In the beginning of June, I received an email from Miner Family Winery about a chili cook-off. Since I was about one year into my blog and creating recipes each month, I thought I would challenge myself and give the competition a try.  I had never entered a competition like this before.  The only requirements were that the recipe had to be submitted by a specific date and the recipe had to use one of Miner’s wines.  I love chili and I love spice, but I did not have an old standby chili recipe and I had never made chili with wine before.

So after some thought into what would make for a good chili made with wine, I decided on short ribs and ground turkey.  Yes, this recipe definitely falls into the “naughty” category, as short ribs and healthy don’t kind of mix… but short ribs do make for a very tasty chili.  I used Miner’s Odyssey wine in this chili; it’s a Rhone style red wine.  It worked really well with the short ribs.  Well enough to win third place in the cook-off! The prize was a magnum of Miner’s Rosato wine.

This “award-winning” chili is made with a variety of chilies:  jalapeños, California chili powder, cayenne chili powder, paprika.  The jalapeños and cayenne provide a really good amount of heat.  Dried California entero peppers are also added, rounding out the chilies and the dish. These peppers do not provide much heat, but they add a lot of body to the chili.  Whole pods are cooked in the chili and then halfway through the cooking stage, the peppers (minus the stems) are puréed with some cooking liquid and then added back to the chili pot and mixed through. I use 2 big peppers or 3 small peppers for this recipe.  If you cannot get the dried California entero pepper pods, you may substitute them with Guaijillo chilies,  which are a bit spicier so you may need to watch the heat. You can also buy California entero chilies online.

English-cut short ribs are used for this recipe.  The meat is diced into 1/8 pieces prior to cooking to  This helps the short rib meat blend with the ground turkey so that each bit has both types of meat. To prepare the short ribs, trim the fat and slice the meat off the bones.  Then dice the short rib meat into about 1/8″ pieces.  Reserve the bones, as they will be added to the pot to flavor the chili.

Taking the up front in browning and belying if the short ribs, turkey and peppers and onions will help keep the chili consistent and balanced with turkey and short ribs in each bite.  Add the short rib pieces to the heavy pot and sauté for 2 minutes over medium heat, until meat is brown.  Add the green bell pepper, jalapeños, and onions to the pot and sauté for 3 minutes.  Add the spices and mix through thoroughly and sauté for 2 more minutes. Then, add the ground turkey and mix through thoroughly breaking up the turkey so that they turkey combines with the rib pieces and the onion and peppers.  Sauté for another 5-7 minutes until the turkey is browned.  Then add the wine, coffee and tomato sauce and mix through add the dried California entero peppers and add the short torn bones and submerge I to the liquid.  Cover pot and simmer, mixing though occasionally.

After about an hour and a half, discard the short rib bones, and take the California entero peppers out of the pot, discard the stems (note, the stems may have separated form cooking so you may have to dig for them in the pot), and place the peppers with about a cup to a cup and a half of cooking liquid to a blender and purée.  Add the purée back into the pot and mix through. Then add the masa harina (a finely ground corn flour used in authentic Mexican dishes), mixed with warm water, and the cocoa powder to the pot and mix through, cover and simmer for another hour and a quarter to an hour and a half.  To serve, garnish with sour cream, which balances the richness of the short ribs really well and tempers the heat.Short Rib-Turkey Chili with Dried California Entero Chilies

Ingredients:

2 lbs English cut short ribs

2 lbs ground turkey – dark meat

1.5 tablespoons cumin

1.5 tablespoons dried California chili powder

1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon paprika

2 large jalapeños (or 3-4 small), stem removed and diced with seeds

1 onion, diced

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 ¾ cups Rhone style wine

2 8 oz cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup brewed coffee

2 dried California entero chilies (or 3 small ones)

1 cup water with 3 tablespoons masa harina

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

1 15oz can of pinto beans, less sodium

Trim top layer of fat off of short ribs and slice the meat of the bones and dice the meat into very small pieces – about 1/8” in size. Reserve bones, to add when cooking the chili. Combine cumin, chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, paprika in a bowl and set aside. Add short rib meat to a Dutch oven on medium-high heat and sauté 2 minutes, until meat is browned. Add the diced onion, green bell pepper and jalapeno peppers to the pot, mix through and sauté for 3 minutes. Add the spice mixture and mix through and sauté 2 more minutes. Add ground turkey and mix though thoroughly so that the turkey and short rib combine with the onions and peppers in small pieces. Mixing thoroughly for about 5-7 minutes until al the turkey is browned. Then, add the wine, coffee and tomato sauce, and mix through. Add the California entero peppers and the bones from the ribs and submerge the peppers and bones into the liquid. Cover and cook on a simmer for 1.25-1.5 hours.

Take out the California entero chilies from the pot, discard the stems and place the peppers with about 1 -1 ½ cups of cooking liquid into a blender and puree. Add pureed mixture back to pot and mix through. Add 3 tablespoons of masa harina to one cup of warm water mix until combined and smooth, then add to the pot along with 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder and the beans, and mix everything through. Cover and simmer for another 75-90 minutes.  Serve with sour cream on the side.

Makes about 10 cups, serving 6-10