hmmmmm wonder if we should be adding recipes too...
ok Annette great start..but how the heck did you forget the DATE!!!!

and Ill send you a private PM for the recipe book! hahahah

when I get a load of cherry tomatos from the farm...i have a simple recipe that uses up a bunch.

simply cut them in half...lightly salt the tops (you can use basil or any other herb in addition if you want)...and just slowly bake
on low heat for a long time...2 or 3 hours (perfect if you are making sauce with your big ones). They will dry up kinda like raisens but i like to have just a little juicy squirt left...I eat em like a snack or add to a pasta dish, or salad.

My Personal Cookbook



Me, da cook!

In my book you'll find a bunch of stuff that you might not see in other books. Some of the material might just weird you out , but when you know the cook, it shouldn't surprise you a bit at all.
Index

Fish Guts and Eggs

Sandwiches and Salads

Tenderly tundra

Banned and Banished

Jim's Roadside Red


Back later with serious stuff

Let's talk chili. To me this is an almost religious food. There is so much history and culture behind this "Bowl of Red Droppings" that it would surprise many.

The first claim to fame, among many, was noted in the Southwest by the First Nations people there. It had something to do with a Spanish nun who spent some time in a trance and during this time she would wind up in the Southwest caring for the folks of the area. She apparently was the "Mother of Chili", when she mixed up a batch using meat, some wild peppers and tomatoes. However a good romantic read, and all, no one bothered to document this and she never bothered to put her recipes on paper....so, I'll leave this to the reader's discretion.

Then there was the bunch who were in various jails and by using cheap meat and most likely the same ingredients, they too made a hit. This seems more realistic as there were more people in jail than there were nuns in a trance, and I have never heard of Blue Nun Chili,. but I have tried jailhouse recipes.

I guess over the years lots of people think that they started it. Dunno. I do know that we all have our own secrets about how to make an "ain't half bad batch"

My secrets are simple and down to earth. You make it good, you brew it with TLC..


"The Chili Witch"

A Taste of Jim's Roadside Red



In this one, you need fresh roadkill.....well as fresh as possible, as long as the crows ain't peckin' out the eyes and it ain't too bloated. It has to have been bled too. However most of them who are hit and dragged by an 18-wheeler are pretty well bled out.

In this recipe I need three pounds of chili ground meat. I use three pounds for several reasons. Naturally you make a bigger batch, but you can freeze it. But even more important, with three pounds of meat you can be sure that the roadkill is not a dog, a fox, an armadillo or whatever.

I set up my kitchen outside and do it in a big old Dutch oven on my a propane-fired burner, however I prepare it inside.

Ok.here we go....

3 lbs. chili ground meat.
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
3 tbsps cooking oil
"Pantry Peppers" ( That's what I have handy in the pantry.....)
My own ground cumin
2 tbsps of my own chili powder
2 big cans of tomatoes. mebbe 3 cans, just in case.
Beans (optional)
1 case of beer, iced down in a cold box.
...and I'll add on as I go along.......

Brown the meat, the onions and garlic together using the cooking oil to keep from sticking. Once browned, add a couple of cans of tomatoes, the chili powder, cumin and the peppers.

A word here about the peppers. I like chipoltes (Is that spelled right?) and I'll also throw in a few jalapenos and occasionally a regular bell pepper, which will be browned with the meat, onions and garlic. Rule of the thumb, the thinner the shoulders of the perpper, the hotter they are. Anchos give a good taste also and adobo sauce, can't forget that. It's all about what you've got hanging around in the pantry.

OK. the tomatoes, if you think it is not liquid enough, put in another can of tomatoes, you can always thicken the brew with masa farina (Well, you know what I mean). Use salt to taste. This is the basic chili.

Now I bring it outside and fire up my burner. This is where the TLC comes in. Bringing it to a boil, I let it simmer on a very low fire, uncovered. The secret here is the music. I put on a bit of Delta Blues, Robert Johnson, Mississippi Fred McDowell, something those lines, as the potion is in its early stages and I want something a bit laid back so as not to make it too aggressive too early. Crack a beer. Pour half a bottle in the brew, to let it know that it is welcomed in your home. creating an ambience which will blend the taste and the love together, making this one a culturally acceptable pot of gold.

The neighbors will stop by, they will probably not refuse a beer, and will gladly listen to your chili anecdotes. After the first half hour, you may begin the tasting process, but keep in mind, even with roadkill, the taste will develop over a period of time so when adjusting your additives, keep this in mind. From an hour on, you may commence to "personalize" your batch, a bit of cayenne pepper mebbe, or even add something you have found in the fridge which is about to go bad anyway, as you'll be working this for three hours.



As the process advances, so will the music. Yeah I know chili is of Texas origins and not Delta or Loosiana origins, so you could try out a Smokin' Joe Kubek or Doug Sahm, but I always keep a CD of Gary P. Nunn handy, as he says it pretty good. He's a chili person.

The neighbors will drop by as I said, they will be curious, they will ask questions, drink your beer but that's all right, because when they leave they will, as we say up here, go to sleep a bit more wiser. Today they will have learned that this gastronomical orgasm is one of the best kept culinary secrets around. They will have learned that cooking with TLC is a "must". You don't give it a beer, you don't talk to it, you don't help it out along the way, you might as well go down to the local market and buy a can, and not waste an afternoon fussing.


A half hour before it is done, if you care to, you may add your beans, which have been prepared beforehand. With this recipe I prefer pinto beans, altho I usually use turtles, these pintos seem to be very compatible with "mowed down venison"

Have a beer...raise it for me....and have a good evening.