Chorizo Chili

Oh chorizo! How I love thee!  And to put you into chili, well that just puts my love over the top.

If you've never cooked, or have heard of, chorizo, you're missing out. Its a Mexican sausage that has a ton of flavor (and fat).  Its found mostly in a tube in/around the meat section of most grocery stores - unless you live in the middle of no where. 

I was introduced to chorizo during my exchange student program when I lived in Mexico.  The mother of the family I lived with was a great cook and she cooked with chorizo on a regular basis.  My favorite meal, and I know this will sound weird, was her frying up some chorizo, then potatoes tossed in.  We'd put that goodness into a tortilla and call it an late evening snack.  My mouth is watering just thinking about this.

This chili was HOT.  Way too hot for me and if I did it again I'd leave out the chipotle chilis. While I love them I think their flavor overpowered the chili.  I served this with a bowl of rice to help cut down on the flames that were spewing forth. Still it was really flavorful and filling.

Its a slow cooker meal too. You can either take all day on low, or 3-4 hours on high. I chose the latter...mostly because I got a later start then I had planned.

Chorizo Chili

Serves 6

• 1 lb stew meat
• Salt and pepper
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 can Fire roasted tomatoes (28oz) diced or whole
• 1 can black beans (15 oz) drained and rinsed
• 1 tube Mexican chorizo sausage (10oz)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed (though I don't know why because they'll thaw in the crock pot)
• 2 T minced garlic
• 2 T chili powder
• 2 T minced chipotle chilli's pepper in adobo (you can usually find this on your Mexican food aisle)
• 1 T Ground cumin
• 1 T minced fresh oregano, or 1 tsp dried

Season the stew meat with salt and pepper; brown meat in oil in a skillet over medium- high heat for 5 minutes (optional).  I started my chorizo cooking in the skillet and then tossed in the stew meat. I let them cook together for about 5 minutes.

Combine all the ingredients into a slow cooker.  Cover; cook until beef is tender.  High heat 3-4 hours. Low setting 7-8.

Without the chipotles I'm sure this stew wouldn't have been as hot as it was.  So if you're not a heat person, leave those out.