Another Storm Puts The Kibosh On Weekend Surf. But We Can Still Have A Delicious Lunch!

So another pretty massive storm rolled through Cali, which is excellent news for drought-relief, although of course we need way more rain and snow. And although it had stopped raining by the weekend, the ocean was still pretty unsettled. It seemed like a good idea to hold off on heading out to the beach. But that doesn't mean we couldn't have the kind of lunch that would have been quite tasty after some time in the water.

I'm talking about a Frito Pie. Have you ever had one? It almost sounds kind of dirty, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. From what I understand it's a Tex-Mex kind of thing, and it involves cutting open a bag of Fritos, spooning on a big heaping mess of Chili and topping it with cheese, sour cream and onions, and maybe some tomato, lettuce and onion. I've known about this concoction for a while, but I'd never actually tried it. In fact, in Los Feliz there's a fairly new restaurant called Home State that features a Frito Pie on its menu, so I'm going to get there soon and will report back. Anyway, as that most recent storm was rolling in, I decided to make a pot of chili, because that's a good thing to eat on a cool, rainy night. And we had leftovers, so why not a Frito pie? Below is just about all you need to put one together--

First up was reheating the chili. (Oh, side note here: many Texans, I'm sure, would turn up their noses at this chili not only because it has beans in it, but also because it was made with ground turkey. Oh, and also because I used chili powder and not real chills. This Chili is really good, but it's a very middle-of-the-road, sort of 1950's housewife kind. It's easy to make for a crowd, though, and the recipe is below). But back to the Frito Pie. So while the chili was reheating, I shredded some cheddar cheese, sliced up some onion and tomato and shredded some lettuce. The bags of Fritos were sliced open. Then I laid down some Chili and topped it with the cheese and other fixings, along with a good dollop of Sour Cream. A while back I made up a batch of pickled jalapeños when we had a bunch of them in the garden. They'd have been really good on it too, but I don't have any left! Here's how the final Frito Pies looked:

It's kind of like nachos, really. The cheese comes into contact with the hot chili and melts. The Fritos lose a little of their crunch, but get a bit of everything, and it's a nice bite of deliciousness, a little spicy and salty, but cool from the sour cream. So the next time you have leftover Chili, I recommend Frito Pies.

Here's a super-easy chili recipe (which is adapted form Craig Claiborne's old New York Times Cookbook that I've had forever).

Chile Con Carne
Serves about 4-6

1 medium onion, diced
1 green pepper, seeded and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Jalapeño, diced, and seeded if you want it milder (or add more Jalapeños if you like it hotter)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound dark meat ground turkey (or you can use ground beef -- I'd go with chuck)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 bay leaf
1 14 oz. can peeled tomatoes, crushed with your hands, with their juice
3 cups water
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 can red kidney beans, drained.
Shredded cheddar, sour cream and diced onions for topping
*you can easily double or triple this recipe

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sized pot. When hot, toss in the diced onion, pepper, garlic and jalapeño. Saute until the vegetables soften and begin to turn golden.
2. Add the ground turkey to the pot. Stir and cook until meat is broken up and starting to brown.
3. When meat is brown, add the chili powder, cumin, oregano and bay leaf.  Stir and let the seasonings brown a little.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes, water and salt and pepper to taste. Bring chili to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, about one and one-half hours, until the liquid has reduced and the chili has thickened. Add the kidney beans. Simmer until the chili is as thick as you like, about another thirty minutes or so. Add more salt and pepper if needed. 

So that's it. I usually serve chili over rice or sometimes cornbread. If you have leftover chili and want to make Frito Pie (or chili dogs are good!) you might find it's thickened up too much. If that happens, you can thin it out by adding a little tomato sauce.