Turkey- Chipotle Chilli

Adapted from "Twice-Porked Chilli," first posted on VeryLucy 7/4/2013.

Preheat large, heavy bottomed pot. If using bacon, cut across entire slab to slice bacon into 3/4" pieces. Over medium-high heat, sautée bacon. While bacon fat is being rendered, dice onions (3/8"), carrots (as for mirepoix), and yellow bell peppers (3/8"). If not using bacon, add extra virgin olive oil to pre-heated pot. Add onions to bacon/EVOO and toss constantly. When onions become soft, translucent, and start to take on color (golden-brown), add carrots and yellow bell peppers. Let the carrots and YBPs sweat and become fragrant. Add ground turkey and sautée, breaking up chunks of meat.

While ground turkey is cooking, core tomatoes but leave whole. Once turkey has lost pink color, add cored tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Let mixture bubble. As tomatoes break down, tomato skins will pull away on their own. Fish out tomato skins as they surface from this point until the end of the cooking process.

While tomatoes are cooking, prep the following:

• • Open kidney bean cans, pour into sieve or strainer, and let drain well in sink or over a bowl.

  • Open can of chipotle peppers in adobo. Roughly chop chipotles and add both chopped peppers and adobo sauce to cooking tomatoes.

  • Measure out dry seasonings into small bowl (cumin, paprika, ground coriander seeds, ground oregano, and granulated garlic).

When 50-75% of tomatoes are broken down, add dry seasonings . Taste for seasoning and adjust including any additional salt and pepper. Add drained kidney beans and Worcestershire sauce. Let chilli cook on extra low heat for 2-3 hours. Alternatively, slow cook in a crock pot.

Garnish chilli with sour cream and cilantro leaves. Matches perfectly with Deanna's magic salad-in-an-instant (Taylor? Avocado Ranch?)

Notes:

This recipe was an experiment with chipotle chiles in adobo sauce on 5/31/20 as California eased into re-opening during the COVID-19 pandemic. We made a huge batch to share with Hugo and found ourselves next door in a wonderful impromptu dinner with the Bensons and Gobles as our guinea pigs. This is a variation on our "Twice Porked Chilli" created on 4th of July, 2013. The recipe for 12 may sound like a lot, but chili freezes extremely well so I strongly encourage you to go ahead and make a big batch. You will love finding buried treasure in your freezer!