Chili con carne a la Erica

Chili con carne is such a perfect comfort food dish. This recipe is easy, doesn't require a lot of time and will satisfy you so badly you'll just want to have another bowl!

Ingredients 👜 (±3 servings)

• 1 red bell pepper (“paprika” in Dutch)
• 1 small can of red kidney beans (about 160 grams)
• 1 small can of corn (probably also about 160 grams)
• Ground beef (200 grams, I think?)
• 1 can of tomato cubes  (400 grams)  (I used canned tomatoes with garlic instead of using fresh garlic)
• 1 medium-large onion
• 1 small clove of garlic (it will definitely enhance the taste, but I tend to leave it out if I don’t happen to have garlic)
• oil
• Spices: paprika, chilli/cayenne pepper, cajun , salt. You can combine and decide the amount of the spices however you wish, but it’s preferabe that cajun plays the major part.
•  To serve with : rice of your choice, coriander (optional) and cheese or sour cream (optional)

Instructions 🍴:

1. Chop up the onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cut them into tiny cubes but don’t overcut them, as they will shrink while cooking.
2. Put some oil in the pan and add the onion. Stir-fry for about 2 minutes on medium high heat and add the bell pepper and garlic. Here’s a nutrition tip: for a healthy meal, use only 1 tbsp of oil per person while cooking.
3. After having stir-fried the vegetables for about another 2 minutes, add about half the spices you want to use and add meat. Cook until slightly browned.
4. Add the canned tomatoes. Rinse the can with a tiny bit of water. Mix it with the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 2 minutes. Then add the corn and kidney beans. Let simmer on low heat. Stir from time to time to make sure it doesn’t burn.
5. This would also be a good time to start up the rice. If you know how to cook rice: off you go! If not, you can follow the instructions on the package. Over the years, I have developed my way of cooking rice and it works just fine for me:Put 1 part of rice along with 1,5 parts of water in a pan and then add just a extra splash of water. Bring it to the boil and reduce the heat. Leave it for about 10 minutes? Not sure exactly how long, just keep an eye on it.
6. You want the chilli to have a medium thick consistency, not too watery but you don’t want gravy either. Add the rest of the spices and taste! Learn to play with spices!
7. Serving time! Top it off with some coriander and if wished, cheese and/or sour cream.
8. Enjoy!

L💡 Handy tip: this dish can perfectly be frozen, so if you have too much and don't plan on consuming it in the following days, chuck it in a freezer bag or container and freeze! So whenever you've had a busy day and don't feel like cooking, you'll always have this to cheer you up!

Hamburger heaven

Hamburger fever 🍔

Hamburgers unhealthy? Not when it's made my way! Let me take you into the wonderful world of burgers. For the healthier version, drop the cheese.

👜-list:
• fresh tomato(es)
• pickles: try to find sweet-and-sour ones, I think these work the best for burgers.
• cheddar cheese in slices: or any other cheese you like which has the tendency to melt will work just as fine.
• fresh lettuce or salad
• shallot or red onion: red onion actually works better for this one, but I didn't feel like buying a whole bag of onions just to use one...

• hamburger buns (for a healthier version, use full wheat or multi cereal buns)

• beef burgers or minced beef

• pepper and salt

• ketchup: or any other sauce you prefer. Just please please please make the investment in a good quality sauce, it will make such a difference

• oil

Veggies: Just slice all the veggies (except for the salad) into thin slices. I think that when it's sliced thinner, it tastes better between the hamburger. It's more - how do they call that - refined, in some way.

For the beef patties: sometimes I buy already shaped beef burgers. They're simple, easy and good, so why not? However, when I made these, I got myself some minced beef and shaped them myself. The only thing I added was salt and pepper to taste! Squish it (is that even a word?) well and shape it into a meat ball. Then flatten it until you have the thickness you like. 

Next step: slightly toast the buns. You want them to be crispy but not burnt or hard. When toasted, don't leave them on a flat non aerated surface. Try putting them on a rack or the steam coming out of the buns will make them moist again, and that's not why you just toasted them.

How to 🍴:
1. Prepare the veggies, bun and patties if you didn't get store bought burgers as described above.
2. Add a tiny bit of oil (about 1 tbsp max should do it for two burgers) to a non-stick frying pan.
3. Once the oil is warm, but not hot, add the burgers. Theboil should sizzle when the meat is added but the burgers should not turn brown/black immediately. Play with the heat, because fires are not always the same.
4. When that side is fairly brown, turn it over and put the cheese on the burger. It will melt while baking. Of course if you don't like melted cheese, just add it when assembling the burger.
5. Assemble: bottom burger bun - burger (so the bread soaks up the juices) - salad - tomato - pickles - shallot - ketchup - top burger bun. Secure it with a toothpick or something alike, if you wish.
6. Enjoy your little piece of heaven!

And here's what you'll end up with! Now doesn't that just look delicious?

Pasta alla puttanesca

Also known as whore's pasta. Google is your best friend here. I believe that traditionally, spaghetti is used for this dish but I felt more like linguini when I made it.

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•  👜-list:
  • sundried tomatoes: the best you can get. You want them to be dried but still juicy, preferably conserved in oil.
  • caperberries: or regular capers. I find caperberries more appropriate for this since the taste is less sour to me and it has some kind of crunch.
  • black olives: I got mine canned since they were seedless. Fresh seedless black olives often just look so dried out to me, but the choice here is totally up to you.
  • anchovy: canned, in oil.
  • shallot: or red onion would work just fine too. Chop 'em up too! 

• • a few slices of bread
  • oil
  • herbs and/or garlic
• • spaghetti
  • Parmesan cheese
  • oil from the sun dried tomatoes
  • dried oregano
  • dried or fresh basil

• So here's a part of the list of the ingredients I used for my dish Just imagine some shallots along this -- I had already tossed them in the pan when I realised that I wanted to take a picture. 🙈

• Optional: pangritata

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• This one I owe to Jamie Oliver. He used in in a pasta in my early cooking days and that pasta became my first true love in cooking.
  Anyway, what is it? It's also called "poor mans Parmesan". Pangritata is made of fried breadcrumbs. Take some bread, preferably a little older, slightly dried bread, and shred it in your kitchen machine or blender, or you can chop it up finely. Then add some oil to a frying pan (I used a non stick one) and fry away! I always add some herbs for that extra touch. Yesterday, I used dried oregano and I would have used a garlic clove if I had one. But you can use any herb you like, really.
  Don't forget to put them on a piece of kitchen paper when they're done so the excess fat can be soaked up! 

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  How to 🍴:
  1. Start with the pangritata. Instructions: see above.
  2. Meanwhile, chop up everything from the first picture pretty finely, but not too fine either.
  3. Get your water boiling for your pasta. When it's boiling, add some salt but not too much since the anchovy is already salty and cook your pasta following the instructions. ❗️Cook them 2 minutes less for al dente pasta!
  4. Add some oil of the sundried tomatoes in the same pan you used for the pangritata. Start adding the chopped up ingredients: firs the shallot, then the anchovy, followed by the olives and tomatoes and finally the caperberries. It actually doesn't really matter what order you put them in the pan but I am kinda picky about those things and I like to believe that it tastes better that way. 
  5. Season with the herbs. Add some pepper if you wish.
  6. Drain your spaghetti, chuck it in the frying pan and mix everything well together. 
  7. Serving time! Put some of the delicous pasta in a bowl or dish, try to get as many of the ingredients in between the pasta and top it off with the bits you were not able to get in between. Sprinkle some pangritata and/or Parmesan cheese over it and voila, you're done!
  8. Sit back and enjoy! 

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• NOTE: This is not the traditional pasta alla puttanesca, normally there is no pangritata or pangritato or ... (you know what I mean). I just combined them because it tastes so good together!