Chilli Con Carne

Steve and I have quite a good system when it comes to the household chores.  We share basically everything, bins are him, laundry is me, back garden is his responsibility, front garden is mine to maim, butcher and destroy.  We take it in turns to do the cooking as well, and much as it irks me to admit, he is at least as good a cook as I am.  Sometimes I think he is better.  He, at least, doesn't completely bugger up oven chips every time he tries to cook them.  Seriously, the last time I cooked them, I followed the packet exactly and they still came out frozen and burnt at the same time.  It's a unique skill.

This particular weekend he was let loose on my spice cupboard and recipe books and came out three hours later with bowls of the most delicious chilli con carne I had ever tasted.  Naturally it was a Thomasina Miers dish - everything in her books is just delicious, I once made my way through a jar of her chipotles en adobo sauce at a friends house who had just made approximately two gallons of the stuff - and I was more chuffed by the fact that I already had every single ingredient in stock in the house.

Every.  Single.  One.

I apparently keep a well stocked kitchen.  I am my mother's daughter.

This is one of those recipes that you can quite happily leave cooking merrily on its own whilst you go and attend to all those pesky chores that life demands you keep on top of.  Like accidentally pulling out that large plant in the front garden you thought was a weed and turns out to be quite an expensive shrub your husband had planted three years earlier and was finally getting to be a decent size.

Turns out the only green fingers I have are those caused by wearing cheap fashion rings.

So if you fancy a bloody good chilli this weekend, this is what you will need to check you have in your kitchen:

1kg minced beef
300g spicy chorizo
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cloves
1 large cinnamon stick
3 bay leaves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 deseeded ancho chillies
2 chilies de arbol
2 teaspoons sea salt
black pepper
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
800g tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons muscovado sugar
800g kidney beans

Preheat the oven to 120C and bring the meat to room temperature.

Finely chop the onions and garlic

Sear the meat in 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large casserole dish.

Set the meat to one side and add another small glug of oil to the casserole dish.  Brown the chopped chorizo in the oil until it is scented and golden brown with the sausage oils.  Remove the chorizo.

Add the onion, garlic, spices, herbs and chillies and cook in the chorizo oil until soft.  Season with salt and pepper, add the vinegar, tomatoes, ketchup and sugar.

Return the meat to the pan and top up with 400ml water, bring to a simmer and cook, covered in the oven for 2 hours.

After two hours, give it a stir and add the beans.  Cook for another hour.

Serve with a big pile of rice, some chopped coriander, salsa, cheese if you want and lime wedges. Add sour cream if you need to cool the heat down a little.

This chilli would also be amazing on top of jacket potatoes, on a hot dog or piled onto a mound of nachos with a group of friends, some beers and a good film.

Chilli Chik-Con Carne

I've always been really lazy about my chilli con carne, settling for a tin from the cupboard and a packet of mince and resigning myself to underwhelming smokiness, richness and fullness of flavour.

No more!

After some experimentation I have discovered Chicken Chilli Con Carne - a low fat (in comparison to its beefier cousin) version that packs a rich flavour punch and a deep, almost muddy (as odd as that sounds - go with it) smokey intensity.

The beauty of this dish is the fact you can make it the night before or chuck it in the slow cooker during the day and you will have a warming bowl of chilli to drive away the winter chills in the evening.

For this chilli you will need:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons chilli powder
1 tablespoon ancho chilli powder
1 tablespoon chipotle paste
2 tablespoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons cumin powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper
1 tin drained kidney bins
1 tin drained black beans
1 tin chopped tomato's
1 pint chicken stock
25 grams dark chocolate
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder
1 packet chicken breasts
Juice of half a fresh lime
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Pre-heat the oven to 200C and bake the chicken breasts in olive oil, paprika and black pepper until the juices run clear (about 20 minutes)

In a large pan saute the onion and the pepper in the olive oil until soft, then add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add the dried spices and dried herbs and cook for another couple of minutes.  Now add the tomatoes, chicken stock, kidney and black beans, chocolate, salt, pepper, tomato paste and chipotle paste and bring to a boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer for two hours or in the slow cooker.

When you are ready to serve flake the chicken breast into the chilli, add the lime juice and apple cider vinegar and cook for another 30 minutes.

Serve with corn bread, tortilla chips, sour cream, coriander and salsa.  I'll post a recipe for the corn bread on Thursday!