chili non-carne tortilla bake

Like many people during lockdown, we’ve been growing all kinds of vegetables over the past few months.  Cabbage, cauliflowers, tomatoes and cucumbers, some more successfully than others but the reason I’m making this chili non-carne tortilla bake today is because of the beautiful yellow chillies we’ve harvested.  Our lovely friend Rosie gave us 4 seedlings back in March.  3 tomatoes and one teeny little chilli plant. They’ve all done very well although our harvest of tomatoes has been sporadic it looks like we’ll have a few dozen tomatoes if we’re a little patient. The chilli plant seemed to thrive on the windowsill and we’ve had roughly 12 wonderful yellow chillies.  I stupidly threw away the label so I don’t know what kind they are but I believe they’re Lemon Drops as they have a slightly citrus taste and are relatively hot.

I’m kind of winging it here because I knew I’d be making a chilli non-carne but I didn’t know I’d be turning it into a tortilla wrap bake but I wanted to create something that just went into the oven and could sit then until we decided what we wanted to do with it.  I’d purchased some gluten-free corn tortilla wraps back in July and they were about a day off being needed to be eaten so my mind was made up.  It turned out beautifully and even though it’s a rather lengthy process it’s actually all pretty easy with very little actual standing in front of the stove time. I’m using some fresh runner beans as I have a glut but any careen veg would work.  I’m also using a vegetarian mince but your favourite meat mince would work nicely too.

for the chilli con carne

• 1 medium red onion – finely chopped
• 1 stalk of celery – finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 small medium fresh chilli – chopped
• 3 or 4 runner beans – chopped
• 500g mince – I’m using Quorn vegetarian mince but beef or lamb mince would work well
• 1 x 400g tin red kidney beans
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon fresh marjoram
• a large splash of white wine
• 1/2 litre good quality stock – I’m using vegetable stock but beef stock would be nice

for the bake:

• 4 – 6 tortilla wraps
• 150g cheddar cheese
• 100g red Leicester cheese
• 100ml soured cream
• fresh coriander leaves

You’ll need an oven-proof dish that will fit your wraps once rolled up into a log.

Start with the chilli. On a medium heat, sauté the onions and celery in a large pan with a little olive oil until they start to soften – roughly 5 mins, then add the garlic and all the spices, turn the heat up a little and fry off for another 5 mins.

Stir in the green beans (if using) and the fresh chillies, followed by the mince which you should let brown for about 5 to 8 mins, before stirring in the rest of the ingredients. Turn the heat down and let it bubblier,le away for 20 mins on the lowest heat, then check for seasoning and add salt and pepper accordingly.

Let the pot gently plop away for at last 2 hours, then turn off the heat and set aside until you need it.  As always with these kinds of dishes, if you can leave it overnight then all the better.

Once you’re ready to make the bake, it’s essentially like making cannelloni.  Spoon a layer of the mince into the bottom of an oven-proof dish and sprinkle with the two cheeses.

Take the wraps and lay them out, then spoon a mince into them, a mix of cheese, soured cream and coriander and then roll them up tightly.  Place them into the oven-proof dish on top of the mince already laid in there.  Repeat this process until you’ve used all the wraps but remember to leave a little mince and a little cheese to be layers on top.

Bake on 180C for 25 mins until the cheese is golden and the dish is bubbling

Eat and of course, enjoy!