Texan Feast - Recipes and Photos - Part 1

I was so excited to receive my box of goodies from Dillypoo (see here) that I decided to cook a "Texan Feast" straight away!

As an appetizer, I decided to follow Dillypoo's advice and serve the Jalapeno Jelly she sent me spooned over cream cheese with crackers.

Everyone thought it was just delicious! The Jalapeno Jelly was sweeter than we expected, and not as hot. It disappeared pretty quickly!

I put out some mild salsa and corn chips for the kids in case the Jalapeno Jelly was too hot for them.

For the main course of my Texan Feast, I decided to use the D.L Jardine's Texas Chili Works that Dillypoo sent me.

(Sorry about the picture, for some reason Blogger has decided that it needs to be sideways.)

I had it in my head that Chili needs to be cooked for a long time so that the meat is really tender and the flavour has time to develop, so I started nice and early.

First I browned the mince. I used 1 kg of beef mince.

Next, the recipe called for 2 cups of water and an "8 oz can of tomato sauce". Here in Australia we don't have canned tomato sauce. What we call tomato sauce is what we put on top of sausages or meat pies and is, I think, similar to American "tomato ketchup". Never fear, Google to the rescue, I am reliably informed that this can of tomato puree will do.

I used 1 cup, and simmered the mince, tomato and water for a while in a big pot.



Next I added the Chili Spices. They smelled delicious. I could definitely detect paprika, chilli and cumin and maybe some cayenne pepper.

The Chili was simmering away when my sister and her family arrived. Immediately my sister commented on the delicious smell!

Next I mixed the Masa with some water and added it to the Chili. I'm told that this thickens the chili and gives it that certain something for a unique and authentic taste!

Then I added the Hot Pepper. I added half the packet, let it simmer for a while, then tasted it to see how hot it was. It tasted about right to me, so I saved the rest of the pepper for another day.

Now I've realised that this post is becoming "bigger than Texas", so I've decided to stop here. You'll have to find out about the rest of the meal in my next post - coming soon!

In the meantime, if you'd like to write about the food that you love, or share a recipe, then why don't you head to my latest challenge here and link up!