Marthas Chile Con Carne Recipes

Steps:

• Place a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook, breaking up with the back of a spoon, until cooked through, about 6 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer beef to paper towels to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon fat from pan.
• Return pot to medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, jalapeno, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; cook until onions soften, about 6 minutes. Add chili powder, cocoa, and tomato paste; cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes more.
• Add tomatoes, broth, and cooked beef. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until thickened slightly, 25 to 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper; serve with sour cream and chives.

Steps:

• Drain and rinse the soaked beans, and place in a large saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. (You can prepare beans 1 or 2 days ahead; let cool, cover, and refrigerate in their liquid.)
• Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium heat; add tomatoes, and cook, turning occasionally, until skins begin to char, about 5 minutes. Cover pan, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook, turning, until tomatoes have softened, 7 to 8 minutes more. Transfer to a large bowl. When cool enough to handle, peel and core tomatoes. Place tomato flesh in a clean bowl, and reserve.
• While tomatoes cool, place two-thirds of onion quarters in same skillet with 2 tablespoons oil. Cover, and cook over medium heat, turning occasionally, until nicely charred and softened, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Repeat with garlic cloves, remaining onion, and another tablespoon oil. When cool enough to handle, peel garlic and onion, cutting off and discarding roots and peels and adding flesh to bowl with tomato. Transfer vegetables and any juices to a blender in batches (fill no more than halfway), and puree until nearly smooth. Set aside in a large bowl.
• Tear the chiles in half, and discard stems and seeds. In the same skillet over medium heat, toast chiles in remaining 2 tablespoons oil, turning with tongs, until smoky, about 3 minutes. Transfer to the blender. Bring broth and water to a boil, pour over chiles, and let stand until chiles are pliable, about 5 minutes. Puree chiles and broth, and stir into tomato mixture.
• In a 7-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, cook one-third of meat, breaking it up with a spoon and stirring occasionally until nicely browned, about 8 minutes. While meat is cooking, brown another third of the meat in the skillet. Then add that batch to the first in the Dutch oven. Stir tomato mixture into meat in Dutch oven. Brown remaining beef in same skillet; add to Dutch oven. Drain cooked beans; add them to pot with salt.
• Bring the chili to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer gently, stirring, until heat is tender and sauce is thick, about 1 1/2 hours. Stir in chocolate, and season with the pepper. Serve with guacamole.

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink, 5-7 minutes; crumble beef. Drain and set aside. , In the same pot, heat oil; saute onions until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the green pepper, salt, chili powder, bouillon, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin and oregano. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring until combined. , Add tomatoes and browned beef. Stir in water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add beans and heat through. If desired top with sour cream and jalapeno.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook green pepper, and onion, until softened. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Crumble over bouillon cubes, and stir in wine; continue to cook for a few minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes, garlic, and tomato paste. Season with paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, basil, oregano, and parsley. Stir in salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover, and simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in kidney beans, and hot pepper sauce. You can add the reserved tomato juice if more liquid is needed. Continue to simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, and water until smooth. Stir into chili, and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until chili has thickened up.

Steps:

• Toast chiles in a skillet over medium heat, turning often, until fragrant and puffed up (2 minutes).
• Cut in half and remove cores, reserving seeds. Transfer chiles to a bowl and cover with boiling water; set aside.
• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
• Add pork; cook until browned, 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate.
• Working in batches, cook beef until browned, 3 minutes per side, adding more oil as needed and transferring browned meat to the plate.
• Meanwhile, puree chiles and 1/2 cup soaking liquid in a blender.
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring often, until softened (6-8 minutes).
• Stir in cumin, oregano, bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons reserved chile seeds (more for heat, if desired). Cook 1 minute.
• Add chile puree. Raise heat to medium-high; cook, stirring, 2 minutes.
• Return meat to pot. Add 2 teaspoons salt, tomatoes, and beer, and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to medium-high. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 1 1/4 hours.
• Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until meat is tender and sauce is thick, about 30 minutes more.
• Discard bay leaf. Stir in vinegar.
• Serve chili with avocado halves, scallions, tortilla chips, and grated cheese.

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven or large (5-quart) heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Add onions and garlic. Season with salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add tomato paste, chili powder, chipotles, and cinnamon. Cook, stirring, until mixture has begun to brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Add beef, and cook, breaking it up with a spoon until no longer pink, about 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes with their juice, beer, and beans. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook over medium heat until chili has thickened slightly and beans are tender, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired.

Steps:

• For the chile powder: Place the chiles flat in a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and cook, turning as needed, until lightly toasted. Transfer to a plate to cool. Put the cumin seeds in the hot pan and stir until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl to cool.
• Using scissors, cut the chiles into small strips. Using a spice grinder or a clean coffee grinder, grind in batches into a powder. Pour into a bowl. Grind the cumin seeds into a powder and add to the bowl. Add the oregano and garlic powder. If the mixture is still coarse, grind again until fine. Reserve 3 1/2 tablespoons for the chili; save the rest in a jar.
• For the chili: In a Dutch oven over medium heat, stir the cumin seeds until fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour onto a work surface and using a small, heavy skillet, crush them coarsely. Set aside.
• Return the pot to medium-high heat, add the bacon and fry until crisp, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.
• Increase the heat to high. Working in small batches, add the beef cubes to the pot and cook, stirring, until well browned on all sides. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl.
• Reduce the heat to medium, add the onions to the remaining bacon drippings and sauté until lightly browned, about 8 minutes.
• Add the crushed cumin, reserved chili powder, paprika, oregano, black pepper, thyme, salt and garlic and cook, stirring often, for 1 minute. Crumble in the bacon and add the broth, tomatoes, 1 cup water, anchos and the browned beef. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, then decrease the heat to low, cover partly and simmer for 2 hours, until the meat is very tender. Add water as needed to maintain a good chili consistency.
• Remove the anchos, purée them in a food processor or blender and return the purée to the pot. Stir well, simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors and serve.

Steps:

• Prepare your vegetables. Chop 1 large onion into small dice, about 5mm square. The easiest way to do this is to cut the onion in half from root to tip, peel it and slice each half into thick matchsticks lengthways, not quite cutting all the way to the root end so they are still held together. Slice across the matchsticks into neat dice.
• Cut 1 red pepper in half lengthways, remove stalk and wash the seeds away, then chop. Peel and finely chop 2 garlic cloves.
• Start cooking. Put your pan on the hob over a medium heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob).
• Add the onion and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft, squidgy and slightly translucent.
• Tip in the garlic, red pepper, 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder or 1 level tbsp mild chilli powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp ground cumin.
• Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Brown 500g lean minced beef. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince.
• Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.
• Make the sauce. Crumble 1 beef stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture.
• Add a 400g can of chopped tomatoes. Tip in ½ tsp dried marjoram, 1 tsp sugar and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
• Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes.
• Check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan or isn't drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
• Drain and rinse a 410g can of red kidney beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry.
• Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think.
• Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving. This is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle.
• Serve with soured cream and plain boiled long grain rice.