Spaghetti Con Carne Food

CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and let cool, then crumble and set aside. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the saucepan (reserve the drippings). Increase the heat to medium high, add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon; wipe out the pan.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon drippings in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and 1 teaspoon salt and cook 2 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the tomato paste is brick red, about 6 minutes (add a splash of water if the mixture begins to stick). Add the beer and simmer until almost completely reduced, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the beef and any juices from the plate; add the cocoa powder, tomatoes, beef broth and beans and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chili thickens slightly, about 1 hour, 30 minutes.
• Stir the hot sauce into the chili and season with salt. Add some beef broth if the chili is too thick. Ladle into bowls and top with the crumbled bacon, cheese, scallions and/or sour cream.

SPAGHETTI CON CARNE

Steps:

• For sauce, heat oil in a large saucepan. Saute garlic and onion; add tomato juice, chili powder and salt. Simmer 10 minutes. In a bowl, mix first eight meatball ingredients. Shape into 3/4-in. meatballs. Heat oil in a skillet and brown meatballs on all sides. Add meatballs to sauce. Cover and simmer 10 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve over spaghetti.

OLD JOHN'S CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in frying pan add one onion, the ground chuck, the 3 sliced cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon each of cumin, paprika, tumeric and 1 tablespoon chili powder, saute until beef is browned and drain off the liquid/oil.
• Place drained beef and onion mixture into a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the remaining onion, the diced clove of garlic, the drained kidney beans and the tomato sauce and stir well.
• If the mixture is too thick, thin it with the reserved bean liquid or add another can of tomato sauce.
• Add the tomato paste, another TBSP each of the cumin, paprika and tumeric, 2 TBSP of cocoa powder and 2 to 4 TBSP of the chili powder. (sometimes, I'll use the entire jar) Cook until the onion is tender, stirring occasionally and thinning as desired with the reserved bean liquid.
• Add enough tomato ketchup to correct for the acid balance (see note above).
• Serve with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream if desired.