THANKSGIVING TURKEY CHILI

by Alma S. Kipplechoo

If Texas and Panera Bread made sweet love, this Thanksgiving Turkey Chili would be the child. Making a whole turkey can be a ridiculous amount of work, but this easy chili recipe is an alternative way to prepare the bird while also introducing some new flavors into the traditional holiday palate. In my family, we have our big Thanksgiving meal at lunch, so I like to get up and make this first thing in the morning. Then, I let it simmer away until everything else is ready. Plus there’s corn in it, so that means it’s healthy, right?

Ingredients:

750g ground turkey

3 bell peppers

1 medium yellow onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 box of pomilio tomatoes

1 large can of corn

1.5 cups of chicken broth

800g crushed tomatoes (polpa in pezzi)

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp peperoncino machinato

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp salt

2 tsp black pepper

2 tsp parsley

Extra virgin olive oil

Tomato paste (optional)

Fried yellow corn chips (encouraged)

Let’s address the elephant in the room. There are no beans in the ingredient list. That’s because – and this is a fact – beans belong nowhere near chili. It’s like pineapple and pizza, or a reality TV-show star and the presidential office. Keep ‘em away from each other. Say what you will, but I’m from the South and we don’t put beans in our chili. To be fair, we don’t really use turkey either, but I’m doing it to be festive.

Step one is probably the most important step. Turn on a Selena-playlist to play as you make this chili. No, not Selena Gomez. I’m talking about Selena, the Queen of Tejano music. Trust me, the food will taste better with some “Amor Prohibido.”

Start the prep by finely dicing the peppers after removing the cores, ribs, and seeds. I usually use two yellow peppers and one red, but any combination should work. Set the diced peppers aside in a bowl.

Get ready to cry like you just watched Macauley Culkin die in My Girl, because it’s time to chop some onion. For those who complain about that being a movie spoiler, the movie is from 1991. Get over it. After dicing the whole onion, add it to the bowl with the peppers.

Continue by grating and/or mincing five cloves of garlic. Set aside in separate bowl.

The ingredients call for a box of pomilio tomatoes. I prefer to use five or six roma tomatoes, but good roma tomatoes are harder to find than the JCU doctor. However, both types taste fine in the end. Cut the tomatoes in half, longways, and remove the seeds and other gelatinous contents. Dice the tomatoes as big or small as you’d like. Set aside in a separate bowl.

Open the can of corn. Strain it. Set the corn aside in a bowl. That step was easier than never making this recipe, like I know most of you will do. Sad face.

Ground turkey is not something that you’re going to come across in any supermarket, so you’ll have to go to a macellaria. Oh no, interacting with actual people. The horror. I go to the macellaria on Via San Francesco a Ripa, across from Antica Caciara and Conad. Ask for tacchino machinato and they’ll hook you up. They may give you a puzzled look as if you just started talking about how the gestation period of a walrus can be up to 16 months (fact), but they’ll get the meat prepared without any questions.

Drizzle a couple glugs of olive oil into the largest pot you have, and then put it over medium-high heat. Let that warm up just enough so that when you put in the peppers and onions, you hear a healthy sizzle. So yeah, add in the peppers and onions. After a minute add in the garlic. Adding in the garlic later is really just a safety measure to make sure that it doesn’t burn. Give them five minutes or so to soften and become translucent (the onions that is). This is when it starts smelling good. Add in the ground turkey. Take your trusty spatula or spoon and go to town on that turkey. The smaller the chunks, the better. Be relentless. Never give up. You’re strong. You got this. I believe in you. Go team. Keep stirring and breaking it up until the turkey is cooked through. Add in all the spices and mix thoroughly. Add the diced tomatoes and however much corn you’d like. You do you, boo. Stir around again. Add in the 1.5 cups of chicken broth and the 800g of crushed tomatoes. Give it another big stir. Bring it up to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Leave it uncovered, simmering, stirring occasionally. This is not a dish to be rushed. The longer this cooks, the more flavor will be present. That’s why at this step, I put the heat on its lowest setting to make it cook as long as possible. Let the meat and the veggies and everything get to know each other. Let them have their fun. Usually 45-75 minutes should do the trick, depending on how you prefer your chili. It’ll thicken up the longer it cooks, but if you prefer a soup-ier chili, shame on you, and 45 minutes is for you. For those who want to make it more of a stew, you can add in some small pasta like ditalini rigati. An optional step here, after it’s been simmering for about 30 minutes, is to add in some tomato paste to thicken it even more. Taste the chili and adjust the spices and flavors to fit your fancy. The dish is done when you say it’s done.

Enjoy your chili the authentic southern way, by eating it with Fritos or some other fried yellow corn chip.

When it comes to serving size, this makes over two pounds of chili, so keep that in mind. Great for potlucks, maybe not so much for a single dinner. Adjust the recipe for that. It’s fine to refrigerate and enjoy later.