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Beating the Winter Blues

Winter has officially hit Athens. It’s cold and getting colder. Cars are skidding on the slushy bricks of Court Street and classes are mysteriously empty after each fresh snowfall. Naturally, I did the only thing a college foodie can do in times like these: I went to Walmart and bought a $15 slow-cooker. The objective? Chili.

Nothing warms me up like a hot bowl of chili on a cold winter day. The greatest part about it is that chili is best when it’s made in a crock pot or slow-cooker, and you can make it hours in advance and let all that flavorful goodness soak in (hence the term slow-cooker). I decided to make chili last weekend, but with a classic Emma twist: pasta. The result? Chili meets minestrone, or as I like to call it, chilistrone.

Chilistrone

You will need:

• a crock pot or slow-cooker (obviously)
• 1 pound of hamburger
• about ¾ of a 46 oz. can of tomato juice
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 1 can of kidney beans
• your favorite vegetables
• I used:
• 1 small yellow onion
• 4 stalks of celery
• 2 large carrots (or about a dozen baby carrots)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• ½ tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust for your preferred level of spicy)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cups uncooked macaroni noodles
• salt and pepper

Put a skillet over medium-high heat on the stove and start browning the hamburger, making sure to season it with salt and pepper.
While that’s cooking, pour the tomato juice and tomato paste into the slow-cooker. Keep the heat setting on low for now. Drain and rinse the kidney beans (rinsing them removes the excess sodium from the canning process) and add them to the slow-cooker.

Chop up all your vegetables and the garlic. The veggies can be chopped pretty coarsely; they’ll cook down and get soft in the crock pot. The garlic should be minced finely, however, as no one likes to eat a chunk of garlic.

Give everything a stir, then add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes and sugar and stir again. When the hamburger is browned, drain the excess grease and add the meat to the slow-cooker as well.

For best results, leave the slow cooker on a low heat setting for a few hours (this recipe is great if you have afternoon classes; just throw everything in before you leave your house and leave it on while you’re in class). Half an hour before you want to eat your chilistrone, turn the heat setting up to high and add the macaroni noodles. Check on it after about 15 minutes and add more tomato juice if the noodles need it to get soft. The end result should be relatively thick and stew-like (though if you prefer it to be more soupy, you can add the rest of the tomato juice).

Serve with a baked potato or eat as a meal itself—it’s definitely hearty enough!

Tags: chili, College Kitchen, Emma Frankart, minestrone