It was a dark and stormy night and I needed to cook with pumpkin. A pie seemed too light hearted for the dismal day. No it had to be rainy day chili, pumpkin rainy day chili. Bear with me; this will not be gross (I hope). My recent taste testing of canned pumpkin proved to me that pumpkin is not naturally all that sweet. It seemed to work as a great thickener in my black bean soup so why not.
Not only the Internet, but old cookbooks as well, abound in recipes for pumpkin chili. Some of them seemed bad enough to put me off chili for years like the one with mushrooms and a cup of sugar. There was another with venison and peanut butter that sounded even scarier than Halloween. I read a bunch of the recipes, closed the books, put down the computer and went to work playing around with my own chili recipe that I love with the addition of pumpkin. I did work with a pen and paper close by to write down what I was doing. There’s this saying with my family and friends not to fall in love with anything I cook, because I won’t remember it and I never write it down. Not true! I kind of remember everything recipe I toy with…
Of course it all starts with the meat. I had ground beef and ground turkey in the freezer and a lot better chance of getting my family to eat this if I made it with ground beef. I dutifully chopped and sautéed, opened cans and jars and finally with a fair amount of trepidation, dumped in the pumpkin. There it was, a big orange glob in my pot, no turning back. I stirred it in and the orange just went away. I put the top on turned the stove to a gentle simmer and went about my business.
Thirty minutes later I came back, and I’m not making this up, it was beautiful. The chili was that thick lovely texture I strive to achieve every time I make it, usually with the addition of corn flour. It looked like chili in a magazine. After I got over my initial thrill, I knew it was time for a taste. Pretty chili won’t win any points in my house. And so I tasted……………………..
It was sublime, hot from the peppers, smoky from the salsa, beefy and, well, I couldn’t taste any pumpkin. If you are a pumpkin lover, I have to be fair and say you just can’t taste it at all in this chili. But the texture, rich, thick – I swear on a stack of bassets that this is how I will make my chili from now on. Sammy’s at a meeting, coming home for dinner, do I dare tell him?
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef or turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 poblano or bell pepper, chopped
1/2 of a jalapeno (or to taste), chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg chili seasoning
1 can chili beans
1 can black beans, drained
2 cans diced tomatoes
16 oz jar of salsa
1 can pumpkin puree
1/2 can any kind of beer
1 Tbsp semi sweet or unsweetened chocolate chips
Directions
In a large pan or Dutch oven brown meat in oil (hint: If there is a lot of liquid in the pan that comes from the meat as it heats, it will not brown so remove the liquid with a spoon)
Add onion, peppers and garlic and sauté until soft.
Open jars and cans to have ready.
Stir in both packages of seasoning cook for about 30 seconds.
Add all other ingredients and simmer as long as you want to, at least 30 minutes.
Serve with sour cream and cheese.
