Battle of the Blackwater: Beef Chile Verde

The weak are meat, and the strong do eat.

Cloud Atlas

It's not every day that you have to feed 8 hungry dudes fresh off of a weekend playing music for the hordes at Bonaroo, but that's exactly what we had to do this week!  My brother is a band manager, and so I provided a stopping point for him and one of his bands on the way to and from Bonaroo.  My solution to all of these hungry people?  Throw a ton of beef and other goodies into the slow cooker for a delicious (and filling!) rendition of chile verde.  We paired it with some corn bread and it was a feast fit for an army.

What you need:

• 2.5-3lb Ground sirloin
• 3 tomatillos, diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalepeno, finely diced
• 3 tomatoes, diced
• 1 red onion, diced
• 16 oz. jar green salsa
• 4 oz. can green chiles
• 1 can kidney beans (black beans would also be good, Kidney is just what I had on hand)
• 2 tsp cumin
• Salt to taste
•  Fresh cilantro (to taste, for serving)
• Shredded cheese (for serving)
• Your favorite cornbread recipe 

It really doesn't get much easier to make:  Just dice everything up, put the tomatoes and peppers in, put the ground sirloin, green chiles and beans in, sprinkle the salt and cumin over the meat, toss the rest of the veggies in, and then pour the salsa over the top of everything.

 Cook on low for 8-10 hours, giving it a good stirring about halfway through.  If things are looking too watery, you can thicken it up by adding some flour or cornmeal.  I ended up adding about 3 tbsp of cornmeal and a pinch of flour, which thickened it up to a nice consistency.

Spoon the chili over a slice of cornbread (or just crumble the cornbread in afterwards, whichever you prefer), sprinkle some cheese on top, and garnish with fresh cilantro.  This recipe served 9.