Black Bean and Goat Chilly

While everyone else in the country (it seemed) was watching a football game, we the televisionless couple cooked some chilly in honor of the sport. We paid a visit to a local farm last week to pick up some meaty bones for Pocket, and some goat meat for us. Winn's Livestock and Hatchery just north of Corvallis has affordable meat raised by a  4th generation farmer and his very friendly wife. April chatted back and forth with me via email to decide what was best for us to purchase, and we ended up with a freezer full of bones for Pock, a pound of ground goat meat for us plus a shoulder steak that i'll cut up into stew meat in the next week or two. *More about the nutritional facts on goat meat coming soon.

To preface, i am no master of chilly. Sometimes my chilly is soupy, sometimes thick. Sometimes it just tastes like bean soup, other times i master true 'chilly' flavor. This batch was kind of more bean and meat soup, but it was freakin' delicious bean and meat soup. Topped with a little shredded cheese, in season (and cheap!) avocados and a dollup of homemade yogurt: protein, a little fat, probiotic, balanced deliciousness!

I started by soaking some black beans in a stock pot over night. The next afternoon i poured off the water, covered the soaked beans with water and brought to a boil. Meanwhile i browned the pound of goat meat with a few chunks of bacon, seasonings (taco seasoning from a Seattle market), chopped jalapenos and a diced onion. Once the meat was cooked, i poured it with the fat into the beans along with some chopped carrot, another diced onion, some more jalapenos, a few pinches epazote and a generous pinch of cumin. I turned the mixture down to a simmer and covered it with a lid. The stew/chilly/soup hung out for about 3 hours until i added some frozen roasted tomatoes (with garlic) and a little salt and homemade raw apple cider vinegar. Never add tomatoes/vinegar/salt to beans too early on: you'll get beans that never soften! After adding the final ingredients, i simmered for another few hours until we were ready to eat. This definitely did NOT taste like watery beans! All the flavors emalgumated very nicely and formed a lovely, thick texture.

Fist pumps all around!

Are you picky about your chilly, or can you 'go with the flow'?