I won’t lie: This chili takes three hours to make. Now, before you roll your eyes, just hear me out. When you make this rich and meaty black bean stew, you will be rewarded with a comforting, deeply flavored chili, tinged with smoke and fragrant with spice. Your family will be grateful, your guests will be impressed, and any neighbors in proximity to the aromas wafting from your kitchen window will be quite envious. In fact, you might want to share a bowl with them.

If this is not enticing enough, here is more good news: While the chili-making process will take several hours, most of the time will require little effort from you in the food-prep department. This chili is self-sufficient. It will do most of the work itself, simmering and bubbling away in the oven, allowing the meat to tenderize in a heady, smoky ragout, absorbing the flavors and mingling in a swirling brew of beer, tomato and spice. It will generously make you feel useful by asking for an occasional stir; otherwise, you can go read a book. The only other responsibility required of you is to wait while it finishes cooking. It will be worth it.

Beef and Black Bean Chili

Active time: 1 hour

Total time: 3 to 3 1/2 hours

Yield: Serves 6

2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef chuck, excess fat trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large white onion, finely chopped

1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

4 garlic cloves, minced or pushed through a press

1 teaspoon chile powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 cup tomato paste

12 ounces Mexican beer or pale ale

1 (28-ounce) can crushed Italian plum tomatoes

1 cup beef or chicken stock

2 minced chipotles in adobo with juices

2 cups cooked black beans or 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Season the beef on all sides with salt and black pepper.

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven (or ovenproof pot with a lid) over medium-high heat. In batches, without overcrowding the pan, brown the meat on all sides, 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and repeat with the remaining meat.

Pour off all but 1 tablespoon oil from the pot. Add the onion and bell pepper and saute over medium heat until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the chile powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, oregano and cloves. Stir to toast the spices, about 15 seconds, then add the tomato paste and continue to stir to blend and darken, about 1 minute more.

Pour in the beer and deglaze the pan, stirring up any brown bits. Add the tomatoes, stock and chipotles. Return the beef to the pot with any collected juices. The meat should be completely submerged in the liquid. If not, top off the stew with more stock to cover the meat.

Bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven. Cook until the meat is tender, 2 to 2 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. Transfer the pot to the stovetop. Simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat until the chili reduces and thickens slightly, about 20 minutes, skimming any fat that rises to the surface.

Stir in the beans, brown sugar and 1 teaspoon salt. Taste for seasoning and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve in bowls with garnishes, such as diced avocado, sliced jalapenos, chopped red onion, sour cream, fresh cilantro sprigs and lime wedges.

581-7500

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: Photo by Lynda Balslev for TasteFood

It’s easy to be greedy with citrus when summer fruits are a mere warm weather promise. Early spring is high season for lemons, and these bars will bring a warming ray of sunshine to your plate.

The key to a good lemon bar, in my book, is that the filling must be intensely lemony. It should pack a wallop of puckery tartness balanced by just enough sweetness without being cloying. For this task, rely on the Eureka lemon, the ubiquitous lemon readily found in our markets. They have the requisite tartness for these bars, which their sunny cousin, the Meyer lemon, lacks. No knocks to Meyers -- they are delicious in their own right. However, they're likened to a cross between a lemon and a tangerine and are noted for their sweetness and lack of tartness.

The infallible Eureka lemon will deliver the zingy, cheek-sucking filling you want for these bars. A thick curd, rippling with lemon zest, is spread over a simple, supportive shortbread crust. A smidge of sea salt is a final flourish, which deftly highlights the lemon while restraining the sugars from tipping into a sugary abyss. Now if you’ll excuse me, all this writing has made me crave another bar.

Lemon Bars

Active Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: Makes 16 (2-inch-square) bars

Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool, cut into cubes

Filling:

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Sea salt flakes, for sprinkling (optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan, then line the pan with parchment.

Combine the crust ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix until the dough is lumpy and just begins to stick together. Dump the dough into the prepared pan and evenly press the dough to cover the bottom of the pan.

Bake the crust until it just begins to turn golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, but do not turn off the oven heat.

Whisk the filling ingredients together in a large bowl until blended. Pour the filling over the crust. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is set but not coloring, about 25 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a rack.

Cut into bars. Dust with powdered sugar and lightly sprinkle with sea salt flakes.

581-7500

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: Photo by Lynda Balslev for TasteFood

Irish soda bread is a quick bread, which means it doesn’t require any yeast or kneading to rise. Instead, it relies on baking soda and buttermilk, which interact for leavening. When the ingredients are combined, the leavening process starts immediately, so the dough should be mixed quickly -- hence the moniker “quick bread.” It shouldn’t be overworked, or the bread will be tough.

Given its attribution, it seems that an Irish soda bread would be a fitting recipe to post for St. Patrick’s Day. However, upon some research, it appears that what we know as Irish soda bread in the U.S. is not authentically Irish. In Ireland, soda bread is a term for any bread leavened with baking soda (there, it's called bread soda). The method originated in the 19th century, when baking soda was introduced and before ovens were widely used. At the time, soda breads could be cooked in lidded cast iron pots over a fire.

Soda breads were and are efficient and simple four-ingredient brown or white breads, or flattened griddle breads. The now-familiar additions of butter, raisins and currants would have been considered luxuries for special occasions.

With all of that said, you can call it untraditional or an Americanized version if you like. No matter the moniker, it’s lovely to eat -- especially when slathered with (more) butter and eaten warm from the oven.

Irish Soda Bread

Active time: 15 minutes

Total time: 1 hour

Yield: Makes 1 loaf

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup raisins

1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

1 3/4 cups cold buttermilk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour with your fingers to form coarse crumbs. Mix in the raisins and caraway seeds, if using.

Whisk the buttermilk and egg in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the buttermilk. Using a wooden spoon, mix until the dough just comes together. If the dough is too wet, add a little more flour. The dough should be a little sticky.

Dust your hands with flour and briefly knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface to form a shaggy ball 8 to 9 inches wide. Transfer the dough to the baking sheet. With a sharp knife, make an X incision in the top.

Bake in the oven until the bread is golden brown and a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. (If the bread begins to brown too much before it's finished, lightly cover with foil.)

Remove the bread from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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CAPTIONS AND CREDITS

Caption 01: Photo by Lynda Balslev for TasteFood