Beef Chilli with Bell Peppers and Spinach

We are now in winter, and I wanted

to make a slightly different take on a beef chilli. Ordinarily I would add kidney beans and a tin of Italian tomatoes, and serve the dish with yoghurt.

So, I browned 500g of Scottish ground beef (minced beef) in some sunflower oil, for twenty minutes stirring frequently. After fifteen minutes I added diced red onion, and batoned carrot.

After the twenty minutes I added three quarters of a pint of boiling water, plus the fresh green chillies (deseeded and diced), the garlic, the diced whole red pepper, and two squirts of tomato puree.

The dish was simmered for an hour under glass at a low heat. Then I mashed the carrots a little, and added diced mushrooms (in this case both white and chestnut varieties), and some shredded spinach leaves. Simmered under glass for another hour. After which I added the beef and vegetable stock, plus a generous pinch of basil. Simmered for another ten minutes or so.

Served with wedges of boiled semi-skinned potatoes, and black pepper.  Delicious, and not as hot as you might think, since the chillies were deseeded. A winter-warmer dish, nonetheless!