Eric’s Cincinnati Style Chili with Spaghetti Noodles

Being in the Detroit area, I love a coney dog.  A beanless chili sauce poured over a hot dog, topped with diced yellow onions and mustard.  Kermit Ruffins sings, “what is New Orleans? It’s red beans and rice on a Monday, that is New Orleans.”  For me, what is Detroit?  Sitting in a Coney Island on a Saturday with two coneys and a cheese fry.  That is Detroit.  Now I’m not saying it’s a traditional Saturday meal that red beans and rice are to Mondays in New Orleans but it’s close.  A good chili sauce is make or break for a coney island here.  I’ve stopped going to resturants for subpar sauce, I love a good chili sauce.   But what about a chili that could go on a hot dog and  spaghetti noodles, and in a bowl?  There is one…

This would be considered a three-way - noodles, meat chili and the beans. Adding cheese makes it a four-way. Onions on top... a five-way.

Gold Star Chili and Skyline Chili are about as common to Cinncinati as a McDonalds or Burger King.  You can get a two-way to five-way.  A two-way is noodles and chili to the five, which is noodles, chili, cheese, onions and beans.  What makes this chili standout is either one of the following ingredients: cinnamon, chocolate, cloves or allspice.  It’s served in a bowl with oyster crackers, on a hot dog or over spaghetti noodles.  In Michigan, there may be one Skyline, but most grocery stores may sell a frozen container of the Skyline Chili and that’s about it.  Road trips through Ohio have a stop somewhere along the way to stock up on cans of Gold Star – the resturants sell cases of them!

The part I love most about the chili is the cinnamon.  It adds a great touch to the meal for me and a great after taste.

This is a combination of maybe three different chili recipes.  I adjust the taste as it’s simmering in the pot.  You can adjust the ingredients to your liking.  I might have went a tad over the 1 teaspoon for the cinnamon but 1 teaspoon seemed about right.  Remember, leftover can be put over a hot dog or as a side in a bowl for the next day.   This is made almost as much as a classic spaghetti dinner at my house.  So, enjoy:

ERIC’S CINCINNATI STYLE CHILI with NOODLES

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 tbsp minced onion
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (I used one regular and 1 rotel with green chilies), with juices
• 1 8oz can rotel tomato sauce
• 1 15oz can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

Brown ground beef along with onion, garlic and chili powder.  Add all the other ingredients.  Bring to a boil then simmer on low for about 10 minutes.

While you are browning the meat, cook spaghetti noodles.

To serve, put noodles in bowl, top with chili, then top with shredded cheddar cheese.  You could even add chopped onions.  Enjoy!

 

 

Baked Spaghetti

New Orleans is…

…as Kermit Ruffins sang in “What Is New Orleans – Part 2” with the Rebirth Brass Band is “Spaghetti and Meatballs on a Tuesday…”.

Besides “Red beans and Rice on a Monday” and a whole lot of other things New Orleans is, Tuesday just happened to be a spaghetti night here. I didn’t go the traditional route, or with meatballs, but… baked. If you never had it, it tastes great. It’s only one added step. You cook it the same way as you normally would, but once it’s all cooked – you bake it (with the added cheese on top).

So as you groove to some Kermit Ruffins or Rebirth Brass Band… here is:

Baked Spaghetti

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs hamburger
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 12oz spaghetti noodles
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 can tomato soup
• 1/4 cup water
• 8 – 10 slices American Cheese

Boil spaghetti noodles according to the directions on the box.

Brown hamburger, onions, and green peppers. Drain once done.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

Mix in chili powder, water, and tomato soup to the hamburger. Bring to a quick boil then remove from heat. Add the cooked noodles to the mixture. Pour into a 9×13 pan. Top with cheese. Bake for 20 minutes.

Click this image to be taken to the new Creole Style Baked Spaghetti at RedBeansAndEric.com!

If you are a fan of the above Baked Spaghetti, you’ll love the Creole-Style Baked Spaghetti on the new RedBeansAndEric.com!  It’s a spicier version for sure, but I think you’ll love it!

Let me know what you think of the new recipe and the new website!  It’s where all the new posts and recipes are going.  Please sign up and follow me there!

Thank you!

Red Beans and Eric

Barbecue Chicken with Creole White Rice

On a Thursday night at Vaughan’s Lounge in New Orleans, you can see Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers perform. Not just a trumpeter, influenced by Louis Armstrong, he sings in many of his songs. Covering many New Orleans and jazz standards along with many of his own songs, Kermit is very popular with both locals and visitors. His 2007 Basin Street Records release, Live at Vaughan’s was recorded during one of his performances at Vaughan’s.

Back in 1983 he cofounded the ReBirth Brass Band while still in high school in the Treme. He split from Rebirth in 1993 to start his solo career. As he went on, so did the ReBirth Brass Band. The Grammy-nominated band regularly tours North America and Europe. In 2011, Basin Street Records released the CD Rebirth of New Orleans, which reached number 1 on the CMJ Jazz charts.

You can see them both make special guest appearances on the HBO hit show Treme.

This summer, Rebirth’s headlining a tour that brings them to Ann Arbor, MI this Friday for the “A Night in Treme: The Musical Majesty of New Orleans”. Kermit and his usual preshow barbecue won’t be there, but I will!

But for Kermit’s preshow barbecue, wishing you were here at this show, here is my oven version of Barbeque Chicken.

• 1 lbs Boneless Chicken Breast
• 2 cups barbecue sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbs mustard
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• dashes of tabasco (I use about a tablespoon, might be hot for some)
• salt to taste

Place tin foil in a 9 x 13 pan and spray with Pam. Preheat oven at 425.

In a boil, mix all the ingredients together except chicken.

Place chicken on tin foil. Pour barbecue sauce over pieces of chicken. Bake in oven for 30 to 40 minutes until chicken is done.

Serve with rice. I use the Creole White Rice along with this. It can be hot so I add pineapple as a side.