Tuesday, December 9, 2008

totally NASTY



















(bowl and chili by Gary Rith)
Kind of a funny story. I was walking Penny a little while ago and as we headed UP the street I could see a newly flattened squirrel on the other side of the street. Knowing my sweet little beagle (nasty, dead, smelly??? YUM! FLATTENED SQUIRREL IS MY FAVORITE she says) I grabbed a stick heading back. Do you know how hard it is to keep a very small but very motivated and athletic beagle back with your left hand while trying to scoop a dead squirrel on a stick with your right???? Some of my country friends might be wondering why I got rid of perfectly good eatin'....but I am a vegetarian :)

But that isn't the point of this story, just the warmup.

17 years ago the first time I went over to the sexy woman's house who later became my Petite tastycake, she was making Spanish food and asked me to make Sangria. Sangria is a mix, roughly speaking, of fruit, juice, and wine----how can you go wrong????? So, I saw this stuff at the store---3 and change! Wow! Almost bought a dozen.
Anyway, I was making the pizza last night and listening to Terry Gross on the radio and she had wine experts on the radio. She asked the ABSOLUTE PRICE bottom on wine. (in this house? we have had plenty of good 4-5 dollar bottles!) The experts said "we have not enjoyed any wines under 4 dollars, but you're safe over 4".
I was like "oh cr@p!!!!!!!! this stuff is 3!!!!!!".
And it was definately more horrible than you can imagine. Helpful in inducing regurgitation. Plus we both had tummy aches all evening.
BUT, I am resourceful and frugal. When I make chili, I toss in just about anything (NO SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!) starting with the pepper, onion, olive oil, black beans, tomatoes, hot sauce and spices, soy burger, then adding anything (noodles! corn! cashews!!!) and in this case 2 buck chuck. There is a hefty glass of this nasty sangria in my chili today, and it is superbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb. The best chili ever. A secret ingredient, eh?

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whatever you do, DON'T EAT THAT CHILI RIGHT BEFORE GOING TO BED.

Bad things might happen.

Anonymous said...

LOL

gary, you make the best food! you should have your own cooking show!

Hilary said...

Sounds yummy. I will add either dry red wine to my chili (or to spaghetti sauce), OR a tablespoon or more of cocoa powder.. unsweetened. It gives it a really good, rich taste. I learned that from a microwave cookbook as a means to give the sauce the deep colour that's missing with microwave cooking, but it did so much for the flavour that I continued to use it for traditional stove top or oven-cooked chili.

Miss Heather said...

Okay, so I don't even drink and even I would never buy Sangria that CHEAP!! Ha ha ha!!

Anonymous said...

I'm always looking for ways to spice up my chili, but I think I have to pass on this one. :P

Gary's third pottery blog said...

well, I am really just trying to creatively use the stuff!

Anonymous said...

Ewwww - I'd just throw it out and chalk it up to another lesson learned.

If the stuff gave me agida already, I surely wouldn't disguise it in my food.

Just sayin'...

Tricia said...

I like your cooking style. It's so much more fun than a book, and I LOVE Sangria, umm, probably not the $3/bottle variety, but hey at least you really are putting it to good use.

I have nothing to say about the squirrel. It's just wrong to mention road kill and chili in the same post, wrong I tell you!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

;^)

Farmer*swife a/k/a Glass_Half_Full said...

You are tooooo funny!

Cashews? Seriously? I like'em but not stewed and chili'd up.

I prefer $4.50-$6.00 bottles myself. Well, no. I PREFER the really good stuff. MY POCKET BOOK prefers cheap or from a box. ;-)

Anonymous said...

I'm still trying to get past the whole roadkill and too-cheap booze. I know you are a good cook, Gary, but I could barely survive looking at your chili after that. My gag reflex works fine, thankyouverymuch.

I usually find cheap German whites for the range FW mentioned. Lately I've been able to get Barefoot Merlot for about $6 and it is good!!

Crafter of Khnum said...

My squirrel chili recipe calls for beer, not sangria. Also, no squirrels were harmed in the making of my chili either.

Mona Buonanotte said...

I heard that same Terry Gross interview! It made me thirsty.

Anndi said...

I'm impressed that you managed to keep Penny away from the squirrel. You did manage that, right?

Anonymous said...

well, yes, BARELY kept it from her

Amanda said...

I learned all about good sangria whilst living in Spain. Mix together...
1 bottle of cheap wine (merlot is good)- keep it above $4!
1 qt lemonade (you can do the frozen concentrate, just use half)
1 cup sugar
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
for more zing, add a shot or two of gin (preferred, but if you don't have any, rum or vodka works fine)

BLAM! Perfect Spanish SangrĂ­a

Jessica said...

I LOVE SangrĂ­a, but that bottle looks very questionable. LOL