Chilli Con Carne

Last night I was in the midst of a lovely cold so didn’t feel up to too much cooking, I whipped up a huge pot of Chilli Con Carne ala Jamie Oliver Happy Days. Can now live off of this for a couple of days at least between Michael & myself! This chilli isn’t that much different from a standard recipe apart from the fact that it has sun dried tomatoes as well as tinned tomatoes, the richness of these gives it a more intense sweet flavour that I like very much. I also strayed from the recipe slightly in that I used semi dried tomatoes with no oil & then added my left over garlic, chilli & olive oil combo from my marinated tomatoes the other day, these went into the food processor with the tomatoes to form the paste. Also I used dried red chilli (from my garden) as I didn’t have any fresh on hand. My only complaint was that it was not hot enough for me & I have to remember to add more chilli next time! Other than that it was pretty good easy comfort food to feed the cold.

Chilli Con Carne

Olive Oil
2 medium onions
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 level teaspoons chilli powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded & finely chopped
Salt & pepper
500g Fine grade Mince beef
2 x 400g tin tomatoes
2 x 400g red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
200g sun dried tomatoes in oil
½ stick of cinamon
1 wine glass of water

Finely chop the onions in a food processor & fry with garlic until soft. Add the chilli powder, fresh chilli, cumin & season with salt & pepper. Add the beef & fry until browned. Chop the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor & add some of the oil until a smooth paste forms. Add these with the tin tomatoes, cinnamon stick & water to the onions in the pan. Season to taste. Stir in & reduce to a low simmer for 1 ½ hours. Add the kidney beans 30 minutes before serving (these only need reheating not cooking)