Three Bean Butternut Chili

      One of my co-workers asked to buy a pot of Chili from me this week.  He's vegetarian, so I thought I'd make a 3 bean chili with butternut squash.  It's an experiment, but I think the spices in the chili well lend themselves to the warm flavors of the squash. I am hoping it will round out the flavor and give a little bit of bulk to the chili that is something other than beans.  It's a project that will take at least two days, but a good chili is well worth it.
The day before you plan on cooking you will need to soak your beans
1 cup black beans
1 cup red beans (or kidney beans)
1 cup pinto beans
soak them separately so that they can be cooked separately this way they will keep their color for the most part instead of all turning vaguely brown-grey. Let them soak overnight.  When you are ready to start cook your beans separately in about 3 times as much water as you have volume of soaked beans.  Do not salt the water- it will give the beans a mealy texture.  Cook the beans until they are soft (add more water if necessary), then drain them and set aside. 
      For the Chili saute in a small amount of oil
1 large onion, small diced,
two 4 oz cans diced mild chilies,
1 pablano pepper, seeded and diced, 
2 TBS minced Garlic
 Next go in the spices, you want them to toast them to bring out the flavors so they will go in the pan once the onions and peppers are translucent.  Add
2 TBS Chili powder*
2 TBS cumin
1 TBS smoked paprika
1 tsp coriander seeds
Stir in the spices and let them cook for a few minutes until they become very fragrant.  De-glaze the pan with a bottle or can of beer.  I used an IPA this time, but lagers or wheat beers work very well too.  If you want to keep it gluten free some vegetable stock or just water will work just fine.  Next we add our tomato product.  I like adding several different kinds for the texture and I usually use cans for everything unless tomatoes are in season and cheap.
6 oz tomato paste
10 oz tomato puree
14 oz crushed tomatoes
14 oz  diced tomatoes
2 cups water or vegetable stock.
and a few more seasonings
1/4 cup oregano 
3 TBS salt
1 TBS black pepper 
1/4 cup brown sugar
and
chipotle (from a can) for heat and a little more smokiness.  Use the chipotle at your discretion, if you don't like it too hot just use the adobo (that would be the paste in the can with the peppers, it doesn't have seeds in it).  If you like it a little more spicy start chopping up the peppers themselves (maybe take the seeds out before you chop them up).  Add it a little bit at a time and let it cook some between the additions, as the flavor will broaden and will get hotter as it cooks. 
      Now add your reserved beans.  Stir them in and take the temperature down to low (or move it to a crock pot if you are worried about scorching the bottom).  Let it simmer, stirring it frequently, for at least 2 hours.  The longer it cooks the more those flavors will marry.
      While it is simmering prepare one butternut.  Don some gloves, because butternut leaves a sticky residue on your hands that can be really annoying to get off.  It's not so bad when you are doing just one squash but many more and you will find you hand is green and sticky.  I forgot the gloves once when I was doing a whole case for work and I had to take a green scrubby to my hand to get it off!! Ok, enough of my tangent . . . peel your squash, cut the top off and dice it, then split the bottom section, scoop out the seeds and dice it as well as you can, sorry all of my perfectionists this will not be prefect squares.  (If it really bugs you save the bottom for soup!)  You will end up with about 4 cups of diced butternut.  Toss it in a little oil and roast it in a hot oven (around 450) until it just begins to brown.  We are roasting it so that it maintains it's structure better once it gets mixed into the chili.  Once it is roasty toasty add it to the chili pot and let it cook for at least another 30 min with the squash in it.  As long as it gets at least two hours total you should be in good shape.
     Now you can serve it up as soon as it's done, but remember, chili, like all soups tastes better the next day, so it won't hurt it to sit for a bit.  Once it's hot again I like serving it with sour cream (or Greek yogurt), a bit of cheese, cilantro and some sliced jalapenos. 
      I actually made a double batch with mine, so I could keep some for myself as well as sharing it with the person who originally wanted it.  I like freezing it in little 1 cup portions and saving it for easy healthy lunches when I don't feel like cooking. 

*Make your own chili powder by picking up a blend of dry chilies at the store, get yourself a mix, here is a great site about the flavors and different heat profiles of different dried chilies.  Pull the stems off the peppers and throw them in the blender on high speed in 10 second bursts to start out, then just switch to pulse mode, you don't want to get them too hot or it will ruin the flavor.  Blend them until they become powdery-  you may have some seeds left, which you might want to sift out if you want a milder chili powder.  If you want a finer powder move them to a mortar and pestal and grind them by hand until it is very fine.  Save in an air tight container, this powder will last a long time, so show it some love and make it your own!