First, my apologies for my language….it’s not mine, it’s Michael Chiarello’s. I have used this recipe for at least 10 years. We love peppers, we love hot, and we love these with a nice meat dish. Chiarello serves them with a recipe he calls “Forever Roasted Pork”. This is one that cooks at least 6-8 hours in a 250 oven, or all day in a crockpot. It’s great because it feeds a lot of people, and is relatively easy to do. So, why am I giving you Steak House Chili? First, here is the peppers recipe, and then I will explain what I made out of it.
DAMN HOT PEPPERS (Michael Chiarello)
4-6 large red bell peppers (if you like green, you can mix them 2 or 3 of each)
4-8 large jalapeños (Remove seeds and membranes if you are a Wimp). That’s the hot part. We are brave Gringo’s, so we leave them in. The hotter the better!
2– 32 oz. can crushed tomatoes, or tomato sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
Small bunch fresh basil leaves (if possible)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
Heat oil in a large heavy bottom pot. Chop all peppers in a large chop and add to hot oil. Cook 20-30 minutes, adding about 1 cup water. Add tomatoes, vinegar and basil and simmer till peppers are tender and the sauce is tasty. NOTE: I always add about 1 Tbs. of sugar to these tomato recipes. I just can’t help it. It really doesn’t make it too sweet, and it does help to cut the acid.
NOW FOR MY NEW YEAR’S DILEMMA……What do I do with a whole, leftover, beautiful, hand rubbed and Grilled Rib Eye steak? I usually don’t like the flavor of anything BBQ or Rotisserie flavored in my soups or casseroles. Too distinct a flavor! We had a wonderful dinner with our old friends, Duttons and Secher’s and although we are all good eaters, I severely misjudged the amount of food I made. We served 3 Ribeyes and one large salmon, for 6 people. Two steaks would have been plenty! So there I was, with tasty BBQ’d steak. Of course, we could have sliced it and made a nice salad out of it, but I had another idea!
First, slice the steak into bite sized pieces. I chopped one small onion, added some garlic, and sautéed till soft. Then I added the steak, and about 2 cups beef broth. Simmer about 10 minutes. You don’t need long cooking on this, because ribeyes are so tender. Now the fun part. I took my “Damn hot peppers” (2-3 cups), chopped them a little finer (you could also blend them lightly in the food processor if you like). One more can of tomatoes or sauce, simmer about 1/2 hour. Serve with cheese, or other garnishes like sour cream, crushed Doritos, peppers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
