My friends and family will exclaim: “What? She never eats mince!”
Yes, that just about correct! After years at boarding school where anything made from mince smelt and tasted of rancid fat and bone-meal, I never ate minced (ground) meat again. Recently I have ventured to hamburgers, only from a reliable source and my sister-in-law’s delicious bolognaise!
I have been buying buy extra lean mince for my geriatric cat. His is portion of tiny ‘meatballs’ are individually frozen, and defrosted and cooked when he wants a treat. The balance I usually season shape into hamburgers for human use.
Last week I had a craving for chilli and used the balance of Muscat’s mince to create my version of chilli con carne.
It was so delicious I simply have to share the recipe with you.
I didn’t follow a recipe, but when I went back to see if I could call my chilli beef ‘con carne’ I was amazed to see how authentic my recipe was. All I can attribute it to is all the American Food programmes on TV!
Using extra lean minced beef and red beans (tinned) it turns out to be a pretty healthy protein based dish. The carbs can come in the form of your choice of accompaniment but I avoided these and happily got stuck into my bowl of chilli on its own.
By all means use it as a taco filling, serve it with nachos’, corn bread or as a filling for a wrap. It could be a delicious filling for baked potatoes.
Quick, easy, and economical holiday food
The Tex-Mex Chilli is usually served with a dollop of sour cream and grated cheddar cheese. I opted for thick yoghurt instead. I need the yoghurt to mellow my enthusiastic use of chilli! (I have adjusted the recipe accordingly!) And then all chilli needs fresh coriander! In true Tex-Mex fashion you can also top the chilli with a fresh tomato salsa.