Texas Chili

Texas chili never has beans in it and many people say it shouldn't include tomatoes either, although mine does. Traditional, Texas chili is made with meat, spices, and stock only and served topped with raw onions. In Texas it's commonly ordered as a 'Big Bowl of Red'. It's red color comes from the chilies and other spices and so does it's heat.



1 T. cooking oil
1 small Onion - diced
1 rib Celery - finely diced
1/2 Green Bell Pepper - diced
1/2 Yellow Bell Pepper - diced
3-6 cloves Garlic
1 lb Ground Turkey or Beef
1 lb Turkey or Pork Sausage (removed from casing)
1/2 heaping t. Cumin
1 1/2 t. Chili Powder
1/8 t. Cinnamon
1/8 t. Cayenne Pepper
1/4 t. Smoked Paprika
1 T. Dried Oregano
1/2 t. White Pepper
1/2 t. Black Pepper
1/4 t. Salt
2 Chipotle Peppers (seeds removed) - finely chopped
1 T. Adobo Sauce (from chipotle can)
1 15oz can Tomato Sauce*
1/2 28oz can Whole Tomatoes* (broken up)
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
splash Soy Sauce

Heat oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add onions, celery and bell peppers to the hot oil. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are clear.

Add garlic to the pot and cook for two more minutes. Then remove the vegetables from the pot and set them aside.



Put all of your meat into the pot. Use a spatula or spoon to break the meat up as it cooks.



As the meat starts to cook add your sautéed vegetables back into the pot and mix them into the meat. Continue to break the meat up.



In a small bowl, mix all of the dry seasonings together. (On my list of ingredients above, it's from the cumin to the salt.) It makes about two tablespoons of spice mix.

Review II - Sea Salt Eatery

Sea Salt Eatery
4801 Minnehaha Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55417
(612) 721-8990 ‎

*Update - Sea Salt Eatery is now open for spring and summer! 04/07/11 - 10/30/11*

We ate dinner a Sea Salt yesterday, our first visit of the year. I was happy to see a short line but then disappointed when I saw that the whole fried fish special that I read about on line was sold out. The line was moving fast and my decision making skills had to keep up. Tony and I quickly decided to share the Fried Fish Tacos (two for $5) and the Crab Cake Basket (1 for $11).



The fish had a crispy batter filled with steaming flaky white fish. Each piece of fish was served on two grilled corn tortillas with sauce, onion and cilantro. I gave Tony my cilantro, it's not my thing. I did really enjoyed the grilled tortillas, the char was excellent and so is the price of these tasty tacos!



The crab cake had lots of large chunks of crab meat with a nice proportion of breading, vegetable and crab. The basket included slaw, corn salad/relish and melon. Only the cake was spectacular, I think I would prefer two à la carte crab cakes over the basket if that was an option. Ummm a crab cake taco would be good, maybe I should drop Sea Salt a line.



It was great to sit outside again and enjoy a cold beverage without shivering. The winter was long and all the snow that collected has melted and is now flying over the falls and down the river. It's a great sight to see! I'm looking forward to many more tasty visits to the Sea Salt Eatery and Minnehaha Falls this summer!