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Photo courtesy Marisa McClellan (#316303)

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Bean-Free Chili Soup

By Marisa McClellan, from the Marisa McClellan collection

Ingredients

	1	Tbsp. olive oil
	1	large onion, roughly chopped
	3	bell peppers, seeded and chopped (use any colors you’d like)
	¼	cup tomato paste
	1	Tbsp. chili powder
	1	tsp. cumin
	7 to 8	turns of a pepper grinder
	2	lb. grass-fed beef, ground
	2	large cans of tomato purée (about 5 cups total)
	1	large bundle of chard, cut into ribbons
	~	Chunks of avocado, for garnish
	~	Red onion, minced, for garnish

Steps

Heat the olive oil over high heat in a large soup pot. Add the onions and peppers and cook until they’re browned. Add the tomato paste, chili powder, cumin, and black pepper, and cook until the spices are fragrant and the tomato paste is fully incorporated.
Push the peppers and onions off to the sides of the pan so that you create a well in the center of the pot. Place one pound of the ground beef into that well. Using a flat-edged wooden spatula, chop it into crumbles. Once the beef has browned, work it into the vegetables. Repeat this process for the second pound of meat.
Once all the meat has browned, add the tomato purée. If the soup is looking a little thick, add a quart of water to thin it. Bring the soup to a simmer and stir in the chard ribbons.
Taste and add enough sea salt to bring out the flavors of the soup (my pot took approximately three teaspoons, but preferences vary). It’s ready to eat when the greens are fully wilted.
Serve topped with avocado and minced red onion.

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There are 4 comments on this item

Unrated

0% recommend this recipe

1. by anonymous on Jan 10, 2011 at 11:24 AM PST

Chard or kale? You might want to edit this. Thank you for the lovely dinner idea - I’m going to make this (in my house, it’ll be chard!)

2. by Kim on Jan 10, 2011 at 4:12 PM PST

Thanks for the catch, anonymous. We’ve edited it to say chard — although, honestly, kale is a fine substitution.

3. by anonymous on Jan 11, 2011 at 8:52 AM PST

I am not quite sure why, but this article really rustled my feathers, and I cannot quit thinking about it. The reason for this is not the recipe, it looks and sounds good, and the writing is fine.I think one of the best parts of the article is that the author is obviously putting quite a bit of consideration and love into the meals she makes, being careful to be inclusive of all family members. The part that gets to me is the labeling of beans/legumes (especially the dried varieties) as “un-real food.” These foods are perhaps some the most “real” if such labels must be used, and have been a staple food of cultures around the world for thousands of years. Making a bean-less chili is great, especially for those who may have legume allergies (as seen in an above comment), however adding the “real food diet” label to the article is problematic. This diet is just the latest “as seen on Oprah” tag line diet that seems to be lacking a singular unified set of guidelines (quite a few real food diet sources do not cite omitting legumes from your menu, and some may find issues with the consumption of avocado if they have transported to you food purveyor via a lengthy truck or plane ride). Sorry, I just had to get his out, it has been bothering me all day.

4. by marusula on Jan 11, 2011 at 12:49 PM PST

Dear anonymous,

In telling the story of my husband’s current diet, I was in no way passing judgment on legumes. I was simply trying to share the path I took to arrive at this particular pot of soup. I actually think it’s ridiculous to exclude beans from a diet that is trying to focus on real food and I told both my husband and his trainer just that when I found out that they were going to be eating like this for the month of January.

The decision to eat or not eat a food is a distinctly personal one. In the end, the issue wasn’t about the beans so much as it was making a choice to either accept my husband’s diet restrictions or stop cooking for him for a month. So I set aside my frustrations over the diet and made some soup.

-Marisa

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