One of my favourite meals, it’s so flexible. Cook it up in the slow cooker ready for when you come home from a long day at work, pop it on the stove or best of all I like to use my dutch oven over the camp-fire. It improves with time, so once you have cooked the chilli, pop to the pub or take the dog for a walk for a hour before enjoying. The dish is far superior if you have a good butchers nearby, if your using supermarket mince then you’ll probably have to drain the fat and water off after browning, but if you have some good quality mince there should be no need.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
500g mince
400g tin red kidney beans
400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp chilli powder
100ml beef stock
100ml water
Method
Heat the oil in the pan and soften the onions and garlic.
Brown the mince in a frying pan, and add to the onions and garlic.
Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil, simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Serve with rice.
UPDATED: 17th March 2010
This is great picnic food, it will keep warm without spoiling in tin foil but is also great eaten cold, served with some alioli, and will keep for a couple of days.
If you are making this recipe from scratch then slicing the potatoes before parboiling reduces the cooking time, but this recipe is even better when you use up left over new potatoes.
Ingredients:
600g new potatoes, sliced into approximately 3mm slices, just a guide no need to be too exact this is a rustic dish after all.
6 eggs
Pinch of saffron
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
Salt & black pepper
3 tbps olive oil
1 large red onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
100g chorizo, diced into approximately 1/2cm cubes
10 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 red pepper, diced
1 red chilli pepper, finely chopped
Method:
If required parboil the new potatoes and then rinse in fresh water and set aside in a large bowl.
Beat the eggs together lightly with the seasoning’s.
Soften the onions in 2 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan and then add the garlic, chorizo, tomatoes, pepper and chilli. Cook for 5 minutes to release the flavours from the chorizo and soften the tomatoes.
Tip the contents of the frying pan into the potatoes. Add the remaining olive oil to the frying pan, do not rinse the frying pan as you want to keep all the lovely chorizo flavoured juices.
Add approx 1/2 the egg from the already beaten eggs to the potato mixture and stir well to combine all the ingredients.
Pour the potato mixture into the frying pan and cover with the remaining egg. Flatten the omelette down into the pan. Cook on a low gas for 1 minute on the base and then brown off the top under a hot grill until the egg is cooked through.
Recipe taken from: BBC Food.
In Memory of: Keith Floyd, check out: -Back to the Chopping Board: Farewell Floyd: Food Blogging Event or A Slice of Cherry Pie: Farewell Floyd: Food Blogging Event.
Ingredients:
175g/6oz dried black beans
½ tsp salt
2 bay leaves
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp vegetable oil
700g/1½lb pork shoulder, cut into cubes
2-3 jalapeno peppers or other chillies, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp crushed red chilli peppers
2 tbsp blue cornmeal or cornflour
2 tbsp honey
Method:
1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of cold water.
2. Drain, then boil for two minutes with the salt, bay leaves, black pepper, cumin and oregano. Strain, reserving the liquid, and set aside.
3. Heat the oil in a pan (preferably a cauldron hung over a wood fire, wood mark 3!) and add the pork, jalapenos, onion and garlic.
4. In a bowl mix the red chillies, cornmeal or cornflour and the cooking liquid from the beans to make a kind of cowboy roux and stir this into the pan. Add the beans and finally the honey. Simmer for about two hours.
5. Serve as the sun goes down around an open fire, with a bottle of Kentucky Fried Gentleman and someone playing guitar.
We served this with:
Corn Bread
Ingredients:
150g Plain Flour
100g White Bread Flour
250g Maize
75g Caster Sugar
2 tbsp Baking Powder
75g Butter – Softened
150ml Milk
2 Eggs – Beaten
1/2 tbsp Salt
100g Sweetcorn – Cooked or from a tin.
Method:
Mix all the ingredients together well adding the sweetcorn at the very last minute.
Leave in the bowl covered for at least an hour.
Pour into a greased baking tin.
Cook on the middle shelf of the oven for at least 20 minutes or until the top is golden in colour and the bread is springy (cake like) to touch.
Ingredients: – For 4 Skewers
2 Lamb Steaks
20 button mushrooms
20 cherry tomatoes
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
¼ tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Chilli Flakes
1 Garlic Clove
Method:
In a pestle and mortar crush all the spices and garlic.
Cut the lamb into bite sized chunks and cover in the spice mixture for at least an hour.
Put on a BBQ skewer (if wooden you will need to have soaked it first), with the mushroom and tomatoes.
BBQ or grill until the Lamb is cooked to your preference turning regularly.
Serve with Lemon & Coriander Couscous and a Beetroot and Feta Salad.
NB: If you want to make up a batch of this seasoning (maybe to take camping!) then either don’t add the garlic until your ready to marinate or use a teaspoon of dried garlic in place of the fresh.
This is my recipe for cooking Welsh Cakes on the top of the wood burning stove in our tent but you can also use a griddle pan or heavy based frying pan, I don’t grease these but some recipes call for greasing – work out what works best for you. I have also included the measurements for Cups as even I don’t take weighing scales camping and a roll of cellophane works just as well as a rolling pin!
Some like to serve them with Jam or Honey but just cooked hot off the stove is quite delicious.
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup (125g) Butter (Not Marg)
1 Cup (250g) Self-Raising Flour
1 egg
1/3 Cup (70g) Caster Sugar
100g Dried Cranberries (Traditionally Currents, Sultanas and Raisins)
Mixed Spice
Extra Sugar for dusting with a pinch of Cinnamon.
Method:
Rub the butter into the flour and then add the beaten egg, caster sugar, dried fruit and a pinch of mixed spice. Leave to cool if possible (Not so easy in a tent).
Roll out the mixture to 1cm thick and cutout with a pastry cutter or just in approx 6cm squares. Cook the cakes on the stove top until browned on both sides.
Sprinkle with the dusting sugar and serve.
