A dish to Warm up your Valentine's day

     Here is my version of Turkey Chili adapted from this recipe, found on allrecipes.com, and some tips from my mom. It can make any day warm, why not V-day?

Turkey Chili

 

• 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 3 cans of crushed tomoatoes
• 2 cans of kidney OR chili beans
• 2 jalepenos, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 medium sized bay leaves
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

   Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Place turkey in the pot, and cook until evenly brown. Stir in onion and garlic, and cook until tender.
2. Mix in tomatoes, kidney beans, and jalepeños. Season chili powder, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.

     I always add some noodles to this dish but you don't have to. I suggest using fusilli.

A close up view of the table with the extras.

     Along side this dish I am going to serve some Tomato Mozzarella flat bread (they are more like crackers than bread) and my last bottle of one of my favorite cheap wines from the US. Smoking Loon Syrah. It is a Californian wine. When Australians make wine from the same grapes it is called Shiraz, FYI.  

If you looked at the link I included of the original recipe you will notice I made quite a few changes. I NEVER follow recipes exactly. I consider myself a good cook and I know what to add or subtract to adapt the recipe to JP and my tastes. I also have one of the best references available: my mom and my grandma. I know there are people out there who don't feel as comfortable in the kitchen, so I will explain all of the differences and why I did or didn't add something. If I miss any I apologize in advance.

1. I like my chili spicy so I added the jalepeños to kick up the heat.
2. I added garlic because garlic always makes everything better. I have never eaten anything and thought, 'That would have tasted better without the garlic.'
3. Instead of adding extra water I just used the water that was in with the tomatoes and beans to give extra flavor. Also I am glad I didn't add more water because it wouldn't have turned out thick enough.
4. I actually used chili beans instead of kidney and it turned out great. The big inspiration behind this was the fact that I couldn't find kidney beans at the store, more on that later. I also didn't mash the beans at all.
5. I added the bay leaves instead of the other spices because I am not a fan of oregano or cumin and my mom said they were important in her chili. That was good enough reason to me.

I think that is all of them. 

If you have never checked out allrecipes.com then I highly suggest you do so. I rarely even look in my cookbooks anymore because I can find everything and more on this site.

     I am making this dish again tomorrow. We are having some friends over and to watch Inglorious Bastards, which we bought while out today. Unfortunately I couldn't find ground turkey anywhere today and the one place I knew would have it was far. I had already been to three grocery stores when I decided to just get the ground beef that is much more common to eat here in Germany. Germans just aren't big poultry eaters.
     I am actually having a hard time finding a lot of things that I am used to cooking with in the US, but the longer I am here the more I am figuring out what they carry where. It will only get better.

Just for fun, a close up of my Chopper.

If you try out my recipe let me know how you like it!