Turkey Chili

Here in the Northeast, it has certainly been a horrific few weeks with Mother Nature. Thankfully, we were all but spared minus a downed tree and a few evenings of rolling power outages.

All the talk of electricity, lack of heat and Nor'easter snow meant only one thing--it was time to cook and share my chili recipe!  That stick-to-your-insides, flavor-packed one pot meal that gets better each day it melds in your fridge.

This was one of my first real recipes. I pulled it together almost 15 years ago (gulp!) when I was living in Boston and wanted to enter my company chili contest.  As luck would have it, I won!  So, for fun, let's call this my "award-winning" turkey chili.

We top ours off greek yogurt, scallions and sometimes salsa.  Enjoy!

Turkey Chili
Ingredients

• 6 pieces of turkey or regular bacon
• 2 lbs of ground turkey meat
• 3 celery stalks, finely diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/2 green pepper, chopped
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 can of white beans, rinsed in a colander
• 1 can of kidney beans, rinsed in a colander
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 2 large (16 oz) cans of diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of chili powder
• 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon of nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon of thai chili paste
• 1/2 - 4 tablespoons of Sirachi or hot sauce
• 1/2 cup of beer
• 1 cup of red wine
• Greek yogurt/sour cream and chopped scallions for topping

Directions

• In a large pot, brown the bacon over medium heat until it almost burns.  Remove from the pot, and let dry on a paper towel. 
• Drain 3/4 of the leftover fat from the pan if using regular bacon.
• Add the ground turkey to the fat in the pan, and brown breaking into small pieces with the back of a spoon.  When the turkey is almost cooked through, add the beer, garlic and onions and cook for 3-5 minutes. 
• Add the chili powder, cumin, green pepper and celery to the pot and cook for another few minutes. 
• Add all remaining ingredients except the sirachi/hot sauce, i.e. the two cans of rinsed beans, one can of tomato paste, two cans of diced tomatoes, nutmeg, thai chili paste, red wine and well crumbled bacon and mix well.
• Let simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, taste and add 1/2 to 4 tablespoons of sirachi depnding on your heat preference.  I typically add, then taste, add then taste.
• Simmer for at least another 20 minutes, 45 minutes ideally. 
• Top with greek yogurt or sour cream and enjoy!