John's chilli con carne

chilli chilli con carne family friendly family meal freezable

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Source

Ingredients

80ml olive oil

2 large onions , roughly chopped

2 large dried ancho chillies (buy from Waitrose or ocado.com)

3 dried cascabel chillies (buy from Waitrose or ocado.com)

2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp dried thyme

3 celery sticks , finely chopped

1 beef stock cube

1.5kg beef shin, boneless and cut into large chunks

1 tbsp plain flour

3 carrots , trimmed, left whole

50ml maple syrup

1can chopped tomatoes

500ml bottle dark beer

500ml fresh beef stock

fresh coriander sprigs, to serve

Method

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3. Heat a large cast-iron pot or saucepan over a high flame, pour in the oil, then drop in the onions, chillies, paprika and thyme. Cook for 5 mins until the onions soften. Add the celery, give it a stir and crumble in the stock cube. Stir again and cook for another 5 mins

Add the beef, stir well, then colour for a few mins to coat the meat with the spices. Add the flour and coat everything with a more few stirs, then add the remaining ingredients, along with 1 tsp salt.

Let it come to the boil, then put a lid on, place in the oven, reduce the temperature to 140C/120C fan/ gas 1 and cook for 4 1 /2 hrs.

Take the pot out of the oven and remove the carrots, chop them into small chunks, then put them back in. I like plenty of sauce, but you may want to remove some if you don’t want it too saucy – be sure to keep it, it’s great on toast when cold. Remember to remove the chillies before you serve. Finally, scatter with coriander, if you like