Chilli con carne

Dicks Chilli con carne special!


Note I am one of those purists that do not add beans to the “chilli con carne” as it would then be chilli con carne con judias. I prefer to have my chilli beans as a separate dish.

Ingredients

2 table spoons of Olive oil

1 fresh green jalapeno chilli

½ fresh scotch bonnet chilli (or a full one if you’re a real man)

1 fresh Birdseye chilli

Remove the stems of the chillies, slice in half, remove the seeds and the white pith, chop very fine (blitz in a kitchen mixer if you are rich and possess one of these devil machines)

500 g chuck steak

250 g rump steak

250 g of pork collar

1 large onion (or 4 shallots) finely chopped

1 tea spoon of cumin seeds

2 – 3 cloves of garlic bashed and chopped

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

2 tablespoon oregano (or marjoram or herbs de Provence what ever tickles your fancy)

Fresh ground pepper

A good dollop of tomato puree

¼ bottle of red wine (nowt wrong with Aldi Rioja)

½ ltr of beef stock (I make my own but you can use a couple of oxo cubes)

1 teaspoon of smoked paprika powder

1 teaspoon of sweet paprika powder

½ teaspoon of shrimp flavoured chilli flakes (or chop an anchovy fillet and use normal chilli flakes)

25g of 85% dark chocolate

Small jar of chopped sun dried tomatoes (Jaques)

Salt to taste.


Methodology



Dice meat and put it through a mincer (use a large holed disk) (if you really must, you can buy mince 750g beef, 250g pork all ready done for you, but really????).
Heat the oil in a sauté pan (high sided frying pan)
Add onion and fry until translucent (don’t allow to colour)
Add garlic and fry, also not colouring
Add the meat and brown all over
Grind your herbs and spices in a pestle and mortar Now add the mixture to the meat
Add a few turns of fresh ground pepper
Add the tomato puree and fry for a few minutes
Add wine and simmer to release the alcohol
Add the paprika’s and chilli flakes with half of the beef stock and the sun dried tomatoes.
Cook for 5 minutes add the chocolate

Continue to cook for a further 10-12 minutes (adding stock as needed if it gets too dry) the sauce should be thick and dark brown in colour. (During this time you can drink the remainder of the wine)

Add salt if required (it shouldn’t need any as the stock should add seasoning as it reduces)

Serve with Guacamole and salsa or my chilli corned beef stew (that is another recipe for another day)