Ah, the British Summer.
Memories of playing with the sprinkler on the lawn, sucking ice pops from the freezer and school holidays that lasted forever.
Ha!
This Summer is becoming more about cagoules, umbrellas and drying off soggy chickens that are too stupid to go inside out of the torrential rain.
Hence this week I cooked up a chilli to warm our bones.
As regular as clockwork when I’m cooking this, the chilli vapours burn my eyes and the heat numbs my tongue and I always panic that I have overdone the heat; but with the long slow cooking and a bit of last-minute adjustment to flavours it always seems to turn out perfect.
Even the boy asked for seconds and said “I love your chilli Mum, it never has chewy bits in and it’s got just the right amount of spice”
Praise indeed.
This is a recipe that I cook on auto-pilot, using store cupboard ingredients that frequently get subbed for whatever is at hand. But I often find that halfway through proceedings I am missing some vital component, like tinned tomatoes*, so I thought documenting it here might help me ‘take stock’ for next time.
*This time the missing tinned tomatoes were replaced by two cartons of passata and some sliced sweet red peppers from a jar, no one even noticed.
I make a huge batch so that I can put some in the freezer for a rainy day (and on a rainy day). This makes enough for the 2.5 of us for three meals plus a small pot for a future ‘chilli dog’ evening. Money in the bank as one of our friends would say.
I realise now that I use two of nearly everything. Perhaps the rain is invoking Noah’s ark principle.
“The ingredients go in two by two hurrah, hurrah!”
My ever-changing chilli ingredients list
- 3lb minced beef
- 1 pack of streaky bacon or pancetta and/or 1 small pack of chopped chorizo
- 2 chopped onions
- 2 sticks of chopped celery
- 2 chopped garlic cloves
- 2 or 3 tins of tomatoes
- 2 cans of water (or some red wine)
- 2 Oxo cubes
- 1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder
- ½ teaspoon of hot, smoked paprika
- 1-2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 sprigs of oregano
- 2 teaspoons of brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of cocoa
- A cinnamon stick, broken in two
- 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
- 2 big squirts of tomato purée
- 2 cans of beans (I use one of red kidney beans and one of cannellini)
- Plenty of Salt and Pepper
- In a very large pan with some olive oil, I cook the chopped bacon, and if I have some, chorizo too, until the fat runs out.
- I add the onions and celery and let them cook down until softened in the oils.
- Next I add the garlic to cook for a minute or two before the beef gets added in batches until browned.
- The rest of the ingredients (except the beans) go into the pot, get brought to a boil and stirred well.
- Then, I just turn it right down to a low simmer and leave it to cook for a couple of hours, or sometimes up to 4, stirring whenever I pass the kitchen. It works just as well in a slow cooker, leave it on low all day or high for the afternoon.
- Half an hour before we eat I take the lid off bring it back up to the boil, add the beans and let it cook for half an hour whilst I make the rice, lay the table and open a beer.
A last minute tasting usually calls for more salt and Worcestershire sauce…oh, and a quick photo.
Honey Brown13
July 7, 2012
Looks good! Yum-O! Look like you could write a cookbook just for chilli.
thingswemake.co.uk
July 7, 2012
Thanks! I would SO love to write a cook book 🙂
Justin Pinkney (@CutSquash)
July 7, 2012
The summer so far means that you can recreate your memories of playing on the lawn with a sprinkler every day! Lovely pictures by the way.
thingswemake.co.uk
July 7, 2012
ha ha! The ‘sprinkler system’ has just turned on again. We have been spoiled with an hour of sunshine today. Mustn’t get ahead of ourselves. Just clicked your link to Iamafoodblog. Gorgeous blog, going to Pin it for a proper look later.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
July 7, 2012
OK, you do know chili is supposed to be a big old slop in the bowl affair. You make everything look gourmet. Seriously, prettiest chili ever. Kidding aside, I love the recipe. (I am cheap though and would save my cannellinis.)
thingswemake.co.uk
July 7, 2012
Ah, thanks Greg and you know what? I poured that chilli into a big old sloppy bowl just after I photographed it. Much too pretty and mimsy a portion for me. I had to sacrifice the cannellinis as I was all out of kidney beans too. I kind of like the two colour bean effect though. The ingredients list looks long but most of it is things you have in stock I’m sure and nearly all of it can be subbed or missed out. It’s that type of recipe.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide
July 7, 2012
Ha, I’m the same way. I never use a recipe for chili. Glad you don’t like mimsy portions either!
Nathalie
July 8, 2012
Beautiful ! I love it !
Sally
July 8, 2012
I’m with you and Rufus – my recipe changes all the time and I have to make a vat. I made chilli for 50 one Christmas plus veg chilli. It gets better with freezing too – it’s probably my ultimate comfort food – love how pretty you made it look Claire.
egg me on
July 10, 2012
I totally agree with Greg — I’ve never seen chili look so gorgeous! What a great recipe. Makes me wish it wasn’t 85 degrees and I could hunker down with a nice hot bowl. Hmm, maybe I just will …
adeansworld
July 12, 2012
Reblogged this on adeansworld and commented:
looks amazing
Alex and Yulia
August 16, 2012
Hi! Your chili looks fantastic. When you say two tins of tomatoes, how much exactly do you mean? I can’t wait to try this recipe!
thingswemake.co.uk
August 16, 2012
Hi…and thanks! The cans I used are about 400g each.
Alex and Yulia
August 16, 2012
Thanks so much! I love chili! I am from Siberia, and chili is practically unheard of here. But all my friends really love it once they try it. They just can’t handle the heat though 🙂
bigflavours
August 22, 2012
Hey, I just did some reviews on some chilli sauces and dried chillis etc… I would highly recommend trying chipotle chillis (dried smoked jalapenos) in chilli. It’s deeper and more complex than smoked paprika and delivers a lovely wee nip. This recipe looks brill though! I have used dark chocolate in the past but never thought of the cocoa option. I also use a tbsp of treacle instead of sugar. I’m going to give your recipe a crack though 🙂 R
thingswemake.co.uk
August 22, 2012
Thanks for the tips…will track down those chillis.
bigflavours
August 22, 2012
These are the ones I’ve been using recently (and enjoying immensely). http://www.hot-headz.com/chilli-sauce/dried-chiles/dried-whole-chipotle/
IshitaUnblogged
September 11, 2012
Claire – all I can say is that I’m drooling over this one. I must have missed quite a lot of posts – and this one??? I always loved your wooden tables – and when you shifted to those painted ones (I had commented and you had said that they are in the attic!!!) I was very sad. I’m so glad that your wooden table is back. And this chilli dish is absolutely ravishing. For me too chilli dishes has to be spicy but not too flaky!
thingswemake.co.uk
September 12, 2012
You are obsessed with the wood! I don’t want to use them too much or all my photos would look the same. You will seem the cropping up now and then 🙂
IshitaUnblogged
September 12, 2012
LOL! Yes, I AM!!!
Anneliese Plodr
June 13, 2013
Reblogged this on health & fitness .