Medina Chili

On a recent summer evening I threw a simple chili together in the crock pot. I used two particular ingredients that made me think of two communities that lie on either side of Medina Lake. The base of the soup is a Cajun 15 Bean Soup (Hurst’s Brand) and reminds me of the Cajun Festival of Lakehills. The meat in the chili is a link of Alsatian Sausage from the Dzuik’s meat market in Castroville. It turned out to be quite a good combination.

Let the chili wars begin

Ingredients:

1 medium-sized onion

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 medium-sized zucchini

1 bag Cajun 15 Bean Soup (Hurst’s Brand) including spice packet

1 link Alsatian Sausage

1-2 tbsp olive oil

Dried garden thyme/oregano to taste

Salt to taste

1 glass of white wine (for chef when sautéing onions)

Thin tortilla chips

Grated cheese

The first time I made this, I started by soaking the beans in water for the better part of a day (maybe 6 hours). I then emptied the water, added new water, just covering the beans, and set for high heat in a crock pot. Let this cook for about an hour.

After pouring a glass of wine at sunset I warm the oil on medium heat in a sauce pan and add the sliced onions. Let them sizzle slightly for a few minutes and then add diced zucchini and mashed-sliced garlic. Let this cook for a few minutes, stirring from time to time, then add the sausage (sliced).

Once the sausage has browned on a few sides (no need to thoroughly cook), add all of these ingredients from the pan into the crock-pot. Add spice packet and garden herbs.

Set crock-pot to low setting and let it simmer for a couple of hours. I liked to eat this poured over a bowl of tortilla chips and with grated parmesan cheese on top.