An Actual Recipe? Be Still My Beating Heart...

Ok, so Miss Twinset wanted to know if there was anything that I actually knew how to cook and of course, my repertoire is fairly large. No, I'm not bragging... I'm stating a fact. What? Ok... I'm kinda bragging, but it's a good thing :-) Now here is something that will surprise a lot of you. If you are a science geek, then cooking is going to be "just your thing". Why? Well, it's because cooking is just like conducting a science experiment with all the fun of the varied ingredients and all the unpredictability of the reaction and result! No... your kitchen is not going to blow up. If it does, then you most definitely did something wrong. No, the steak did not blow itself up. I'm sure.

So, today I thought I would tell you about one of my favourite, easy mince dishes. It's a great tasting dish and quick and easy to prepare. The tricky part is going to be to try to figure out for you what goes into it because to be honest, I tend to cook by instinct, but here goes...

Introducing a new section..... The Dish of the Day!!

Our "Non Chili - Chili Con Carne"

Ingredients:

500g beef mince (although it may work just as well with other kinds)
2 large onions
1 large (450g) tin of baked beans in chili flavoured sauce
1 small tin of regular baked beans
1 small / medium green pepper
1 packet or small tin of Tomato paste
10 - 15ml Beef stock powder
30ml Chutney (optional)
15ml - 25ml Sugar (to taste)
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (to taste)
Garlic (to taste)

Method:

• Chop the onions and fry them until soft. Add salt, pepper and garlic to taste
• Add the mince and cook until brown, ensuring that mince is broken up fine
• While the meet is cooking, chop the pepper into small chunks and put to one side
• Add the tomato paste and stir well
• Add all the beans and stir well
• Add water if required and turn down to a low heat
• Add beef stock and chutney and stir. Taste. Add sugar if required
• At this point you may well need to add more salt
• Add the peppers and stir well. Leave to simmer for 10 - 15min. Taste and add seasoning as required.

The dish should have a pleasant savoury flavour with a warm 'kick' to it. This is a dish best prepared in Winter and served either with rice or a nice chunk of fresh bread.

As you experiment with this dish, you will come up with other ingredients that you want to add and those that you don't. Slowly - as it evolves - it will become your recipe, your own science experiment!

So, until next time...