Bonfire Feast

Yesterday afternoon our parents, my cousin, his wife and their little daughter Hannah (our gorgeous god-daughter) came over to have dinner with us and then watch a firework display. My cousin’s wife had suggested that she and I make a chilli and she found a quick recipe by Gordon Ramsay. We made a great team – and this is a good dish to make in a team as there’s quite a bit to do like chopping the vegetables, browning the meat while the dried spices are added to the onions, cooking the rice. We must have done a good job as the response of our chief taster, 2 year old Hannah, was “more!”.

We doubled the recipe up so used 2 red chillis, but didn’t use the seeds so that we’d keep it mild, particularly as Hannah was eating with us. We did find though that it was very mild indeed – perhaps the chillis we used weren’t very hot – so next time we’d probably use some seeds. Even so it was really flavoursome and everyone enjoyed it; I’d happily make it again. If you decide to try this recipe be aware that there’s an error; the tomato puree is listed twice with different amounts, but the recipe says to taste so go with what you think is best. We used 4 tablespoons (remember we doubled the recipe) and found that was plenty for us.

For pudding we had a fantastic pumpkin pie spiced with cinnamon that my cousin’s wife made. It was delicious with vanilla ice cream and went down really well. Here’s the recipe, which I can definitely recommend.

After dinner we all wrapped up warm and headed out to watch the fireworks. Hannah was squealing in delight all the way over to the park as she saw fireworks through the car windows. The typical British Bonfire night rain held off for long enough for us to see the display but we did get rather wet on our way back to the cars. The excitement was all too much for little Hannah, who fell asleep in her Dad’s arms as he carried her back.