Vignas and Venison: A Chili Reception

Since this is what passes for winter in North Florida I've been wanting some chili .  Actually, these last two years that's not as much of a joke as it could be, since we've seen 20 degree weather on a few occasions.  I've also wanted to do a dish with the strain of field peas (Vigna unguiculata) I've been growing the last 5 or so years.  Field peas are also sometimes called cow peas or southern peas; the famous black-eyed pea is among their ranks, as well as the Asian long or asparagus bean.  They can be really cool with a lot of variety, as you can see from the following pic of my genetic mix.  Those ones that look like black-eyed peas?  Yeah, they aren't, there were no black-eyes in the original mix.  I think they came from the black seeded long bean varieties I interplanted, but at this point I'm not sure, there are no really long podded phenotypes anymore, but they all vine great which is what I wanted.  I like them to vine because my lack of space requires me to grow them up a trellis. 

I only have about two pints right now, so I actually hated to lose these genetics, but if I don't cook them, how will I know, eh?

They are a type of bean, really, so why not use them in chili?  I used the "quick soak" method: basically bring a pot water to a boil, then turn it off and add the peas.  I let them steep for about an hour, then changed the water and set them to simmer with some salt for a couple hours, adding liquid as needed, until they were almost done but not quite.  For the venison, i used another piece of the same hindquarter mix I put into the chilindron stew.  This recipe was just as easy as you would think. I didn't grind the meat, but just diced it fairly fine like so:

I enjoy the pics of the meat most for some reason.  Full of promise.

I went ahead and browned that in a bit of olive oil until it was just done.  Then I put the meat aside and sauteed a mix of diced bacon, onions, and poblano peppers.  I chose poblano mainly because I didn't want anything nuclear spicy, and the story had very pretty ones that day. 

I also love Visions cookware, you can get it so cheap at the flea market nowadays.  But it's hell with terrazzo floors, you drop a lid and it becomes deadly shrapnel.

I was going to make my own chili seasoning from scratch, but said store also a mix in their spice bins that smelled HEAVENLY, so I decided to go with the shortcut.  At this stage, I combined the bacon/pepper/onion mix, the meat, the chili powder, and the peas with some of the pea cooking water.  I set that to simmer on a very low flame.  I don't really remember how long, just until it looked right.  Maybe two hours with an occasional timely stir.

Getting there.

Final product.

As I also think chili is also a dish best served as leftovers, like the chilindron before it, this too was destined to wait until lunch the next day for a tasting.  I can say the venison held its own, I was still able to tell that it was something with a little more kick than beef I was consuming, but it blended in very well.  That store-bought chili powder along with the poblano did their job, spicy with a bit of smokey.  And as for my field peas, they fit right in.  I love vignas now more than ever, outside of a good boiled peanut they still reign as my favorite legume. 

Lunch!