Birthday party for ME!!!

So I wasn't much in the mood this year to have a big party like I usually do. Instead I had just a few neighbors over for turkey chili. I have been working on the recipe for a while and I am quite happy with it.

Happy folk eating turkey chili

Why turkey chili, you may ask. Several weeks ago I had a hankering to make something I have never made before. Something warming and delicious. Something ideal for this lovely fall weather. After searching online for a while, I printed out two recipes that didn't really float my boat too much, but I thought I would just monkey around with them and see what they could do. On the subway ride home (and to Whole Foods) I over heard some guy saying that he had turkey chili last night. (He had an actually friend on the receiving end of the conversation; he was not one of those random weirdos talking to himself that are often riding the fabulous NYC subway). Turkey chili he said and it was like an epiphany. It was the dish I was craving! It was as if I could taste it already and I knew exactly what I wanted in it. So I lost the recipes I was carrying and set my mind on turkey chili and winging the recipe.

Turkey Chili recipe and how I made it last night
1 large onion chopped fine
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon of whole clove
1 1/2 teaspoon of whole cumin
1 poblano chili
fat pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon of paprika
salt and pepper
2 big springs of thyme
1 pound of ground turkey meat
2 large carrots finely cubed
1 large yellow pepper finely cubed
1 28 oz of fire roasted cubed tomatoes (Muir Glen brand)
1 minced chipotle chili in adobe sauce
2 or 3 tablespoons of black strap molasses - to taste
vegetable oil and chicken stock as needed

If at any point during the cooking process the contents of your pot becomes sticky, add a touch of stock to prevent burning but don't add anything that needs to be sauteed till the liquid is sufficiently cooked off. I use this technique so that I don't have to add more oil to the pan and it buys me some time as I continue chopping up stuff to toss in.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of oil into a pot and set over a medium flame. As your pot heats, chop up your onion and add to the pot. Add salt to the onions (this will draw out moisture from the onion) and throw in the sprigs of whole thyme. As your onion cooks down, mince the garlic and add to onions. Let it all cook down till onions are loose, liquid and caramelizing. In a spice mill grind together the clove, cumin and poblano chili. Grind until the contents are a fine powder add to the pot along with cayenne, paprika and freshly ground black pepper (to taste). Crumble the ground turkey meat into the pot and stir a few times till the meat is cooked through. Then add your carrots and yellow pepper. Let them all cook down for about 5 minutes. Then add the fire roasted tomatoes, chipotle chili and a bit of molasses. You can hold back on the a bit of the chipotle and the molasses because you may want to taste it in a bit and see how the flavor is marrying. You can always add more seasoning but you cannot take subtract it once it is in the pot. The tomatoes will need about 20 to 30 minutes to cook down to deliciousness. Taste the dish at this point and see what you may want to add. Fish out the sprigs of thyme and with your spoon (hopefully a wooden spoon) give them a scrape on the side of the pot, loosening the leaves off the stem (and back into the pot). Toss the stem.

Last night the turkey chili was not having it at, at this point in the cooking process so I had to really noodle around with the flavor in the end. I added more molasses, paprika, salt and pepper and even a few drops of liquid smoke until the dish finally tasted as scrumptious as I was hoping for.

Who know what happened but we somehow wound up at the Edge Bar again and here I am with my girls sporting my new Wine Library TV wristband that arrive just a few days before my birthday. Such a awesome gift. Thanks Wine Library!!!