Turkey Chili

Back when Tim and I lived in the Phid house, I used to make a huge vat of turkey chili every week or so.  It was the perfect dish for law students - we could eat it for a week or share it with our housemates.  Unfortunately, I couldn't remember much about the recipe.   I just remember that my "secret" ingredient was sherry.  I also couldn't remember if my turkey chili was any good.  So when I decided to make this dish again last week, I came up with a new recipe (borrowing heavily from Bon Appetit's 1997 Turkey Chili with White Beans recipe).

Turkey Chili

Ingredients:

0.5 lb. ground turkey

1 yellow onion (chopped)

a large bunch of baby carrots (chopped coarsely)

1 large head of cauliflower (chopped)

1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (drained and chopped)

8 oz. dried Vallarta beans (pre-soaked for 6 hours, pre-cooked for 1.5 hours)

1/2 bottle of IPA beer

jalapeno olive oil

Spices and herbs:

1 bay leaf

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2-4 dried red chili peppers

2 tbsp. chopped dark chocolate (or 1 tbsp. cocoa powder)

1/2 tsp. ground chipotle chili pepper

1 tsp. ground ancho chili pepper

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/2 tsp. dried epazote (or oregano)

1/4 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Serve with:

fresh cilantro (chopped)

steamed corn

queso fresco or cheddar

red cabbage (chopped)

Cook:

Heat oil in large cast-iron pot.  Saute onions until light brown (10 minutes).  Add spices and herbs, stir.  Turn heat up to medium high.  Add ground turkey and stir until no longer pink. Add tomatoes, beer (and if using dried beans, add beans with bean cooking water).  Add cauliflower.  Add water if necessary to cover the mixture.  Bring to a boil, then simmer partly covered for 40 minutes.

Notes:  

Feel free to substitute the dried beans with 16 oz. of canned white beans, but don't add canned beans until the last 10 minutes of simmering.

If using dried beans, don't cook them completely separately, and don't add too many beans.

Don't add kale.  Don't add too much spice.  Don't use canned "fire-roasted" tomatoes.