Chili Power

Drunken Lentil and Pumpkin Chili

My 15-month-old son rides the airwaves. The little channel surfer makes it impossible for either of us to watch a show, constantly turning the channels from PBS' Dinosaur Train, creating a cacophony of radio frequency activity. I rarely get to see more than a couple seconds of any given show, but it keeps him busy so I rarely care.

A few days ago, as the channels whirled by, I saw the words "Drunken Pumpkin-Black Lentil Chili" printed on the screen. Whoa buddy. Stop right there. I was able to see about three seconds of the Today broadcast and Googled it to find the recipe. The show featured Souper Jenny, who runs an awesome cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. Has anyone ever flown to Atlanta for soup? I am seriously considering it. 

Here is a link to her restaurant: http://www.souperjennyatl.com/

There was no picture attached for the recipe on the Today website about Souper Jenny's awesome chili, and without a picture, it's not really satisfying to Pin it. So I made it, took pictures and here it is. Pin away.

What intrigued me most about this chili is its use of delicata squash.

It's one of those cool looking ones you always see at the grocery store but don't quite know what to do with. Mystery solved. It's a lot like butternut squash, but you can eat the skin, too.

So here is Souper Jenny's Drunken Black Lentil and Pumpkin Chili, minus the black lentils and using green lentils instead because that is what I had. Serves eight.

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

1 large sweet yellow onion, peeled and chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 large zucchini, chopped

1 large yellow squash, chopped

1 delicata squash, seeded and chopped (no need to peel!)

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

2 15 ounce cans pumpkin

2 cups black lentils (I used green lentils)

2 28 ounce cans chopped tomatoes

2 12 ounce beers (I used a Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale)

Heat your soup pot. Add oil and heat for 30 seconds. Saute onions and garlic until soft. Add squash, zucchini, delicata squash, chili powder and cumin and stir. Saute for 5-10 minutes. 

Add lentils, tomato, beer and pumpkin.

Simmer and keep stirring for 45-60 minutes. You may add water if the chili gets thicker than you like. This is particularly a good idea if reheating leftovers. At the table, we added everything from hot sauce to feta or colby jack. 

And as I always do, I rocked. It seemed fitting to add Smashing Pumpkins to the night's playlist. We've been listening to a lot of Lithium on Sirius/XM, which is such a strange flashback at times. The '90s just don't seem that long ago to already be retro and have a special station dedicated to the decade's hits. Those of us in our 40s and older now have an oldies station that we think is cool. We are officially our parents.

Smashing Pumpkins were sort of a fluke. They were so different than most of the bands at the time, which makes them even more perfect for this chili that not only omits beans, but meat as well—and yet it calls itself chili. It's scrumptious, so everyone has let that slide.

The band crammed its songs with heaps of fuzzy guitar with equal parts rock, psychedelic and shoegazer and no one seemed to bat a lash. Billy Corgan's band of misfits were lumped in with every other alt rocker of the day, and it was pretty fabulous.

But when I see the bald Corgan, who always struck me as a little too fetus-y, I can't help but think of Naboo from the British cult classic show The Mighty Boosh. 

Naboo

Below is Episode 1, from Season 1 of The Mighty Boosh. You will become addicted to this show. I own the box set. You're welcome.

Strangely, I never even owned a Smashing Pumpkins CD. I never needed to. The music was constantly around one way or another.

I wasn't a huge fan, but looking back I can see the merits of the music beyond the band's personalities, which were volatile, depressive, erratic and at best just weird. Apparently the band, with only Corgan left from the original lineup, released Oceania in June 2012. I missed it.

Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) and Noel Fielding (Vince Noir)

But Smashing Pumpkins were good. So is this chili. And so is The Mighty Boosh.