Day 103: cheesed-up

This entry will be super short. It’s nearly midnight and I’m getting up at 4am to go away for the weekend. I’m actually (at the time of writing) supposed to be there already, but that’s a story for another day.

In the spirit of keeping things short, and a need for speed, ease and comfort, I was very happy that the time to cook Nigella’s Cheesy Chilli fell tonight.

Nigella’s Cheesy Chilli

I make a good chilli but it’s quite time-consuming to prepare. And then I leave it to cook for 4 hours before standing overnight - or at least eight hours - to get the best flavour. Given time, I take great pleasure in making it. It’s a labour of love. But, considering time is our rarest and most precious resource, I can’t say it happens often.

Nigella’s time-saving practice of using chorizo to add a little picante and saltiness is a seriously good way of ensuring good flavour without the lengthy wait of slow-cooking and overnight resting. I’m sure leftovers will taste even better when the fiery oils imbue everything with their salty, smoky paprika power, but they did more than a good enough job in the 20 minutes they had today.

I served it with a bitter-leaf salad spritzed with fresh lemon juice, and a baked sweet potato split open, scattered with sea salt flakes, dolloped with sour cream and anointed with chives. Divine

Flavour musings

I turned up the heat and smokiness with crushed chipotle, chilli beans and smoked garlic, and I think next time I might try chunks of cheddar or smoked cheese. Because why not?

My earliest memories of my Mum making chilli for dinner, or her version of it, involved the obligatory bowl of grated cheese (which I had to grate and hated doing) in the middle of the table, so it was quite the cheesy surprise (even though I was the one who made it and knew it was there) to dive into a sizzling vat of this already cheesed-up chilli. Although don’t get me wrong, I’d happily grate over more!