black bean chili with chocolate and lime

Yesterday it poured with rain, and today it is brilliantly sunny. The weather really influences the food I desire – when it is cold and miserable outside, I want something in the evening to make me feel like being cooped up inside isn’t so bad after all. So yesterday, this Black Bean Chili was a fine example of the type of warming hearty dish you’d long for when you’re in need of comfort, because it’s just not that nice outside.

I’ve wanted to try to make a Black Bean Chili for ages. Although it’s not particularly any different to a normal chili con carne in terms of flavour, I wanted to see the textural differences between beans and the usual mince component. After the success (and personal enjoyment) of the spaghetti bolognese using lentils and beans last term, I thought this would be similarly tasty! The black beans are soft to bite, which means as a comfort meal, it has an element of indulgence, as essentially it doesn’t require much strength to chew! Moreover, the beans soak up the flavours of the spices – the chili powder and the smoky paprika make an excellent combination, that is flavoursome throughout the dish in comparison to a usual chili, where the flavours only usually reside in the sauce.

The thing that sets this aside from a meat chili con carne for me, however, is the addition of cocoa powder and the topping with lime juice. Hearing about both of these accompaniments to chili con carne, I couldn’t wait to try them out. Whilst I was initially sceptical about using chocolate in a spicy dish, I was brought round to the idea by seeing the popularity of items such as chili chocolate – if chili/chocolate is a combination that can be enjoyed where chocolate is the main staple, chili/chocolate must surely work where there is a hint of chocolate amongst a wealth of warming spice. In actual
fact, the use of cocoa powder gives a depth and a richness that I haven’t really tasted elsewhere! It doesn’t taste at all sweet, but the sauce takes on a new consistency, appearing more like velvet; something I am sure must come from the chocolate. The lime squeezed on the chili before serving gives a refreshing zesty tang to the beginning of the dish. As it is not stirred throughout, its citrus tones are not lost in the dish; it stays as an accompaniment that is authentic, as limes are used frequently in Mexican dishes, such as guacamole. Together, they give an excellent spin on the usual chili con carne that I was previously unaware of, but from now on, will be using with regularity. So for those, like me, experiencing strange day-on-day-off weather, combat the rainy blues with a helping of this comforting chili.

Ingredients

• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• Button mushrooms, halved
• Half an orange pepper, chopped
• Half a yellow pepper, chopped
• 400g tin of black beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed
• Small tin of kidney beans
• 400g tinned tomatoes
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 4 tsps chili powder
• 2 tsps smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cocoa powder
• Juice of a lime to taste, squeezed before serving

Method

1. Place a saucepan over a medium heat, and add a drizzle of oil. Fry the chopped onion until it begins to soften, and then add the crushed garlic cloves. When the garlic becomes fragrant in the pan, add the peppers and mushrooms and fry until the peppers begin to soften.
2. Sprinkle in the chili powder and the paprika, and stir to coat all the ingredients in the spices. Allow to fry for a few moments further, before adding the drained and rinsed beans and the tomatoes.
3. Stir in the tomato paste, and the tin of kidney beans. Bring to the boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Add the cocoa powder, and stir well.
4. Place a lid on the saucepan, and heat through for thirty minutes until the sauce has thickened and reduced.
5. Accompany with rice, and a fresh salad for garnish. Before serving, squeeze the lime juice over the dish, to add zesty freshness! If desired, top with grated cheese.

sausage cassoulet

Last Christmas, my brother gave me the Jamie Oliver ’30 Minute Meals’ recipe book, and I think it’s brilliant. I have to admit that I’ve never timed myself, and so I’m not sure if, as many people angrily claimed that they did not, the recipes do only take thirty minutes exactly, but I definitely can say that isn’t a book packed full of long slaving-away-in-the-kitchen dishes. Everything I have made has been relatively speedy, and always delicious. In fact, I don’t think I’ve made something from it that has gone even a tiny bit wrong!

So, wanting to use the last of the tomato sauce from Wednesday, last night I made the “Kinda Sausage Cassoulet” from said book. I did some research online, and you may be interested to note that this recipe apparently can be made in 30 minutes! So all is timely thus far.

Even though I didn’t have bacon, or a crispy breadcrumb topping, my sausage cassoulet did not compromise on taste nor texture! The onions and leeks are slowly cooked in rosemary and sage, allowing them to soak up the flavours of these herbs early on. Because I didn’t have a breadcrumb topping, I added my garlic cloves to these early stages of the cooking process, and thus the garlic was able to infuse with these herbs. These flavours are held onto by Jamie’s instruction to add a little boiling water – this collects the herby, and in my case garlicky, flavours and makes a foundation for the later sauce; the water absorbs the flavours, and as it is heated it thickens, producing a sort of jus. When the tomatoes are later introduced, the two sauces combine, and this ensures that the taste of the herbs are not lost by the addition of the tomatoes and other later flavours.

The beans are soft to bite, and add a different texture from the crispness of the sausages. The sausages cooked under the grill adds speed to their completion, as well as adding crispness in texture. Furthermore, because they are cooked separately, it means that when they are added to the vegetable and bean dish for the final stages of cooking, they maintain their own rich, meaty flavour. This means that when a forkful of cassoulet is assembled, several different textures and flavours are combined – the flavour of the sausage juxtaposed with the combined flavours of the vegetables which have simmered throughout, plus the softness in bite of the butter beans. Mmm!

Ingredients

• Sausages
• 4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, chopped into 1cm thick strands – I didn’t include this because I forgot, but I imagine it gives the dish a good smoky flavour that is complimentary to the sausages
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 2 leeks, finely sliced
• 680g jar of passata – I used the rest of the homemade tomato sauce, but tinned tomatoes would also suffice.
• Tin of butter beans
• Tin of haricot beans
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Fresh rosemary – a sprinkling of the dry herb worked for me!
• Fresh sage – a sprinkling of the dry herb worked for me!
• Fresh bay leaves – again, I used two dried bay leaves and then removed them before serving
• 3-4 thick slices of bread (for the breadcrumb topping)

Method

1. Place a roasting tin over a high heat, and fry the bacon strips in olive oil. Add the bay leaves, rosemary and sage to the tray, and coat the bacon in the herbs. Add the onions and leeks to the tray along with a few splashes of boiling water, and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to medium, and leave the vegetables to soften.
2. Turn the grill onto high. Place the sausages in a separate roasting tin with olive oil, and grill for around 8 minutes until they are browned on one side.
3. FOR THE BREADCRUMB TOPPING: tear the slices of bread into chunks and food process, along with salt and pepper, sage, the garlic and olive oil, until you have coarse breadcrumbs.
4. Because I didn’t have a breadcrumb topping, I crushed the garlic into the tray with the vegetables at this point.
5. Add the passata, or the tomato sauce/tinned tomatoes, to the vegetables. Stir in the beans – the recipe advocates along with the water in the tin, but I didn’t do this because I didn’t want a watery sauce. My sauce was the right consistency without the tinned water! I’d advise to stir in the tomato component, then assess the sauce consistency – only grilled for a further few minutes, it doesn’t reduce as a normal sauce would – and then decide whether to drain the beans or not.
6. Take the sausages out of the grill. Sprinkle half the breadcrumbs over the vegetables and beans. Then, lay the sausages dark-side-down in the tray and sprinkle over the remaining breadcrumbs. Drizzle with olive oil, and return to the grill for about 4 minutes (I put mine in for 8, because I like my sausages quite brown!) until the breadcrumbs are crisp and golden.
7. Serve with broccoli, cooked gently for a couple of minutes in boiling water until tender.

summery chicken, ham and beans

Firstly, an apology for not blogging in a while. Since coming home from university I have been lazy and made meals primarily already on my blog, and therefore haven’t had anything new to write about. But this is all about to change! Since the unexpected, but definitely welcome, change in weather for the better, my return to sunny Essex in contrast to mostly-cloudy-Coventry has inspired me to begin experimenting with new, summery foods (that, and how nice it is to not cook in student accommodation!). A few nights ago I took the opportunity in weather change to move from a wintry chicken pie, to a chicken, ham and bean dish that reflected the warmth outside – evidenced by my red face because I accidentally fell asleep in the sun…

I found this recipe online, and it is incredibly simple to make. Because of its simplicity, it’d be easy to assume that a lack of culinary effort would be equal to a lack of flavour – however, its ease is its brilliance. Unlike many recipes, this dish isn’t bombarded with a variety of differing flavours and textures; it relies on a combination of unassuming ingredients whose blend of flavours are well accredited. And although the majority of this cooking is done in a hot oven, it could not be more perfect for a summer’s day – once the chicken pieces have been consumed, what remains is a tomato-sweet garlicky sauce that is light, and best enjoyed like a summer soup, soaked up with crusty bread. In fact, the best thing about this dish is probably this jus. Its flavour is built up over the cooking process – none of it is created by you as the chef, the ingredients are put together in the initial stages of cooking, and from there it is the work of the oven that breaks down each component, and allows them to infuse throughout. The sweetness of the cherry tomatoes blends with the white wine and the bite of the garlic, making the chicken and ham combination if anything, come secondary to the cooking juices they contribute to!

Using fresh tomatoes, specifically cherry tomatoes, is what gives the jus a sweet lightness that would be difficult to achieve with tinned tomatoes. Unlike fresh tomatoes, tinned tomatoes are heavier and thicker – the jus created is like a watery soup, full of flavour but light on consistency. The thickness of tinned tomatoes lends itself to dishes such as spaghetti bolognese or shepherds’ pie, but in a light summer dish such as this would be unsuitable. I would be interested to try tinned tomatoes with this dish in winter, replacing the white with red wine – I think the resultant dish would be just as delicious, but more suited to a cold day. Aside from the use of tomatoes, this dish also has such a summery feel because of its Italian influence. The use of dry cured ham, such as prosciutto, with fresh basil and tomatoes is a traditional Italian combination of ingredients; dry cured ham alone is a staple in many Italian dishes, and its use here lends another texture and flavour alongside the chicken.

I think if I was to make this dish again, I would make my own bread. It doesn’t require much effort, and the time it takes for the dish to cook would facilitate perfectly the time it would take to mix, rise and bake the dough. Plus, it would be much crustier than shop-bought, and give a home-made touch that would contribute to a rustic summery Italian feel around the table – recreating a holiday scene at home, making the most of the good weather!

Ingredients

• 1 chicken leg and thigh per person
• As many slices of dry cured ham as there are chicken pieces
• Around 200g cherry tomatoes per person
• Roughly 50ml of wine per person – for four, use a large glass
• 2 – 3 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
• Tin of cannellini beans – one tin should suffice for 1 – 2 people, and two tins for up to 4 people.
• Fresh basil

Method

1. Heat the oven to 160 degrees.
2. Lay each piece of chicken on a flat surface and season them with salt and pepper. Pricking the skins of each piece of meat, place two or three basil leaves on the tops of the chicken pieces.
3. Taking the dry cured ham, wrap the chicken in a slice each. Ensure that the slice of ham covers the chicken entirely, and keeps the basil close to the skin of the chicken – this will maintain the flavours of the basil and ham staying close to the chicken and infusing throughout the cooking process, contributing to the richness of the fantastic jus.
4. Heating oil in either a large saucepan (that can be placed in the oven afterwards), or a large cooking tin, fry all the chicken pieces for five minutes either side, until the ham begins to crisp.
5. Then, add all of the cherry tomatoes, the wine and more basil leaves. For each peeled garlic clove, take a large knife, and placing the blade flat (sideways) on top of the clove, lightly apply pressure. This should slightly break the clove – it should still remain whole, but be slightly impaired in shape, which allows the flavours to be released far more easily. Repeat this process for each garlic clove, and then add them to the chicken.
6. Season, and cover the saucepan/dish with silver foil. Place the chicken in the oven to slowly cook for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven after this time, and remove the silver foil. Turn the oven up to 200 degrees; add the cannellini beans, and stir them into the tomato jus.
7. Replace in the oven, without the foil, for 30 minutes more. This will allow the jus to thicken slightly, and crisp the chicken skin.
8. Serve with really crusty bread, to mop the jus of the dish!