Awesome Isolation Chilli

This is the Chilli recipe that my Dad has taught me to make. It is a really yummy but surprisingly simple and there are some secret ingredients hidden inside that make it super delicious. There are a lot of steps to make this but they are all simple and nothing is too rushed.

You can have this chilli with Jacket Potatoes, Rice, Nacho's or even just a bowl on its own as a really delicious late dinner. We tend to try and make a big enough portion to make sure there are left overs because it tastes 500% better when its re-heated a few days later for lunch! (Just make sure you always heat it really well).

This recipe makes enough for our family (of 5) to have one meal. You can obviously scale the ingredients up or down to suit how many people you're cooking for and depending on how much you want to have a batch you could freeze.

You'll need:

1 x Large Heat Proof Casserole or large Pan

1 x Chopping board and knife

1 x Cheese Grater

1 x Large Wooden Spoon

Ingredients:

1 x Red Onion finely chopped

2 x Clove Garlic crushed

1 x Leek Sliced

2 x Carrot Grated (These and the leeks could be swapped with any similar veg you have in the fridge)

500g Beef Mince - Ideally from the amazing Simon East Butcher in Abbots Langley.

1 Beef Stock Cube

1 tablespoon of Tomato Puree

6 Sundried tomatoes cut into little pieces

400g Tinned chopped tomatoes

400g Tinned Kidney Beans drained

250ml Red Wine (That's about one large glass for my Mum and Dad!)

1 teaspoon of Cumin

1 teaspoon of Chilli Powder

1 teaspoon of dried Marjoram

1 teaspoon of dried Oragano

50g Dark Chocolate

Parmasan Cheese Rind

Salt & Pepper to Season

Method:

So this may seem like a lot of steps but they all just happen one after the other. To start with if you have the veg prepared and the beans drained you'll be fine.

1. Pour some of the oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes into the casserole.

2. Add the onion and let it start to soften but not colour too much. cook for 3.mins

3. Add the leek and that can soften a bit too for a few more minutes.

3. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 mins.

4. Add the mince all over the pan and increase the heat so it browns until almost burnt on the bottom of the dish. Stir occasionally to stop it totally burning to a crisp.

5. Add about 1/2 of the wine and give it all a stir.

6. When the wine has reduced a bit add the beef stock cube, just crunch it up and sprinkle over the dish.

7. Now slowly stir in the sundried tomatoes, and tomato puree.

8. Add the tin of tomatoes and then fill the tin with tap water, add this to the dish too. This helps to create a nice juicy environment for all the flavours to mix.

9. Tip in the beans and give everything a good gentle stir to really mix it all up. Now is the time to add the secret chef ingredients...

10. Add as much or as little of the herb and spice ingredients as you'd like, it's not meant to blow your socks off but it should have a little kick too.

11. The dark chocolate is a really good way to add depth and a subtle sweetness to this dish, and by adding the rind from the cheese you get an amazing saltiness which is much nicer than just putting tonnes of table salt into it. If you havent got these things to hand though you can just leave them out it will still be delicious.

That's about it really... Simmer the chilli with a lid partially covering it for as long as you can, the longer the better. Then serve with rice, jacket potatoes, nachos or however you like really. I hope you enjoy it and there's some left for lunch tomorrow!!!!!