Berbere Misadventure

We bought a little packet of Ethiopian Berbere spice mix a couple of weeks ago somewhere and I decided to use up the remaining 1/2 pound of hamburger tonight to make a berbere stew. First off, the directions on the packet were less than exacting, so I don't know if they meant hot or sweet "red pepper," but I figured berbere stew is usually a little spicy hot so I minced up the one and only jalapeño pepper that our garden produced this summer and tossed it in. Well, that bite-sized pepper must have contained all the concentrated hotness from all 6 plants that we planted! And little did I know that the seasoning packet contained lots of chile peppers, too. By the time I mixed everything in, it was one fiery stew!!! I barely touched the spoon to taste it and 15 minutes later my lips are still burning.

But, I say to myself, we're game for a little spicy hotness, having spent 10 years in Tucson, AZ, so I went on with the preparations and added a can of diced tomatoes to the mix. Thinking that perhaps a touch of brown sugar would cut a little of the heat, I reached up into the cupboard over the stove to get the sugar and accidentally knocked a small glass dessert cup off the shelf, which fell directly into the berbere pan and broke. And I was unable to locate all of the pieces. Which means there's broken glass in the stew now.

So much for my special dinner for James before he goes out of town tomorrow for 3 days. At least the house smells terrific—we can pretend we're eating Ethiopian berbere stew, whatever it is we end up throwing together. And there's enough spice mix left in the packet to try again another time—and next time I'll know not to add any more hot pepper.