Chili con Carne

My great friend and founder of 'Let it simmer...' has recently posted his own anarchic version of this dish, but, fortunately, Chili con Carne (literally Chilli with Beef) is unlikely ever to have one definitive recipe. So here's mine. I've never made a Chili from a recipe, so this has sort of evolved over various years. I'm sure it will continue to evolve for some time too. Therefore there is freedom of interpretation here. I haven't been too specific with quantities and invite you to tweak it to your own tastes. Let's face it: many of these ingredients vary considerably in strength as does everyone's sensitivity to hot flavours; so even if I were to put down precise amounts it wouldn't necessarily work for you. Here we go...

Ingredients

1 onion roughly chopped
4/5 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
the best lean beef mince you can afford! Quantity depends on what you serve it with (see below) and how hungry you are.
Tin of plum tomatoes roughly chopped
Fresh ripe tomatoes roughly chopped
Tomato puree
Tin of kidney beans, canellini beans, or bortelini beans drained and rinsed
Fresh chillies finely chopped
Cayenne pepper
Green bell (sweet) pepper you guessed it: roughly chopped! 
Red bell pepper roughly chopped
Lea and Perrins (Worcestershire Sauce)
Balsamic Vinegar
Red wine (see below)
Juice of 1/2 to one lime
Seasoning

Optional extras

mushrooms
jalapeno peppers sliced

Method

Heat some olive oil in a large bottomed saucepan and fry the onion and 2/3 of the garlic until they start to soften.
Tip in the mince and brown it off.
Now add the tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, a good slug of red wine, the beans, and the fresh chillies.
Turn the heat up high to reduce some of the wine and juice from the tinned tomatoes and stir regularly so that it doesn't stick.
Turn the heat down again while there's still too much liquid and add a healthy squirt of tomato puree, a dash or two of Lea and Perrins, Cayenne pepper to taste, the seasoning, a dash of balsamic vinegar, and the lime juice. If you're adding mushrooms chuck these in now too, but Jalapenos should be left till the end.
Turn the heat up again until the liquid has reduced to a thick, tomato-ey coating over the beef and vegetables. If you're using, chuck in the jalapenos and stir them in just before serving.
Serve according to your chosen method (suggestions below) and enjoy!

Tips

The key to getting a really rich flavour is, in my humble opinion, to reduce the liquid thus intensifying the flavours. When you turn the heat up it should really spit and splutter. Be generous with the likes of the red wine and then keep reducing: the flavour can only get more intense! If you want the best results this needs to be made at least 24 hrs in advance and then left to steep in the fridge. The longer you leave it, the richer the flavours become.

Not sure how much chilli to throw in? Just bite the tip off the end of the chilli to see how hot it tastes and judge from that. Go on, it won't hurt that much!!

Never use wine you wouldn't be prepared to drink with the meal: if it tastes rubbish out of the glass, it will do no favours for your cooking either.

Serving suggestions are many and varied.
You can simply serve it with rice (ideally brown, but basmati is good too).
Alternatively, warm some fajita wraps for 15/20 seconds and layer the chili with refried beans, salsa (recipe coming very soon), grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, more jalapenos...you get the idea.
Chili is also brilliant just served in a big bowl with a chunk of bread.
I often take the congealed leftovers from a chili night and make a sandwich! Delicious.
Then of course you have the options of things like baked potato, potato wedges, tortillas, etc.

Drinks

If you're a beer drinker then I would go for one of two options:

Option 1 (clean my palate please!) = Budweiser Budvar / Co-op's 'Czech' lager

Option 2 (even more flavour please!) = Goose Island IPA / Chimera IPA / you get the idea...

If you're a wine drinker then we're talking a big gutsy Shiraz or a New World bordeaux copy, i.e. a Shiraz/Cab/Merlot blend. Or how about Chile's 'Cousino Macul' Cab sauv?

Music while you cook!

I don't have anything with a Mexican bent really, so Latin American is the nearest I'm gonna get:

'A Toda Cuba Le Gusta' by Afro-Cuban Allstars

'Calle Salud' by Compay Segundo

Anything by Orquestra Baobab

'Domino' by Vieja Trova Santiaguera

'Mambo Sinuendo' by Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban