Chili Cookbook

Although a number of the recipes in this collection are not recognizable as chili, Kolpas ( Breakfast and Brunch ) dishes up an enticing array of main courses, each one flavored with chile peppers and/or chile powder. A few dishes, sporting names such as Texas chuckwagon chili and hot-off-the-grill burger chili, are fairly standard, but when Kolpas launches off into poultry, seafood and vegetable chilis, convention counts for little. Consider his swordfish steak, marinated, grilled and served with a sauce of broth, cannelini beans and mild chilies--only a tenuous connection to chili but an easy, tasty dinner. It's the same with orange and raisin chicken chili, a light and conspicuously sweet combination with a bit of hotness. Even the vegetarian chilies have a certain panache about them, with dishes like sun-dried tomato and white bean chili. In addition to his own creations, Kolpas has collected ideas from restaurants. Most are upscale, like the Muscovy duck chili from the chef at Wolfgang Puck's chic Los Angeles pub, Eureka, but there is also a Fritos pie from a Woolworth's lunch counter in Santa Fe. Illustrations not seen by PW. (Oct.)