Turkey Chili & Wine Engagement

Having squeezed the life out of the Gourmet November/2008 issue for our Thanksgiving menu, we found yet another recipe to duly dispatch of our near-to-ragged carcass: our unsuspecting turkey (shown above) was about to be turned into turkey chili! What a cozy Saturday afternoon too, just around ten of us, lazing about with wine glasses in hand with forkfuls of satisfying chili in the other. Perfectly paired reds included a Temperanillo, Sangiovese and Malbec--the white was a single unoaked Chardonnay-Viognier blend from Languedoc. Aromas of The Spice House's mulling spices with apple and peach cider further filled the room (and some of  it went down with a shot of Bourbon here and there, but more on that later) as we made another go of the festive feasting holiday.

Turkey Chili

Makes 6 to 8 servings (We doubled this by using more beans* and another can of whole tomatoes and good thing too—the 10 of us couldn’t stop eating!)

Ingredients

1 large white onion, coarsely chopped

2 bell peppers (any color), cut into 1-inch pieces

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

2 teaspoon packed brown sugar

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes in juice

1 (19-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup water

2 cups cooked turkey, cut into 1-inch pieces

*We added in a can of cannellini beans. The addition of 1 TB cumin, 1 TB garlic powder and 1 tsp or so Penzey’s chipotle powder turned out to be essential!

Preparation

Cook onion and peppers in oil in a heavy medium pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Add spices and brown sugar and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes with juice, breaking them up with back of a spoon, then add beans, water, and 1 teaspoon salt and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

Stir in turkey and let stand, covered, until heated through, 5 minutes. 

We let the chili sit in the refrigerator overnight, brought our pot to room temperature the next day and let it simmer back to full heat for about an hour. Serve with shredded Mexican cheeses, sour cream, limes, tortilla chips and Fritos!