Seafood Quartet Chili

The church we go to had a Chili Cook-off January 29, 2000, as a fund raiser for one of the youth groups. Numerous people entered and the "Peace Pack Youth Group" also made chili. I decided to take an entirely different route this year and whipped up some seafood chili. As there were four different types of seafood included, I decided to call it the *Seafood Quartet Chili.

2 TBL Olive oil
Medium Yellow onions
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 Large Green Bell Peppers (roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped)
2 Large Red Bell Peppers (roasted, peeled ,seeded and chopped)
4 Sun-dried Tomatoes
1 Can Rotel tomates with green chilies (drain liquids and reserve, chop tomatoes)
1 Can Furmano whole tomatoes (drain liquids and reserve, chop tomatoes)
2 TSP Dried Oregano
2 TBL Dried Cilantro
2 TBL Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
2 TBL Herdez Salsa Verde (canned green salsa)
2 Cups Cooked Beans (kidney, pinto, whatever)
1/2 Lb Scrod fillet
1/2 Lb Swordfish or Shark steak
1/2 Lb Scallops
1/2 Lb Squid, cut into rings

To make the base:
Soften the sun-dried tomatoes buy simmering them in about one cup of water them, remove them from the water and chop (reserve water). Chop the onions and saute them in the olive oil until slightly translucent. Add the minced garlic and then the sun-dried tomatoes and chopped peppers. After a few minutes add the two cans of tomatoes and all reserved liquids.

Add the oregano, cilantro, chili powder and green salsa. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

At this point you can refrigerate the base (or freeze it) to make the chili later.

To make the chili:

Reheat the chili base and add the cooked beans. Simmer for about 15 minutes to heat the beans. Add the seafood and simmer another 10-15 minutes.

Serve garnished with tortilla chips, chopped green onions and grated Monterey Jack cheese.

Notes: I used some dried Ancho chiles, which I ground to substitute for some of the chili powder. I also made a double batch and substituted some red onions for the yellow. You can pretty much substitute other fish and shellfish in this recipe. Put in what you like but try for a mix of textures. *For those of you really interested in what a seafood quartet consists of, it contains the following: two fiddler crabs, one red drum and a sea bass. (insert cymbal crash here)