BOOZY CHILI FRITO PIE

It’s another super bowl, and once again this year you are cheering on a team you could care less about because your team didn’t make it. What is worse you can’t go to the game due to the state orders during this pandemic. However, there is one way to bring about a smile on that sad face of yours, and that is to make a nostalgic game day staple that everyone will enjoy. Trust me this boozy chili frito pie is so good that you will end up sharing this with your family, friends, significant other, neighbors, and nosy landlord. I mean, you don’t have to share you could just have this all to yourself, in fact it is so damn delicious it might make you want to do just that and entirely avoid sharing any of it after you try the first bite.

Another wonderful thing about this dish is it only takes 15 minutes of time to prep, and then you can go get your make up ready to paint on your forehead the lyrics to the team victory chant. I mean you take your game day habits seriously so you might as well take your game day food just as seriously.

Now for the dish you will be “cooking” with booze, and it will be adding big bold flavor and deep rich moisture to your chili, but it will be simmering and cooking for a long enough period of time to burn off the alcohol (4.5 hours in the crock pot) which loosely translates to: this dish will be safe for all to consume.

When it comes time to cooking with your booze, don’t skimp. I say that because the whole dish is a tasty quality dish, and this is because each ingredient going into it is tasty, and of high quality. That doesn’t mean you have to pick the most expensive ingredient, or in this case, most pricy booze either. The key is going with what you enjoy drinking, because for this chili we are only using 1 can of beer and ¼ cup of whiskey. That means you have the whole rest of whatever bottle of whiskey you get and a whole case left of beer to drink, which will be perfect for washing down and pairing with your boozy frito chili pie.

Now to get cooking:

Boozy Chili (for your Boozy Chili Frito Pie)

Ingredients:

olive oil, drizzle

1 lb ground beef

2 teaspoons pepper

3 teaspoons salt

2 cloves garlic minced

1 large onion, chopped

30 oz kidney bean, 1 can

28 oz crushed tomato

2 tablespoons cumin

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

6 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cacao powder (unsweetened)

¼ cup Whiskey (I use Jameson)

15 fl oz Stout (I use Guiness (1 can)

To top your frito pie:

shredded cheddar cheese

sour cream

fresh chive, chopped

a few small bags of fritos

1 jalapeno, sliced into wheels

fresh cilantro, chopped

¼ white onion, small dice

Directions:

In a crockpot or slow cooker, turn on sauté, once the bottom has warmed up (approx. 30 seconds) add a very little bit of oil.

Once the oil has warmed up, add in your onions. (30 seconds)

Once the onions have started to sweat, and become translucent, (about 2 minutes) add in the garlic, and beef.

Cook until the beef has browned. (5 minutes)

Season with the salt, brown sugar, and pepper.

Mix all the ingredients together to incorporate, or else you will end up like you are back at your first school dance again, and you don’t want to relive that.

Now add in the kidney beans, crushed tomato, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, chili powder, cinnamon, cacao, whiskey and stout beer.

Give it a good stir.

In the slow cooker cook for 4 hours 30 minutes at low, covered.

That is it, how easy was that! It only took 15 minutes of prep work and now you can let the magic happen, sit back, chill, and relax, and …..wait a minute you can’t relax, its game day and you have guests coming over in the next 5 hours. The house is still a mess, you still need to go get more booze, extra ice, and snacks. What the hell are you thinking you don’t have time to relax. Well at least you don’t have to worry about the chili anymore, and the only thing left once the guests arrive is having them serve themselves and garnish their own individual personalized boozy chili frito pies.

Once the guests arrive and you are finally ready to serve them, cut open the frito bag, pour chili on top, served with shredded cheddar, sour cream, raw white onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and chives, and then enjoy!

With this nostalgic game day staple in your hand, it won’t even bother you when you lose the bet on the game, or when you think of having to clean up your messy neighbor’s kids who spilled soda all over the white carpet. No, you won’t worry about any of that, not while you have a crockpot filled with this chili and fritos bags to pour it over. Now go fill up on boozy chili frito pie, and finally take that long overdue breather, because you are the chef, and host extra ordinaire and you deserve it.