Tuesday 18 December 2012

The gut warming chili con carne

Winter is upon us. And here, in the Great White North, living in our igloos and going to work riding the public metropolitan dog sled to the nearest maple syrup factory in a cool -30C degrees (-22F)  temperature, sometimes you just need a little something to warm your innards. Something that's hot AND spicy. And there's nothing quite like a good hearty chili as a square meal to fill you up with warmth and melt away those snotsicles. So, this week for my lunches I made a big-ass chili con carne. And boy is it a big batch! A word of advice: if you want, you can cut this recipe in half, otherwise you will end up having to freeze half of it for later.


Ingredients:


  • 2 lbs of extra lean ground beef
  • 2x 430ml containers of PC Original Salsa. (This one is good because is liquid)
  • ~1300ml of diced tomatoes (1 large and 1 medium can)
  • 540ml can of pinto beans, drained
  • 540ml can of red kidney beans, drained
  • 2 small or 1 large onion (regular or spanish onion)
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 1 large or 2 regular cloves of garlic
  • 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp salt (or more, to taste)
  • 3 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup of chili powder
Instructions:

To make a chili, it's the easiest thing ever. First, brown the ground beef with the garlic and onions by themselves. So chop up that garlic finely and those onions as well. We're going to cook those in oil first, then add the beef.



While you're at it, might as well chop the green pepper too!


In a large skillet, add about 1-2 tbsp of olive or grapeseed oil, set the heat to medium and when the skillet is nice and hot, dump the chopped garlic and onions in there and cook them until tender and transparent.



Once your onions are cooked, add the ground beef and cook until the meat is all brown, while mixing it with the garlic and onions.


Once the meat is cooked, transfer everything into a large pot.(and I mean very fucking large, hell a giant steel pot would be perfect) And set it on the heat where the pan was, still at medium heat, and add the green peppers.


Open up the jars of salsa and the cans of diced tomatoes and add to the mix, juice and all. Mix well.


Next, add the beans! Beans, beans, the musical fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot!


Finally add all the spices, sugar and chili powder and mix well. At this point, I'm gonna let you in on my secret ingredient. Add a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa and I guarantee your chili will taste amazing!


When everything has been added, make sure you mix well and lower the heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 1 hour 30 min, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick at the bottom or anything like that.


After that, serve in a bowl, top with the Mexicana shredded cheese and a few pieces of baguette bread with some butter and you're done! Now you can warm up to the heat and the spices and feel it in your gut and be ready to fight the great Canadian winter!


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