beef. And a good dose of cocoa powder in her receipe too. She uses lots of tomatoes, great northern beans + kidney beans and about a head of minced garlic, along with lots of cumin and pepper. Its a bit hot for my tastes, but it is still darn good.

Did you save any for me? When I make this its all I eat ALL weekend. Great comfort food.

I use coaco powder and brown sugar in my chili. Is that a secret chili recipe your wife uses?

http://www.chilicookoff.com/Recipe/Recipe_Categories_Search.asp?Cat=1&StatusID=4&Champ=1

No brown sugar in her receipe. She got the receipe from some ladies group in El Paso. It is supposed to be a 'regional' receipe. I just know it as the best chili I've ever eaten.

As for the chili mac, yup there are plenty of leftovers. I typically bring my lunch to work so on the weekends we often make large amounts and then save single serve sizes in the freezer so I can bring them to my office. I rarely go out to eat and find that 'fast food' is just bad food. So I bring food from home, eat at my desk, get better quality food and save a lot of time too.

That sounds good, guys. Maybe I'll give it a try when our son and family are up..

Pigtails said:

That sounds good, guys. Maybe I'll give it a try when our son and family are up..

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I really think you will enjoy this. I must be honest tho, I make it a little different. I go crazy on the garlic and cayenne sauce/powder. Is there such a thing as too much garlic? This is an old Rachel Ray recipe.