A Little Sunshine in the Dark Days of Autumn - Chilli Con Carne

Warm, glowing, deep red, spicy..... Comfort food to a tee. 

How is it that certain foods which have their origines in warmer climes can give us so much pleasure on a cold autumnal day.  I do think it goes further than reminscing about sunny summer days.  Like a bowl of soup or a great stew, it can give you a lovely hug and warm the cockles of your heart.

Anyway, there are as many recipes for chilli con carne as there are for ragu bolognese and here is mine.

I prepare it one day ahead, easy to reheat and the flavour gets better.

Ingredients

• 1,5 kg of stewing beef  ( I like to use big chunks of meat on the bone, shin is best as it contains the bone marrow, but you can use boneless of course)

• 3 onions
• 3 or more cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne or chilli powder
• 1 tsp fennel seeds, pounded
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 bell peppers (mixed colours)
• 1 large Habanero pepper (if you want more heat, use more.  I have to take into account a person that goes all red in the face with the slightest bit of piquancy)
• 3 tbsp tomato puree (concentrated variety)
• 1 liter of good quality beef stock
• Sunflower oil
• Kidney beans 2 tins of 400 gr each approx. (I used dried ones, soaked overnight in cold water and cooked for about 1,5 hour -  300 gr dried beans)

• Sweetcorn 1 tin ( optional, it doesn't really add to the flavour, but gives extra texture and colour)
• Dark chocolate  50 gr
• Seasoning : salt and a pich of sugar to taste.
• Chopped fresh coriander

Preparation

• In your Dutch Oven (or any cast iron contraption with lid that works on the hob as well as in the oven) heat the sunflower oil and brown the meat.
• Take the meat out and set aside.
• Sautee the peeled and roughly chopped onions, garlic and finely chopped habanero in some oil.
• Add the meat, all the spices and tomato paste. 
• Cook out the tomato paste for a couple of minutes.
• Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer.
• Put the lid on and put it in a preheated oven 200 °C
• After 1 hour turn the heat back to 170°C and cook for an extra hour.
• Take it from the oven and carefully take off the lid (HOT, HOT, HOT)
• You can check on the tenderness of the meat and if it falls apart into shreds you are on the right track.
• At this point you can add the roughly chopped peppers and the beans.
• Put back into the oven for about 30 minutes.
• When ready, take it from the oven, remove the bones that might still be in there, add the sweetcorn and season to taste.
• Put the chocolate on top and let it melt into the chilli.  Stirr.
• Add a good measure of chopped coriander on top.

I served it with roasted butternut squash, sour cream and grated gouda (but I like mature cheddar better)