Chili Con Turkey

This is a really great chili, hard to believe it’s from leftover turkey! The recipe is really flexible you can substitute for what you have handy. It’s more about building layers of flavor. So be adventurous!

Serves 6-8:

2 tbsp    olive oil

1             red onion roughly chopped

1            sweet onion roughly chopped

2            carrots roughly chopped

1             leek roughly chopped

1             red pepper deseeded and chopped

1             yellow pepper deseeded and chopped

1             jalapeño pepper deseeded and finely chopped

1 c         chopped cilantro

2           tbsp cumin

1 tbsp   chili powder

4 tbsp  white wine vinegar

48 oz   can crushed tomatoes

15 oz    can whole tomatoes drained and chopped

15 oz    can cannellini beans (or beans of choice)

3 c        leftover turkey meat roughly chopped

1 tbsp  Tabasco sauce (add more if you like super hot chili)

salt and pepper to season

sour cream to serve

Heat the oven to 325.

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add onions, carrots, peppers and leeks and cook over a medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. Add the cumin and chili powder and cook for another 10-12 minutes stirring occasionally until the vegetables are soft. Add the white wine vinegar and cook for a further 2 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Put the vegetable mixture into a large casserole dish. Lower heat and add the chopped turkey to the pan coating it with the spices and oil left in the pan then add to the vegetable mixture. Pour in the tomatoes and beans into mixture, stir well and add the Tabasco sauce. Put in the over for two hours and let it simmer away. Check occasionally to make sure it is not to dry, just add a little water or some of the juice from the drained tomatoes if necessary. Remove from oven, stir in the cilantro (keep a little back to garnish when serving), have a quick taste to check the “heat” and seasoning add more if needed.

When serving top with sour cream and cilantro.