Eating With The Seasons: Pumpkin Chili

Chili is a dish with endless possibilities. You can do more or less anything, so long as there's some slow-cooked peppers and broth in there. Meats, beans, tomatoes, all debatable which combination is necessary to constitute a chili. This ambiguity gives a lot of space to experiment and make a chili recipe that is "your own," which causes people to go on to take immense pride in their unique spin and enter them in competitions.

This variation uses the signature ingredients of the fall season: pumpkin, and its corresponding spice mix of cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and allspice. Pumpkin spice is a classic: it's in pies, lattes, oatmeal, cookies, and so on. Pumpkin itself is essential to the American fall— there's pies, jack-o-lanterns, even contests at state fairs where people grow concerningly large pumpkins.

I've always cooked a fairly traditional chili with peppers, ground beef, onion, and beans. In many, many years of cooking, I never really found the thing that would make my chili my chili. So, it all worked out when Kelly and I were talking about the aforementioned ubiquity of pumpkin and pumpkin spice in the fall, trying to find a fresh recipe to add some pumpkin to. Kelly suggested chili, and we knew we had a classic from the first batch. We've made a few now trying to perfect the spice balance, and I think we have it now.

A word of warning: this recipe takes a very, very long time to put together. From start to finish, it should take a minimum of 3 hours. Most of this won't be active cooking time, but there's still a fair amount of stirring, chopping, and mixing to be done. So, make sure you have a comfortable, relaxed afternoon ahead where you can enjoy the process. 

And also, a word of advice: cut some corners and use some boxed ingredients. While fresh peppers, onions, and garlic are essential to the flavor of this dish, the convenience:flavor ratio gets flipped once we're talking about beans, broth, and pureed pumpkin. You'll save a lot of time if you aren't rehydrating and cooking beans before you start the chili process. Just make sure you let everything cook long enough to eliminate that "boxy" flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb 93/7 ground beef

• 1 large yellow onion

• 1 clove garlic

• 1 large poblano pepper

• 1 cubanelle pepper

• 1 long hot pepper

• 1 red bell pepper

• 1 jalapeno pepper

• 12 oz black beans

• 12 oz kidney beans

• 16 oz pureed pumpkin

• 32 oz vegetable broth

• 1 bunch fresh sage

• Coconut oil

Spices:

• Salt

• Black pepper

• Crushed red pepper flakes

• Cumin

• Chili powder

• Clove

• Cinnamon

• Nutmeg

• Cayenne pepper

• Paprika

• Allspice

• Ground mustard

Garnishes:

• Sour cream

• Pumpkin seeds

• Fresh cilantro

• Fresh jalapeno

• Fresh yellow onion

• Shredded mild cheese

Equipment:

• Mixing bowls (small, medium, and large)

• Large, heavy-bottom pot, like a stock pot

• Spatula

Pumpkin Chili Recipe:

— Season the ground beef with 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, and ½ tsp cumin. In a large bowl, mix the meat until the spices are thoroughly incorporated. Flatten into a disc, like a giant hamburger, about 1" thick. Let sit for 15-60 minutes. This is a great time to start chopping. You can start with the onion, which should be roughly chopped into medium-sized pieces.

— Add a small spoonful of coconut oil to a large pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the ground beef. Brown on both sides, and then use a spatula to break up the meat into small chunks. Cook until the meat is well done, and then transfer the meat to a bowl and set it aside. Try to keep a fair amount of fat in the pot to cook with.

— If needed, add more coconut oil and then add the onion to the pot. Add ½ tsp salt, and mix together. Cook the onions on medium-low heat until translucent and beginning to brown. This will take a long time. Do not believe other cooking blogs that say you can carmelize onions in 15 minutes— it's usually more like an hour or more. The good news for you here is that you can cut up your garlic, all the peppers, drain and rinse the beans, open any cans or boxes, and have everything ready to go when the next step comes. Just remember to stir the onions occasionally. This should take 20-30 minutes, by which time your onions will be right where we want them.

Don’t worry about uniform cuts on your onions— they’re all going to cook down and be soft enough that it won’t matter.

— Add the garlic, ½ tsp black pepper, and ½ tsp crushed red pepper. Cook until the garlic is aromatic.

—Next, it's the peppers. Toss in the poblano, cubanelle, long hot, jalapeno, and red bell pepper, along with ¼ tsp chili powder. Stir to coat the onions and garlic in chili powder, and continue to cook until the peppers are thoroughly cooked. A good sign they're ready is if there are hints of blackening along the edges of some pieces.

— While the peppers are cooking, prepare the following mix in a small bowl:

• 2 loosely packed tbsp fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped

• ½ tsp clove

• 1 ¼ tsp nutmeg

• 2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp cayenne

• 2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp allspice

• 1 ½ tsp cumin

• 1 tsp ground mustard

• ½ tsp salt
  
  
  

— Add the beans (which should be drained and rinsed) and the spice mix to the pot. Stir occasionally and cook the beans until warm, about 5 minutes.

— Add the pumpkin puree and chopped tomatoes. Stir thoroughly, and then cook on medium heat, stirring frequently to make sure they don't burn.

— Add broth, bring to a boil for 2-5 minutes.

— Add the beef along with any drippings in the bowl back into the pot, stir to incorporate the beef, and then reduce to a simmer. Add a lid to the pot, covering ¾ of the pot and cocked to vent. Let the chili cook for a minimum of 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

— When it's time to eat, taste the chili, and adjust the herbs and spices as needed. Spoon into bowls, garnish with sour cream, pumpkin seeds, and fresh cilantro. For a more traditional chili taste, add jalapeno, raw onion, and shredded cheese.