This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was Black Bean Chili.
Taking a cue from Zoe at Nutmeg Kitchen, I decide to try their chili recipe. I too did it a little differently. I used:
- 3/4 lb ground beef from Stuarts Family Farm
- 2 Tbsp peanut oil, from away
- 1 chopped onions from Shenandoah Farms, Easton, CT
- 2 minced garlic cloves, from Cherry Grove Farm, Newtown, CT
- 1/2 jalapeno chiles, chopped (seeds in), from Cherry Grove Farm, Newtown, CT, from the freezer
- 2 tsps chili powder, from away.
- 2-1/2 tsps ground cumin, from away.
- 2 tsps raw cacao powder (I should have used more—a lot more), from away. Far, far away.
- 1/4 cup red wine (S’il Vous Plait from Jerram Winery)
- 2 tsps maple syrup, from Bluestone Farm
- 1 pint whole peeled tomatoes, from Don Taylor Farms, Danbury, CT, from my freezer
- 1-1/2 cups black beans, from Cayuga Pure Organics in NY. (That’s about 170 miles from me but it is the closest source of dry beans that I know of. Additionally, this is exactly the kind of farm I want to support.)
- topped with Queso Fresco with jalapeno from Ladies of Levita Road, Lebanon, CT.
Nice heat, no doubt due to the addition of the jalapeno cheese. Could use more cumin and garlic and definitely more cacao powder. The wine was a nice touch.
Like Zoe, I didn’t use the bacon either.
This sounds great! And I love the idea of maple syrup.
Hi Sophie,
Where do you buy your Cayuga beans? Do you go into the City or is there a source closer to us? I haven’t managed to catch up with them in Manhattan, so sadly I haven’t gotten any yet. (Bad locavore!). Luckily I have a good friend who lives in San Francisco and brings me Rancho Gordo beans, local to her so local to me when she brings ’em. 🙂
Hi Kaela: I got these at The Wild Hive Bakery Cafe in Clinton Corners, NY. I was passing through (on my way back from Albany for a concert that never happened) in July. I cooked the whole bag and froze the rest in “can size” quantities, ready for a recipe.
Shoot – Tai was just up there, picking up a flour order, a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t know they carried carried the Cayuga beans! Ah, well, thanks for the info; I will scope it out next time I am up in the area.
Kaela: I don’t know if they have them all the time. They had them the day I was there. In fact, they had lots of cool stuff from local area farmers. I went in to get grais and came out with two huge stuffed bags of grains, beans, Ronny Brook dairy products and several bakery items. I love those people there too.