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Today is the first truly cold day of the season. And since it's been requested, I thought I would put aside shoes for a moment, and post my recipe for turkey chili. It's such a warming dish on a bitter day.
This was one of the first things I ever learned to make well. Full of big flavors, I would say this chili is the very opposite of sophisticated, and it's wonderful for it. It is also very easy, but that is because I will confess to using some shortcuts. When I began figuring this recipe out, I used beef, and even bison. But now we like to limit our red meat, and I think the richness of ground turkey goes will with the smokey chipotles. Also, I make it in a slow cooker. It's not necessary, but it's easy, if you have one. If you don't, you can simmer on the stove for a while- 30 minutes or so. It will certainly taste better the next day, but it will definitely be delicious tonight.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (I like a mix of dark and light meat)
1 packet taco/chili flavoring (in the Mexican aisle at the supermarket. I like Bearitos brand.)
1 small onion chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 large can diced tomatoes (spend the extra dollar on the San Marzanos.)
1-2 handfuls frozen corn
2-3 chipotle peppers, from the can, chopped
2-3 spoonfuls of chipotle sauce (from the can the chipotles come in)
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat up a pan large enough for the turkey. When it's hot, but not smoking, add the turkey, and turn it down to medium. (If it's a sticky pan, add a little olive oil first- just a little.) Brown the turkey, breaking apart the ground meat with a wooden spoon. This step always confused me, but the more you break it up, the more the meat absorbs the sauce. So I've learned. (If you are crushed for time you can skip the browning step, but I think it really adds a little je ne sais quoi).
When the meat is browned (it will be mostly cooked,) set it aside, and drain the water from the pan. (If you are not using turkey, you can keep some of the nice beef fat for the next step. If you are using turkey, add a little more oil.) Add the chopped onion, and cook until soft.
Put the onion and the turkey in the bowl of the slow cooker. Season with salt and a little pepper. Add the chopped carrots, the chili mix, the corn, and the chipotles. Add the tomatoes and then a little of the chipotle sauce. Let cook on low for at least 4 hours. Stir, taste, and adjust seasonings- usually I add a bit of salt here or some more chipotle sauce. (This is a great thing to make in the morning, and come home to at the end of a long cold workday. And it takes about fifteen minutes.) If you are using a stove top, put all the ingredients into a deep saucepan, get to a simmer, turn down the heat, and let cook for 30 or so minutes, stirring occasionally. It'll smell done. Trust me.
Serve in bowls with spoons, and sour cream, cheese, chopped onion, cilantro, beans, whatever else you like. Sometimes I throw a can of beans into the chili itself, sometimes I serve with refried beans on the side.
Serves 4 (or 2 with lots of leftovers.)
To me, Salsa Verde sounds like a small island in the Mediterranean, with rocky lagoon beaches, turquoise water, big crumbling stucco houses perched on hillsides, ancient olive and orange trees swaying in the ocean breeze, and lovely quay side restaurants. The waiters have mustaches, and the rich smell of roasting garlic and tart fresh lemon wafts from the kitchen. You watch your dinner come off the boat. Like Tiffany's, nothing bad can happen to you on the island of Salsa Verde.
In reality, Salsa Verde is a sauce. There are two kinds: the Mexican kind, which is yummy, but I will save for another time, and the Italian kind, which is what I am talking about today. Recipes vary- Mario Batali has egg and anchovy in his. Mine is the simplest of the simple, but very easy to mess with. I made a large batch last night, which we smothered on creamy halibut. It was a perfect contrast, and on a nasty March night, it tasted like spring. But you don't need fish- salsa verde goes on anything, from steamed green beans, to folded in with mashed potatoes, to steak. Trust me.
Salsa Verde
1 bunch Italian Parsley
1 handful cornichon pickles (about 8)
1 teaspoon capers
2-4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar (the best you have)
1 small shallot (or a small piece of red onion)
1 lemon (optional- you can use with or substitute for the vinegar)
Clean and dry the parsley well. Seperate the leaves and thin stems from the thick ones. Chop roughly. One handful at a time, with a couple of the pickles, the shallot and capers, add the parsley to your food processor (I have one of those tiny mini choppers. A blender would work too.) Lubricate with oil. Keep adding all the ingredients, and chopping, until you have a thick, beautiful green paste. It should taste sharp and bright and also a little creamy, but not too vinegary. If I have a problem getting it pasty, I keep adding oil.
Then- try not to eat by the spoonful.
In the past year or two, I've taken up an interest in cooking. For most of that time, I was "ok" at it. What I made was palatable, but probably not all out delicious. People were not screaming "YUMMY!" when they ate my food. They were nodding politely and not vomiting in front of me. But I think any beginner goes through that.
Like writing, the only way to learn to cook, is to cook. Reading cookbooks (seriously) and watching cooking shows helps, not so much for the specifics, but for the generalities. I learned that people cook with medium onions, chopped up and softened in butter or oil A LOT. Other things I learned: to stop worrying about things burning (they almost never do on top of the stove. In the beginning I undercooked EVERYTHING) and to stop worrying so much about following the actual recipe verbatim, especially since I don't bake. (Thank you Mark Bittman.) Also, Ina Garten's food looks incredible, but she's like the Paula Deen of the Northeast. When in doubt, she adds fat! But she also eyeballs amounts, which is comforting. And honestly, though I don't love her food, Rachel Ray is great to watch to pick up some knife skills.
So, recently something quite interesting has happened. I can actually cook a really tasty meal, in about 45 minutes, with no real recipe. And not just one thing (well, sometimes one thing.) And I find it therapeutic. RC often looks at me in the kitchen in askance: where is empty-refrigerator-camel-smoking-cat-hair-covered girl I met?" he wonders. Still here, but without the cigarettes. So I thought I'd start sharing with you the things I've been making.
Last night I made this Striped Bass dish. I got the fish at the farmer's market on Sunday, and quite honestly you can use any fish you want. I probably wouldn't do Tuna or Salmon, but that's me. We had a pound, but that's just because that's what they had.
Veracruz Style Sauce:
1 Medium Onion (duh), roughly chopped
2 Tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or so
1 half-pint Sungold Cherry Tomatoes (though 2 or 3 beautiful summer tomatoes of any sort would work)
1 handful of pitted green olives (I like the whole foods ones in cans, but any will do, or even black.)
1 tsp capers
1 tsp pickled jalapenos, chopped (funnily I had real Serranos in the fridge, but I just like these better.)
I started by heating up my big All-Clad saute pan that I do everything in. That's one of those little things I learned on TV- heat the pan first. Then I added the oil. Then the onions. I cooked the onions for a good while. They were so soft and sweet. Probably at least ten minutes, maybe fifteen, stirring occasionally because my stove heats things lopsidedly, and also to get the onions unstuck from the bottom of the pan (hey, it happens). Then I added the tomatoes, whole.(If I had had big ones, i would have chopped them first, and left the skin and seeds.) Then I turned the stove off, accidentally, because I was cooking rice on the burner behind it, and the rice was done, then I went to season the rice, and then I came back to check the sauce, and lo, there was no sauce. So I turned the stove back on. I covered the pan, to try to get the tomatoes done faster. You want them to pop, which they will, beautifully, and this takes a little time- about ten more minutes. But I got nervous about the onions, so I added a dash of white wine, to moisten things, but if you don't turn the stove off, you won't have to. But it doesn't hurt at all. Ever.
When the tomatoes began to pop, I added everything else. And d'you know what else I should mention? Salt. Occasionally I would throw a handful in, when I remembered. You can almost never have too much salt, except when you do, and then it's a nightmare, so taste while you cook. I let that all cook togethe, while I grilled the fish on my grill pan. It bubbled, and turned it down, and then only one side bubbled. (The fish cooks in 12 minutes or so.) It was delicious. I almost didn't even need the fish, honestly. I served with canned fat-free refried beans, cilantro lime rice (rice cooked in chicken stock, lime juice, chopped cilantro) and left over tortillas.
