Again, this was the hint of a recipe I spotted over the weekend in a “what to do with your leftover pumpkin” article from Bon Appetit magazine. Being adventurous and having some pumpkin left over in the ‘fridge, I thought I would try it. The original recipe uses spicy sausage but I happened to have some left over stewing beef after making soup about a week ago that needed using, so this is a beef chile. I noticed when adding the pumpkin that, like adding tomato sauce to spaghetti sauce, the chile thickened up immediately. The recipe also didn’t give any amounts, so I added the amounts for mine. The result is a very tasty chile that I will definitely make again.

Spicy Pumpkin and Beef Chile

1 pound Beef, round steak, or stewing beef, cubed**
1 cup chopped Onions*
1/4 cup Carbquick flour (or other low carb flour)
1 tablespoon Red Chile Powder
1/4 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/2 cup sliced Bell Peppers *
1 cup Canned Pumpkin Puree
1 15 oz can Mexican style Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 teaspoon Cumin
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 teaspoon black Pepper
1/1 teaspoon Garlic
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

*For a quicker version, you can use the same amount of frozen onions and bell peppers.

** You can also use 1 pound of lean ground beef for a quicker version

Mix flour with seasoning salt in a pan and dredge the meat into it. Heat olive oil in a large pot and brown the meat. Add garlic and onions and sauté until just starting to get tender. Add chile powder, bell peppers, tomatoes, cumin, pepper flakes and black pepper and mix well, then stir in the pumpkin puree. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 hour until meat is completely done. Add any additional salt or pepper to your preference.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, cheddar jack cheese and chopped chives or green onions on top, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info (without toppings):
Calories: 303.4 Net Carbs: 10 g Protein: 42.3

Posted on 11/28/2012