A chef's recipe: Chili con Carne

In the office, we happen to have an ex-chef and it can be quite convenient, especially when he treats us to some of his cooking. Lately, he made a mind-blowing Chili con Carne for us and I couldn't stop myself from asking for the recipe. It happens to be a quite simple but long process..

I had quite a few ingredients on hand already so I thought, why not prepare a batch for home? I tested the recipe and will share with you the step by step process and give you a few advice's to nail this Chili! (because there might be a few tricks!)

One of the challenges in this recipe is to not end with a sweet sauce, since most of the veggies you will cooking are kind of sweet: carrots, pepper, tomato concentrate, ...let's not forget the beans... And then you will have to be aware of the wine you are using, it can turn your recipe upside down! It almost did for my recipe because I used the only bottle I had home which was a Beaujolais.

So, to cut a long story short, here is what you will need and the steps to follow :)

Ingredients:

• 1Kg Ground meat;

• 750gr of red beans;

• 1/2 bottle of red wine;

• 1/2 liter of vegetable stock;

• 5 red onions;

• 1 celery stick;

• 3 carrots

• 2 big red peppers;

• 2 big chili peppers;

• 3 garlic cloves;

• 1.5 small cans of tomate concentrate;

• 1/2 liter of chopped tomatoes;

• 1 cinnamon stick;

• A few laurel leaves & thyme twigs;

• Cumin powder;

• Salt & Pepper;

Now for the recipe itself it is very easy and quite logic but be patient...There is a lot of cutting to do obviously.

1. First of all, start by washing and then cutting the vegetables in what we call 'brunoise" aka little cubes. It took me a little while until the BF got bored and helped :)

2. Then heat some olive oil in a pan and throw in the garlic and red onions. Stir regularly until fragrant and tender, make sure not to burn your onions.

3. Now add the carrots and celery and stir for a few minutes before adding the peppers to cook for a good 10 minutes on medium heat.

4. The next step is to add the stock, tomato concentrate, cinnamon stick, thyme and laurel and stir well...*I know it's a lot of stirring*

5. take out another pan, heat some olive oil and start baking your ground meat with salt, pepper and cumin powder. Don't worry if you feel you put too much seasoning during this step.

6. Once your meat has a nice brown colour, add it to the vegetable mix and throw in the wine, chopped tomatoes and beans.

7. Stir - Stir - Stir!!

8. And let this baby cook for an hour at least. I suggest to sample from time to time to taste the evolution of your dish and season again if necessary

You can enjoy this meal with Nachos, Rice and Sour Cream...And obviously if you make a big quantity, you can freeze some for later!