michigan mitten chili.

We’ll be in Michigan next week to celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam’s family. My mom is even coming to visit, so Michigan has been on my mind. A Yooper pasty is Michigan’s version of a Cornish pasty, which is a British pastry stuffed with meat and vegetables. If you’re not familiar with The Mitten, a ‘yooper’ is a native of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (also known as the ‘U.P.’).

The pasty is one of those Midwestern foods where everyone has their own version, and everyone’s version is the “best” version. Because I’m not about to enter the pasty contest, I decided to capture the flavors in another way — what I’m calling Michigan chili. Make this for your next football date.

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A pasty is traditionally filled with onions, rutabaga, carrots, and potatoes. This chili has all of that goodness. A lot of Midwesterners like to dip their pasties in ketchup. I’m not so much a fan of the ketchup part, but it’s actually what inspired me to turn this into a chili. A little tomato flavor from diced tomatoes and tomato paste adds a really nice depth to this. To further Michiganize this dish, I added beer and red beans (Google tells me that Michigan is the largest producer of beans in the United States, so I’m just going to go with it…).

My absolute favorite part of this creation is how I’ve incorporated that crust of the pastry — pie crust chips. Yes. Pie crust chips. I’m definitely going to use this in a hundred more recipes. It’s so much more exciting than crackers and incredibly easy. I know, I won’t let you used dried herbs but I’ll approve frozen store-bought pie crust. I never promised logic as part of this blog.

There aren’t many tips to making this beyond following the directions. Cube all the vegetables to the size of your thumbnail. Start with the onions, garlic, and the ground beef. I decided to give this base a nuttiness as a nod to the pasty dough with nutmeg, white pepper, and brown sugar. When this is mixed together, I added some beer to prevent the meat from drying out and bay leaves. When the meat has browned, add in the root vegetables.

Cover the vegetables with vegetable broth and add a tablespoon of beef bouillon (it’s just going to taste a little better than using beef broth). Simmer for a few minutes before stirring in the tomato paste and the diced tomatoes. Add the remainder of the broth, a can of red beans, and some chopped parsley. Then you just let it do it’s thing for 1-2 hours. The longer the better. For serving, thaw frozen pie crust, cut it into squares, and bake as directed. If the chili isn’t thick enough, just dissolve a spoonful of cornstarch into some cold water and then pour that water into your chili. If it’s too thick, add some more vegetable broth.

Recipe

Mitten Chili

Servings: 6 | Prep time: 35 min | Cook time : 2hr

Recommended Wine Pairing

Brut (or just crack open a beer)

INGREDIENTS

1 tbsp. of unsalted butter
1-lb lean ground beef
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 bay leaves
1/3 c. light beer
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 large (or 3 medium) potatoes
1/2 rutabaga bulb, diced (turnip are a good substitute)
2 c. vegetable broth
1 tbsp. beef bouillon
1 tbsp. tomato paste
8 oz. diced tomatoes (half a can)
15 oz. red beans
1/4 c. parsley, chopped
[optional] 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed into 1/2 c. cold water

INSTRUCTIONS

Thaw frozen pie crust.
Melt 1 tbsp. of unsalted butter in a dutch oven on medium-high heat
Add the chopped onions and coat with butter. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add the ground beef and season with salt, garlic, white pepper, nutmeg, and brown sugar. Mix in the spices while breaking up the ground beef with a wooden spoon.
After the seasonings have been mixed into the meat, add the beer. This should make any remaining large beef pieces easier to break up.
Add 2 bay leaves and simmer until the beef appears brown and cooked.
Add the diced carrots, rutabaga, potatoes, 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 tbsp of beef bouillon. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add 1 tbsp. of tomato paste and stir until incorporated into the chili.
Add 8oz (this is half of a typical can) of diced tomatoes, 15 oz. of red beans, and 1/4 c. chopped parsley.
Simmer covered for 25 minutes on low heat.
After 25 minutes, taste to determine if you need to add any salt or pepper. If the chili is too thin, dissolve 1 tsp of cornstarch into a 1/2 cup of cold water. Add this mixture to the chili.
Simmer uncovered for 1-2 hours on low heat.
Preheat your oven to 400-degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Unroll the pie crust and cut into squares. Place the squares on the parchment paper.
Bake pie crust pieces for 10 minutes.
Serve chili topped with pie crust pies.