Rice n' Beans.

There is something that is both financially and spiritually rewarding from using up leftovers.  The propensity to use what many people would just bin has become somewhat of an obsession.  We smile, smugly in our seats each night as we slurp the remnants of the previous day's ingredients.  

This weekend was spent celebrating the first birthday of our second son, Kasper.  All sorts of relatives came round to coo over our little scion amidst much devouring of food and guzzling of elixirs.  As a result of this little soiree we had around 300-400g of rather tasty roasted beef left over.  We had some, cold in sandwiches with English mustard on Sunday night and this was most flavoursome.  The remaining hunk I decided to finely dice and make a chile con carne out of (the recipe for which you will find on this post)

http://swlsk.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/voodo-o-chile-chile-con-carne-alongside.html 

Chile con carne

As previously mentioned, the addition of beans to a chile is deemed incongruous by Mexicans, who seem to be rather exacting as to who this dish should be prepared.  This is a perfect example of a regional dish which over time and much Anglicization has become rather bastardized.  

We most frequently use kidney beans for our chile's in this house (and, I suspect, so do you too, if you make this), however I have become rather open-minded as far as which beans can be utilized.  Last night, for example, I used cannelini beans (which work rather well).  You can even pop a can of baked beans, wash off most of the viscous sauce, and use the remaining haricot beans.

I thought I'd give a quick precis as to how I cook and prepare my basmati rice.  It is very easy to get fluffy, individually-grained rice, cooked to perfection with the minimum of fuss.  Here's how I do it:

Fluffy Basmati Rice

•   Take out however much rice you deem in requirement for your dish.  Put it into a saucepan.
•   Wash the rice, at least once in cold running water.  The goal here is to remove some of the excess starch and rice powder.
•   Fill the saucepan with enough water to cover it by 2cm.
•   Bring to a slow simmer.
•   After about 6 or 7 minutes, test it by eating a few grains.  If it seems "not quite but almost ready" drain it into a sieve.
•   Stick the sieve back over the saucepan and settle a lid over the top.  Allow to steam.
•   When you are ready to serve, fork the rice a little to separate the grains.  Be gentle. 

pi = 3.14159265

Pie is a staple English food that has been around since medieval times.  English food is often, quite wrongly deemed unadventurous, uninspiring, greasy and boring.  The culinary experts who have credited England with this misguided appraisal of our kitchen have obviously never experienced the delights of the plethora of pies, pasties, stews and desserts we are famous for.

We make 2 kinds of pie:  one with a pastry casing, and the other which is typically topped with some kind of potato - whether it be mashed, or thinly sliced.  I am not the worlds greatest pastry afficionado, though I have dabbled with lard-based short pastries with some success before.  I prefer a nice topping of fluffy potato, crisped on the top in the oven, yielding a tasty, gravy-bound meat filling.  I made a cottage pie (with beef, as opposed to shepherds pie with lamb) 2 nights ago and it has graced our plates for 2 nights running.  We didn't have quite enough to meet our stomachs expectations last night, so I eked it out with a small portion of chips to compliment the side of steamed peas and sweetcorn.

 Cottage Pie

•   Sweat 2 finely diced, medium onions and 3 thinly sliced garlic cloves in a pan with some olive oil until they have softened.
•  During this time, peel 5 medium sized potatoes and 3 carrots.  Slice the carrots and dice the potatoes.  Cook them in salted water until tender.  Then mash and set aside.
•  When the onions are softened, add 500g of decent steak mince.  Cook until it is nicely browned.
•  Add a heaped teaspoon of plain flour.  Stir to mix and cook the gloopy mixture for a minute.
•  Squeeze a heady dollop of tomato puree in, and mix thoroughly.
•  Add 1 bay leaf.
•  Add a slug or 4 of Worcester sauce.  Stir to mix.
•  Add approximately 250ml of stock (beef is best, or chicken) until you have a thick consistency (not a soup).
•  Check the seasoning, usually I add a lot of pepper and not so much salt (especially if you have used a stock cube).
•  Cook for 15-20 minutes.
•  Allow the mixture to cool.  When it has, spoon the mashed potato and carrot over the top.  Fork the top so you have a ridged pattern.  Dot with butter.
•  In an oven preheated to 160C, add the pie and cook until the top is crusty and golden (about 30-40 mins). 

In my opinion, you can happily exchange the beef out and use minced lamb with this recipe to create a shepherds pie.  I would, though, be vigilant during the frying of the lamb mince as it quite often yields surprising amounts of fat.  I would spoon out all but 1 tablespoon of the lamb fat.

Voodoo Chile

Chile con carne, alongside the other seminal pub-grub classics such as lasagne and baked potatoes, is one dish that is so often massacred beyond culinary imagination that it is often hard to believe that what you are eating is actually chile con carne.

The usual culprits of this pub-grub offence are the use of frozen mince, not enough or indeed no spice, sloppy presentation (and here I'm talking about water content, not quinelles and garnishes), and of course let's not forget the most abhorrent of transgression - calling it chilli con carne.

As you probably know by now, I am rather opinionated, in the respect that I like to try to be authentic and I like to understand the ethos behind my cooking.  My relationship with CCC (Chile con carne) is no exception.

•   Chile con carne literally means "spice with meat".  It should never be called chilli con carne.
•   A chile should be made with a cut of beef, not minced beef.  Braising steak, or chuck/skirt of beef are ideal - something that can withstand long, slow cooking.  Having said this, I frequently do make chile with minced beef, and I confess I rather enjoy it.
•   Let's be honest - there are a plethora of regional differences in how chile is served.  Rightly or wrongly, the following trespassers are used - tomatoes, beans, chocolate and garlic.   My personal take is that I like to use all except chocolate.  I have used it, but I'm not entirely sure I like it.
•   Chile needs to be slow cooked.  A 30 minute chile is never going to taste punchy.

There is an unwritten rule in my house that chile con carne is exclusively served with rice (basmati not long-grain), soured cream and grated cheddar cheese (eugh).


My only rule is that (as long as I'm not expecting to feed this to my 4 year old) I can use a barrage of various dried chilli's.


Here's how I make it:

•   Sweat a whole, finely chopped onion in a pan with 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic and one bay leaf.
•   After 10 minutes on medium heat, push the onions up to the side of the skillet pan.  Add 500g (for 2 people) of braising steak (or minced beef).  Fry until it is nicely coloured.
•   Stir the onions and garlic into the beef.  
•   Add 1 heaped teaspoon of ground cumin, 1/3 teaspoon  of smoked paprika.  Chilli-wise you can add 1 teaspoon of hot chilli powder, or a concoction of your own dried chilli's to suit your taste.
•   Crank up the heat.  Add a small glass of full-bodied red wine (a shiraz, or merlot for example).  Boil off the booze and reduce slightly.
•   Add a can of chopped tomatoes, one teaspoon of salt and a good pinch of dried oregano.
•   Add a can of drained and washed kidney beans.
•   Cook uncovered on a low heat for minimum 1.5-2 hours.  Stir occasionally.
•   When you are ready to serve, juice a lemon (or a lime), add the juice. 
•   Check the seasoning.  If you want to fire it up a bit more you can add some tabasco at this stage.

Serve it with some basmati rice, soured cream, chopped chives on top and if you desire, some grated cheese.

Get your baps out.

I had a chat with my Auntie Pat the other day about historic recipes.  My nan's beefburger recipe definitely fits into this catagory.  I have only ever seen my father cook twice in 38 years - once he made a cheese omelette without cheese in it, and the other time was when he made these beautiful burgers.

I guess the concept originates from a time, post-war, when people tried to eek out decent meat, and just generally tried to be thrifty in the kitchen.  In it's essence this is a very simple recipe, a british slant on a veritable classic (German or American - I'll let you make up your mind).

Here's how you make them:

•   Get a decent mince, none of this <5% fat malarkey, get some normal mince with a visible amount of fat in it.
•   Finely chop and dice a small onion (red or white onions work).  Add to a mixing bowl.
•   Grate a medium-sized potato.  Add to mixing bowl.
•   Add the mince, 250g makes 4 thick patties.  You can add an egg yolk if you want, but I rarely need it - the potato binds these burgers together.
•   Add a pinch of salt, and a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.
•   Mix with your hands to make 4 even-sized balls.  
•   Flour a chopping board, or cleaned work-surface and pat the balls out until they are burger-shaped.
•   Fry them for about 8 minutes on each side.  They should be dark brown and crusty on the outside.
•   I served them with iceberg lettuce, taleggio slices on top and as you can possibly tell from the picture a fair old smidgeon of ketchup.

I have played around with these burgers to create various alter-ego's - they work exceedingly well with grated beetroot instead of potato.  You can also mash 2 medium potatoes and mix with the mince to create rissoles, which you then shallow-fry.