Obama's chili

Not only is Barack Obama the President and a great politician, but it seems as if he can cook too, At least he can if his chili recipe is anything to go by.

I found this recipe over at Hopies Kitchen and was intrigued to find out just how good Obama's cooking is. The chili contains a couple of unexpected ingredients, turmeric, basil and red wine vinegar, I've never seen these in a chili recipe before but they didn't seem out of place in the finished dish, in fact they were a nice addition that I will use again.
I followed the recipe pretty closely the only changes being that I doubled the spices and herbs to add more flavour and I used an extra pepper. I also used black beans instead of kidney beans simply because that's what I had.

Recipe (Original from ABC News)

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• Several cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey or beef
• 1/4 teaspoon (each) of ground cumin, ground oregano, ground turmeric, and ground basil
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• Several tomatoes, depending on size, chopped
• 1 can red kidney beans

Method:

• Sauté onions, green pepper and garlic in olive oil until soft.
• Add ground meat and brown.
• Combine spices together into a mixture, then add to ground meat.
• Add red wine vinegar.
• Add tomatoes and let simmer, until tomatoes cook down.
• Add kidney beans and cook for a few more minutes.
• Serve over white or brown rice. Garnish with grated cheddar cheese, onions and sour cream.

I thought the finished dish was really tasty and well flavoured and well balanced, I'll certainly be making it again although next time I will add more vegetables.

Marshmallow Fluff

I've a jar of this Marshmallow Fluff hanging around for ages, the problem is what on earth do I do with it?

Classic Pumpkin Pie

I made this pumpkin pie a few weeks ago now, in an attempt to clear some space in our freezer I have been trying to use up anything which has been lost down the back and forgotten about. These are normally either strange ingredients that no one quite knows what to do with or else they are unlabelled "mystery items" that are unidentifiable and have been there so long they are covered in a thick layer of frost!
In this case it is the former, pumpkin is an unusual ingredient in England, rarely used and hard to find in the shops (although squash is becoming more common it is still "exotic"). I happen to have a load of pumpkin that I grew myself, not knowing what to do with it I diced it and froze it, and the freezer is where it has remained ever since.I only know of one use for pumpkin and that is pumpkin pie, it is a great shame that this fantastic dessert is not more widely known in this country, I have never seen it for sale anywhere. So if you want one you have to make it yourself. The recipe I used is a photocopy from a friend of a friend and unfortunately I don't know who the original author is, needless to say it is a really good recipe that I have made a few times and it never fails.

If anyone has any other good uses for pumpkin please let me know, I still have plenty left!

Pumpkin Pie
You will need 1 9 inch pie crust and the following

• 2 Large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 can (16 ounces) pumpkin or make your own pumpkin purée
• 1 can (12 ounces) of evaporated milk

Method

• Heat oven to 425f
• Beat the eggs in a bowl with a whisk then beat in remaining ingredients.
• Pour into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes (to prevent spilling place the pie shell on the oven rack then pour in the filling).
• After 15 minutes lower the temperature to 325f and bake for a further 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.
• Chill in the fridge for 4 hours and serve with whipped cream.