This is probably one of the better chilies I’ve had recently. I’m sure that it will never please a chili purist, but a chili purist I am not. I think chili can have beans and meat, either or both. It can be flavored and cooked in a myriad of ways. The only thing that should matter in the end is how it tastes – and this tasted damn good.

The smokiness of the chipotle in adobo and the smoked paprika were a pleasant diversion from the standard peppers and chili powder flavors of most chilies. It has a lot of heat – if you’re not one for spiciness I’d highly recommend substituting green bell peppers for the Anaheims and maybe omitting a chipotle pepper. I personally love the contrast of the smoky, spicy chili with the coolness of the sour cream and the richness of the avocado on top.

This recipe does call for a bottled jar of sauce. This isn’t something I usually do for recipes, but I had it on hand for a different recipe that required its use for a contest. I never ended up making that specific recipe, nor did I gain entry into the contest, so there it stood, staring at me from the counter. I didn’t feel like going to the store to grab diced tomatoes and tomato paste, so I used the bottled sauce. I have to admit, it was delicious and I’ll probably use it again in the future. That being said, if you are anti-processed food (and who can blame you after the monstrosity that is Sandra Lee) feel free to compensate by using diced tomatoes, a couple tablespoons of tomato paste plus some oregano and red chili flakes.

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Once relegated to the scrap heap, trendy restaurants all over have revamped the short rib and transformed it into contemporary rustic cuisine. After marinating some in red wine for two days and braising them nice and slow for a few hours I can definitely see why.

Short ribs have long received the same bad wrap as the Boston butt roast (pork shoulder), but that's due in large part to people who have been cooking them improperly. These fat marbled, cartilage ridden cuts of meat require a nice, long, low-heat bath to slowly transform all that greasy fat and yuck into meltingly decadent, fork tender meat that quite literally falls of the bone with the merest of touches.

These are a great weekend meal because they do require attention every 45 minutes for turning - in total about 3 hours or so of braising. But, braising is great because even though it does take a significant amount of time to cook, most of that time is hands off. 

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I saw this in Gourmet's June issue under their Gourmet Everyday column. It really was quick and very easy. By far the creamed spinach was my favorite, as I've mentioned before I really, really like creamed spinach. Husband devoured everything in like two seconds flat, so I'm assuming he meant it when he said he liked it.

I paired it with roasted baby red potatoes and topped it with some sautéed mushrooms I needed to use from my trip to the farmer's market. I also used two eye-of-round cuts about 6 oz. each, skipped the lemon juice and blue cheese (didn't have any in the house, didn't feel like going to the store) and used 1/3 cup cream instead of 1/4 cup. Also, if you're making this for two, make sure you at least double the spinach, I could've easily eaten all of it and more. It still amazes me how much spinach cooks down sometimes.

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