Chilli con carne

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

It's an old saying and people have read into it various meanings.  To me it reads as a recipe, don't let the glut you have go to waste.  I know it is probably meant to be read as 'make the most of a bad situation' but that would surly lead to making lemoncello not lemonade.

Thank you Clemens

So when my colleague gave me one or two chillies I had to make chilli con carne.  Its one of those stand by recipes that we all have knocking about our own cookbooks of the mind.  We all have our own tweaks that make our chilli better than everybody else's.

Although, I don't think I have ever made the same chilli twice.  Different spices and heat levels.  Additional vegetables that have needed using up.  I also use different cuts of meat, from different animals.  It depends on what I can lay my hands on and how much time I have.  If I have plenty of time I prefer to use some beef skirt or shin or even some belly pork (the traditional dish uses pork not beef).

Due to my current experiment in only buying meat once a month, I can only use what I have in the freezer.  So Tonight's Menu contains; minced beef, onions, peppers, celery, garlic, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of kidney beans and plenty of time.  Herbs and spices include; coriander, cumin, cinnamon and oregano.

There will also be a whole load of chillies in a number of forms.  Dried, fresh, powdered and sauce.  They all add different flavours as well as adding heat.  Balancing lots of them is much more fun than adding shed loads of one type and much tastier.