Another Kind of Chili

This chili or whatever you like to call it is a take whatever veggies you have and use them meal. Boil what you have for a long time.  For example you can use chopped up bellpeppers, any root vegetable or onion... whatever you have.  It doesn't have to be harder than that sometimes.  This time I took a piece of chuck beef (högrev) seasoned it with some smoked paprika powder seared it in a hot pan on both sides (2 minutes maybe on each side) then put it in a pot.  Then I seared some carrots, onions, garlic, jalapenos and celery.  I put everything in the pot, poured over one jar of whole tomatoes and some chicken stock and let it simmer on medium heat for approximately one and a half hour or until the meat is tender. After the first hour add lentils.  Pick up the meat and just shred it with a fork then put it back in the pot, pour in some pre-cooked beans and a bunch of cilantro and cook it for a bit more. Done. 

 To this I served a salad of chopped up cocktail tomatoes and avocados, tossed it around with some baby spinach and a squeeze of lemon and some olive oil.  To give it a little Mexican touch I served it with some tortillas.

Look here for my other chili (with detailed instructions)

ELK

During Easter break we traveled down south, to my fathers house on Öland.  I enjoy spending time down south because the food we eat comes straight from the source.  I will write more on this another time but bascially all the meat and fish we eat is either hunted or caught by my father and during the warmer months the fruits and vegetables are from his land.  Eggs can be bought from a neighbor and until recently all milk came from my aunts dairy farm.  

During this visit my father had elk.  I was luckly to also get some freshly picked asparagus and spring onions.  This meal is pretty simple but when you have really good quality food to work with then you do not need to over complicate things.  I braised the loin in red wine and some onions and carrots.  The filet I quickly seared and then placed it in the oven for a few minutes, seasoning with just salt and pepper.  I served it with a ruttabaga (kålrot) puré and grilled asparagus and spring onions.          

The sauce was made from straining the red wine that I braised the loin in and then I added some black currant jelly and then cooked/reduced it some more.  The rutabaga puré, I boiled 60% rutabaga to 40% potatos and some yellow onions in heavy cream and then mixed it with a hand mixer.  I added chopped spring onions to the puré to add a nice flavor and some salt and pepper.

I have been busy lately but I have some dishes that I will be posting in the coming days... sorry that I haven't been so good about posting lately.