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This is really more of an “instructional” than a recipe, as chili can be made so many different ways. But no matter how you make it, chili is only as good as the basic ingredients you use and the techniques you use to prepare them and add them to the mix.

Unless I am making chili for the Congressional Chili Cook-Off, which I did once for two different members of Congress (one of whom actually won the contest with my chili), I make chili according to a fairly simple procedure.

The best way to start is with 3 pounds of market ground beef and 1 pound of flavorful sweet or hot sausage. Brown all of the meat well in small batches and drain each batch thoroughly. (With beef from Angelic Beef, you may need a little oil in the pan.) Drain off any fat in the pan and add about 3 tablespoons of fresh oil. Sauté your diced vegetables in the oil till soft.

For the amount of meat suggested, I use 1 medium onion, 1 small bulb of fennel, 1 small green pepper, 2 jalapeño peppers and 3 cloves of garlic. Dice the onion, fennel and green pepper and finely chop the jalapeños and garlic. (The amount of seeds you include will affect the hotness of the chili.) Add the browned beef back to the pan and stir in one large can of diced tomatoes and about three cups of good-quality beef broth or, better yet, your own beef stock made from market soup bones.

Add 1 tablespoon each dried oregano, basil and ground cumin and 2 tablespoons of your favorite chili powder. Bring to a boil over medium heat; lower the heat to a simmer and cook the chili for 45 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add additional herbs or spices as desired. Add additional broth if needed. Stir in 2 cans of good-quality drained and rinsed beans of your choice and simmer for another 15–30 minutes until thickened. Improve on this by using some of Heritage Farm’s dried beans, rinsed, soaked and precooked — canned beans, even the best, add a sweetness that is unnecessary.

This chili has a great flavor and consistency and only gets better when reheated. It is good for Cincinnati chili when served over some pasta with grated cheddar cheese and chopped green onions.

In a very old city near the boot-heel of Italy called Matera, this is a very old method of making lamb stew. According to the May 2010 issue of Saveur Magazine, this can also be cooked under a pastry crust, which of course would undermine its name. To make this even more scrumptious, make a beef stock from Angelic Beef soup bones and substitute it for at least half of the water.

• 3 lbs. boneless, trimmed lamb shoulder, cut into 2” cubes
• 2 lbs new potatoes, peeled and cut into 2” pieces
• 1/3 lb. pecorino cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
• ¼ lb. piece soppressata or spicy salami, cut into ¼-inch cubes
• 2 tsp. crushed red chili flakes
• 4 sprigs thyme
• 2 carrots, cut crosswise into ¼”-coins
• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 rib celery, chopped
• ½-head curly endive or escarole, roughly chopped
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a 5-quart Dutch oven or heavy saucepan with 2¼ cups of water. Cover pan with aluminum foil and then with the lid. Cook over medium-low heat, shaking pan occasionally, until tender and the juices have slightly thickened, about 2½ hours.

Both of these stocks are adapted from Gourmet Magazine. For many years the magazine included a page at the end called the Last Touch, which always had a theme-directed collection of short recipes. The January and February pages were devoted to white sauces and brown sauces and included the basic stocks that would be needed for the sauce recipes than followed. These two stock recipes are the ones I have used for more than 40 years, and they produce great stocks with minimum effort. Especially in the winter, I usually have one or both in the fridge or freezer all the time. I adapted the recipes somewhat, but I left in the quaint language.

White Chicken Stock

In a 5–6 quart kettle, combine a 4-pound fowl with the giblets, if you like, with 3 quarts of water and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and skim the froth that rises to the surface. (This is necessary only if you need a very clear broth for aspic or a clear soup.) Add one large onion with two cloves stuck in it; 2 leeks, split and washedl 2 carrots, cut in big chunks; and one stalk of celery, sliced into 3 pieces with some of the leaves. Add a small handful each of fresh thyme and flat-leaf parsley, one bay leaf and a clove of garlic. Simmer the stock, continuing to skim if you wish, for two hours.

Remove the fowl from the kettle and remove the meat in large pieces and return the carcass to the kettle. Simmer for two hours longer, adding some boiling water if necessary to keep the ingredients covered. Strain the stock in a colander lined with cheesecloth and press the solids. Let the stock cool on the counter and refrigerate. The fat will come to the surface and can easily be removed when you need to use the stock.

Stock will keep for some time sealed by the fat; if you are not using all of the stock for a recipe, save the fat, return it to the pot and reheat before cooling and refrigerating the remainder. This applies to your beef stock, too.

Brown Stock (Beef Stock)

In a large baking pan, spread out 4–6lbs of beef shanks and/or meaty soup bones, two large onions and one carrot, all cut into large pieces. Brown meat and vegetables well, turning occasionally, in a preheated very hot oven (450°). Transfer to a 6-quart kettle. Deglaze the roasting pan with 2 cups cold water over high heat, scraping up the brown bits, and add this to the kettle along with 3–4 quarts of cold water, 2 stalks of celery, some fresh thyme and parsley, and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil while skimming the froth and then simmer, uncovered, for 5–6 hours or until reduced to about two quarts.

Strain the stock. If you use meaty bones and want to use the meat in soup or a meat pie, separate the large chunks of beef from the bones after two hours and then return the bones to the stock for the remaining two hours.

This recipe from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon was sampled at our Prince william County market Jan. 29. It was made with chicken from Rainbow Acres Farm and soup bones with lots of meat from Angelic Beef.

• 1 whole free-range chicken or 2 to 3 pounds of bony chicken parts, such as necks, backs, breastbones and wings
• gizzards from one chicken (optional)
• feet from one chicken (optional)
• 4 quarts cold-filtered water
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch parsley

If you are using a whole chicken, cut off the wings and remove the neck, fat glands, and gizzards from the cavity. By all means, use chicken feet if you can find them — they are full of gelatin. (Jewish folklore considers the addition of chicken feet the secret to successful broth.) Even better, use a whole chicken, with the head on. These may be found at Asian markets. Farm-raised, free-range chickens give the best results. Many battery-raised chickens will not produce stock that gels.

Cut chicken parts into several pieces. (If you are using a whole chicken, remove the neck and wings and cut them into several pieces.) Place chicken or chicken pieces in a large stainless steel pot with water, vinegar and all vegetables except parsley. Let stand 30 minutes to 1 hour. Bring to a boil, and remove the scum that rises to the top. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6 to 24 hours. The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful it will be. About 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley. This will impart additional mineral ions to the broth.

Remove whole chicken or pieces with a slotted spoon. If you are using a whole chicken, let cool and remove chicken meat from the carcass. Reserve for other uses, such as chicken salads, enchiladas, sandwiches or curries. (The skin and smaller bones, which will be very soft, may be given to your dog or cat.) Strain the stock into a large bowl and reserve in your refrigerator until the fat rises to the top and congeals. Skim off this fat and reserve the stock in covered containers in your refrigerator or freezer.

Photo by Gudlyf

This chocolate pound cake was sampled at at our Prince William County market Jan. 29 and was made with El Ceibo cocoa powder, which is sold at the market.

• 3 cups flour
• ½ lb. butter or 2 sticks
• ½ cup Crisco
• 3 cups sugar
• 5 eggs
• ½ cup cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix together with a whisk the three cups of flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Bring a cup of milk to room temperature and add the vanilla to it. Cream the butter and Crisco together until light and fluffy — about 5 minutes with a stand mixer — and then beat in slowly, one at a time, the 5 eggs. Scrape the bowl at this point and beat at high speed for just 30 seconds. Then add the flour in thirds, alternating with the milk in two parts. Stir lightly with a rubber spatula to make sure all ingredients are well mixed; stir a little more with the spatula if necessary until no white streaks remain.

Gently pour or drop by cupfuls into a greased and floured 9- or 10-cup tube cake pan; level with a flexible spatula.

Bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes; cover with foil and bake 1 hour longer.

NOTE: I have found that I do not have to add the foil in my oven; if you decide to forego the foil, check the cake every thirty minutes through the closed door of the oven. After the first 30 minutes, a pound cake should not be disturbed until about 5 minutes before it should be done. Then you can test it with a thin wooden skewer. When it comes out clean, the cake is done.

Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes and then turn the cake out on a cooling rack or flat serving plate. I use a thin chocolate icing or ganache for this cake and sometimes coat the top and sides with chopped pecans.

• 1 pound of sausage (chicken, pork, beef) (cut into slices)
• 1 medium granny smith apple diced
• 1 medium white potato diced
• 1 leek (cleaned and thinly sliced)
• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2–3 T butter
• 1 t dried sage or 1 T fresh sage
• 1 t chipotle or cayenne powder

Melt 1 T of butter in pan and sauté the leeks and sage over medium heat so that they don’t burn. Add potatoes and cook for 5 minutes before adding the apples. Add sausage and cook for about 5–7 minutes more. Add white wine and reduce until it evaporates. Add spinach and cook for 1 minute. Turn off heat and add salt, peppers and remaining butter.

This recipe was developed by Cat Cora for McCormick brand spices.

Serves 8

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 4 teaspoons roasted ground coriander (new McCormick spice)
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 4 slices sliced bacon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 large (1 pound) sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1 large sweet turnip, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
• ½ cup fresh orange juice

Mix flour and next four ingredients in a shallow dish and add chicken thighs to coat. Reserve remaining flour mixture.

Cook bacon in a large saucepot or Dutch oven until crisp; drain on paper towels and crumble. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the drippings and add olive oil. Add chicken to pot and cook over medium heat five minutes or until lightly browned, turning once.

Stir onion into the pot and cook 4 minutes until tender. Mix broth and reserved flour mixture with a whisk until smooth and add to pot with sweet potatoes and turnip. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook 15 minutes or until vegetables are just tender. Add orange juice; return to a boil and simmer 5 minutes until chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Sprinkle with bacon before serving.

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone, and I must say that I hope at least one of your resolutions pertained to buying more local food this year and cooking more of it yourself.

One of my Christmas gifts was the new book by farmer and activist Joel Salatin titled Folks, This Ain’t Normal. In this book, he describes in sometimes frightening detail how far removed from natural, normal farming our present food system has strayed with the blessing of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the support of our tax dollars. I was particularly amazed by the data in a small chart which compared the nutrient content of eggs from his own pastured chickens at Polyface Farm to the USDA standard for supermarket eggs. This comparison would hold for just about any free-range egg you would buy at a farmers’ market this year.

The numbers for vitamin E, vitamin A, beta-carotene and Foliate were many times higher for his eggs, and the measured amounts of cholesterol and saturated fat were much less. In fact, it was a little hard to believe that the measurements were for the same food, especially since the USDA would like us to believe that all eggs are pretty much the same. What this means is that in this country 98 percent of us are now buying and consuming thin-skinned, elliptical replicas of real eggs that seem to be good only for overdosing us on cholesterol.

This is also similar to the differences between industrial milk, which has been pasteurized to kill all of the good bacteria we need and homogenized in a way that breaks down its cell structure, and the less-processed milk you can legally buy at a farmers’ market in this state. Which reminds me — you may have read already that I now call commercial or industrially produced milk “milk product.” It is simply no longer the good-for-you fresh milk by the time it reaches the grocery store.

Salatin’s book inspired me to do even more to encourage all of you to buy more local produce and meats throughout the year, if for no other reason than to make up for the nutrients we are losing when we are forced to buy some items from the grocery store in the winter. Most of the dairy, vegetables and meats in the store are not really food anymore, and even the baked goods and prepared foods are so “stabilized” by chemical additives that they too have lost their wholesomeness on the way to the supermarket shelf.

From now on with each weekly post, I plan to pass on to you a new recipe to try. These recipes — some of which will be from my other new books — can all be made with mostly local ingredients and can provide a perfectly delicious, truly healthful and reasonably priced evening meal. If you can promise to serve at least one more home-cooked meal a week this year, that will be a great first step to a healthier lifestyle and maybe lead you to the second step — we’ll get to that one and more as the year unfolds.

This week’s recipe is for a New Year’s skillet saute. Next week I am going to talk about chicken — one of those things you can buy all year long at a market somewhere fairly near you in the winter months. And if you have any ideas of your own or recipes to share, please join the fun! Leave a comment here or email me at jean@smartmarkets.org.

Photo by dabdiputs

Serves 3–4

This was one of those one-dish dinners I like to throw together when everyone is asking “What’s for dinner?” and I have no clue.

I had some fresh black-eyed peas on hand for Hoppin’ John on New Year’s Day and used some for this dish, but if you want to use local dried beans, just make sure you soak and cook them ahead of time so they are ready to be added to the rest of the dish. You can also use more veggies — local carrots or turnips work well — and if you have cooked the beans ahead or if you use canned beans, use your own or purchased chicken stock in the dish.

• 4 slices local bacon, cooked till crisp and drained
• 1 or 2 large potatoes, or about ½ lb., cubed
• 1 small onion or ½ larger onion, chopped
• 1 small fennel bulb or ½ large bulb, chopped
• 1 lb. loose ground pork or pork sausage
• ½ medium head of cabbage, quartered and thinly sliced
• Caraway or fennel seed and thyme, salt and pepper to taste

While beans are cooking and bacon is frying, prepare veggies. Then sauté the cubed potatoes in the bacon grease until lightly browned, add the chopped onion and fennel and sauté about five minutes more. Remove veggies from the skillet and sauté ground pork, breaking up with a fork, till cooked and brown. Return veggies to the pan, mix in well and add the cabbage, the beans and about ¾ cup of their liquid. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp seeds and 1 tsp of dried thyme and cook until cabbage is wilted. Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! We did!

Here are a few recipes that you can use for a delicious Thanksgiving spread. Enjoy!

• Guide to Cooking Greens

• Tangerine Carrots

• Squash Bisque

• Annie’s Cornbread and Sausage Stuffing

• How to Roast a Turkey by the Turkey Farm