Brrr! It’s a bit chilly for chilli

A foot and a half of snow! In November!?

We’ve had a remarkable week of weather featuring the heaviest November snowfall for 17 years, record low temperatures for the month and thunderstorms during snow showers. It’s bitterly cold and I spend most of the day clearing the snow off our driveway only for snow to return as soon as I go back inside. Even more annoying the snow plough comes along to clear the road and piles the snow across my nice cleared driveway. Then the pavement plough comes along and puts even more snow on the pile.

In tribute to the chilly weather I thought I’d post up my chilli recipe. You can have it with rice but the best way to eat it I reckon is to cram it into a tortilla wrap with guacamole, sour cream and salsa. It’s messy, fun to make and delicious.

We had the chilli earlier in the week and broke out the leftovers for some chilli baked tatties on Friday night. The spuds were just sprinkled with water and salted before going in a 200C oven for an hour. Chilli usually tastes better after sitting for a few days in the fridge. The flavours get a bit more time to bed in and develop. So it’s great as a batch cooking dish or to do a bit extra for leftover meals like this.

Serves 4
500g lean beef mince
Kidney beans
1 large onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 chillies finely chopped (including the seeds)
1 jar of passata (not the kind with added herbs or salt)
Tomato purée
Oregano
Cumin
Crushed coriander seed
Bay leaf
1 glass red wine
Worcestershire sauce
1 oxo cube (I know, I know…)
Pinch of sugar
salt and pepper

In a large pot soften the onion over a medium heat, then add the mince and brown.
Squeeze two teaspoons of tomato purée into the pan, stir it in and let it cook out for a few minutes to reduce the bitterness.
Crumble in the oxo cube then add the garlic and chilli.
Season with some salt and a lot of pepper, a pinch of sugar and a couple of teaspoons of oregano, cumin and one teaspoon of crushed coriander seeds.
Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce and the red wine, stir everything up and let the wine cook off a little before pouring in the jar of passata.
Reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover the pan and cook for 45 minutes.
Drain and rinse the kidney beans then add them to the pan.
Cook for a further half an hour to 45 minutes until the chilli has thickened up.
Check the seasoning and the heat. If it’s not hot enough add some dried chilli flakes or some tabasco to ramp it up a bit.
Once it’s ready serve it with some boiled rice, but it’s much better with all the fun extras like guacamole, sour cream and salsa wrapped in a tortilla or served in tacos.