Beef and Chorizo Chili

Beef stew meat and chorizo give this chili a meaty bite.  Adjust the chipotle chilies to your heat tolerance (the original recipe called for 4! WOW!).

(modified from original recipe from Cooking Light)

Serves 8

• 2 links Spanish chorizo sausage (~ 6 ounces) cut in half lengthwise and then sliced thinly. If you can find a turkey version, that’s even better.
• 1 ½ pounds beef stew meat, trimmed of excessive fat
• 1 ½ cups chopped onion
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (7 ounce) can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (use 1 or 2 chilies and sauce depending on heat tolerance)
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 cup dry red wine
• ¼ cup fresh lime juice
• 2 (14 ounce) cans fat free reduced sodium beef broth
• 1 (28 ounce) can reduced sodium diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons fine ground cornmeal
• 1 (15 ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add chorizo to pan; sauté 3 minutes or until browned.  Remove chorizo from pan to a large bowl.  Add half of beef to pan; sauté 5 minutes or until browned.  Remove beef from pan (add to the chorizo bowl).  Repeat procedure with the remaining beef and then add to the chorizo/beef bowl.  Add onion and garlic to pan; sauté 3 minutes.

Remove 1 or 2 chipotle chilies (depending on your heat preference) from the can and chop (reserve remaining chilies for another use; I chop and freeze them in ice cube trays for easy future use).

Add chorizo, beef, chopped chilies and next 7 ingredients (through cumin) to pan and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Stir in wine, lime juice, broth and tomatoes; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Gradually stir in cornmeal.  Add pinto and black beans; bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Nutritional Info/Serving:   358 Calories, Fat 7 g, Protein 31 g, Carbs 30 g