Beef and Two Bean Chilli

As UK readers will know, most of London had a Snow Day today. The last time I remember such a day I was eight and, running low on food supplies, we had to trudge to the top of the road to the local shop. It took us two hours to walk what would normally take 20 minutes and my poor brother had to trudge through snow that was almost up to his waist.

We don’t have a very large store cupboard but I like to think I’m pretty good at maximising the space available. Even though the chances of being stuck in the house and unable to leave are incredibly slim, I like to be well prepared for any culinary emergency. We weren’t housebound today but I was glad not to have to brave the cold and was able to find plenty of ingredients to use for dinner. Chilli seemed like an obvious choice given the arctic temperatures so I selflessly left Stephen working beside the fire and braved the chilly kitchen.

The recipe we use originally comes from the Waitrose website, it’s stored in the Our Recipes section of the site but I’ve copied it again here because I increased the spices even further this time to allow for the extra beans.

4 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
500g lean minced beef
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 large red chilli, deseeded and chopped
3 tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground cumin
600ml beef stock
400g tin chopped tomatoes
15g dark chocolate
Salt and pepper
150g red kidney beans
150g black beans

(You’ll need to remember to soak the beans overnight. The kidney beans should be boiled rapidly for 20 minutes then rinsed thoroughly before being added).

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion with some salt and fry gently until soft (about 15 minutes). Then add the garlic and continue to fry for two minutes.

Next, add the mince and fry until browned. Now, add the chilli, tomato puree and spices and fry for a further five minutes, stirring often to incorporate the spices into the mince.

Add the stock, tomatoes, kidney beans and chocolate and season. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 40 minutes until the meat is tender.

Add the black beans, bring to the boil again and simmer for a further hour.

[Stephen says:] With this we drank a Trimbach Alsace Riesling 2005.  Riesling has a reputation for matching spicy dishes well and often it does, but this time it didn’t quite go; the depth and meaty, spicy, chocolateyness of the chilli was a bit too much for it.  Then vainly tried some dry Amontillado, but too alcoholic to go with the spice.  As an afterthought, now trying a splash of Banyuls, which might have gone well, but not sure of the sweetness.