My Best Batch of Chili Yet

No, I will not tell you my secret ingredient! It's a SECRET!

The main difference between this batch of chili and previous ones is that I roasted fresh Roma tomatoes rather than using canned tomatoes. I think it made a huge difference.

Halved tomatoes with stem ends removed

Coat with olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper

Post-roast

Prevent juice escape!

White and green onion, red and green bell pepper, and garlic 

Sauté the onions and peppers until soft, then add minced garlic

Brown ground beef with chili powder, cayenne pepper, ground coriander, smoked paprika, and S&P

Remove beef to crock-pot

Purée the roasted tomatoes and grab a big can of beans (because beans are good, dammit!)

Mix everything up in the crock-pot, then before adding a bunch of spicy stuff, set aside a few cups for your mother-in-law (unless you don't like her)

Make a slit in a habanero pepper

Chop up some roasted mystery peppers

Stir it all up and set the crock on low for several hours

Roast tomatoes
Get a bunch of tomatoes. Like, I don't know, 5 pounds or something - enough to fill a sheet pan with halves. Choose whatever variety looks reddest or is organic or whatever. I chose organic Roma tomatoes. Cut them in half and remove the stem ends. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and lay the halves cut-side up. Lightly coat the tomato halves with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 375°F for about 30 minutes or until the 'maters are soft with dark brown juices seeping out. Be sure to collect all the juices by bringing up the side of the foil. Dump it all into a food processor and purée the shit out of it.

Chili
Dice about 1/2 cup of scallions, 1/2 a medium yellow onion, 1/2 each of a red and green bell pepper. Sauté the onions and peppers in some kind of fat (I happened to use bacon grease since I had just made bacon, and because of that, I didn't add salt). Once those are soft, add a few cloves of minced garlic. Cook that all for another minute, but don't let the garlic brown, much less burn. Remove the vegetables.

In the same skillet, brown 2 pounds of ground beef with a couple of tablespoons of chili powder, a good sprinkling of ground coriander, some cayenne pepper, and a dash of smoked paprika. Salt and pepper it, of course. I used grass-fed beef, part ground chuck and part ground sirloin, and there was very little fat. If there is more than a tablespoon of beef fat, I recommend removing the cooked beef with a slotted spoon so as not to have super-greasy chili.

Mix the vegetables, beef, tomato purée, beans, and more spices if required (I required more chili powder and salt) in a crock-pot or large stew pot and cook on low for several hours. If you want more spice, add a whole habanero with a slit in the side, or some chopped jalapeno or Serrano. If you want deadly chili, chop up a habanero or two. Since I had left over roasted peppers from the pizza I made a few days ago, I chopped up some of them and threw them in. Please be careful with the chili peppers - either wear rubber gloves, coat your hands in oil, or wash your hands really well immediately after handling the peppers, and do not touch your eyes or other sensitive parts!

Serve
When you're about ready to eat the chili, stir in the secret ingredient. I'll give you a hint: it's fresh, green, tart, fragrant, and sweet. Serve with chopped scallion, cilantro, shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, and/or whatever you want.

I swear there's chili under there