I love having a dig through the cook book shelf, especially when I have bought some ingredients that I am not sure what to do with. Anyway I have a pound of Beef Skirt that I was not sure what to do with it except to cook it slowly for a long time.
The recipe that decided on was the Colorado Beef Chile from Appetite for Ale a superb CAMRA book by Will and Fiona Beckett, which has some really good recipes incorporating beers and the ideal beers to match with them. It is a good answer to those who believe that only wine works with food. I particularly like the suggestions for beer and food menus.
I have dabbled with recipe a bit and added some tinned tomatoes just because I love my chilli tomatoey, because I don’t have chilli molido and even though I cook the meat for hours doing the same with the beans seems a bit of a faff.
Ingredients for 2
350g Beef Skirt
Good glug of Mild Olive Oil
2 small or 1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 heaped tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp of plain flour
1 tin red kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomato
3 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsp cumin powder
150ml beef stock
200ml lager
Splash of red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Trim the fat and gristle from the beef and chop it in to very small cubes then brown in a casserole (in batches if necessary) with some of the oil. Then return all of the meat to the casserole, add the onions with the rest of the oil and cook until the onions are soft but not coloured. Add the chilli, cumin, flour and tomato paste, and cook for half a minute before adding the stock, lager and tomatoes. Stir this all through the meat and bring to the boil, then turn the heat right down and simmer for 3 hours topping the liquid up with extra water if necessary. Add the beans when there is 3/4 of an hour left to cook. Add the vinegar and a little mild chilli to pep the dish up, season to taste.
I have some good looking alternative chilli recipes, especially the pies.