I thought I'd make it at the weekend. Around here, future planning is doomed. Whatever the opposite of procrastination is, I have. Doitnowism.
I suddenly found myself, a hapless prawn of fate, working like a maniac, as if everything depended on getting this done right now.
It's about 40 years since I made it, so you might say I was a bit rusty. I compared all sorts of recipes, and ended up deciding for myself. I just needed the order of appearance set up.
Various members of the troupe, some of whom didn't make the cut, stood around waiting for their cue.
As usual there were substitutions. I don't do beef, so turkey sausage meat, and chicken broth. I fancied more than one bean, so small white as well as kidney.
Hauled out frozen oregano from last year's garden, chopped it, along with chili bean from freezer, garlic likewise.I like to use a pizza cutter for this kind of mincing.
And in the interest of zero waste, I cut all the onions in the bag in two to freeze.
The skins bagged and frozen for future dyeing. Then I chopped the one I needed here. I freeze halved onions, easier to chop frozen, less tearful. And if they're in soup to be blended, no need to chop at all.
And the tomato paste, new can, scooped out today's need, then put the rest in a Ziploc bag to freeze. Next time I need any, I can just break off the amount called for.
as they say grandly in cookbooks. Note the big screwdriver, a kitchen staple for those pesky cans that won't open all the way round, This one had two places that just bent instead of cutting. An irritated bang of the sd took care of that.
The water from rinsing out the tomato paste can is now in the freezer, labeled to tell me what it is and how it's to go in soup.
I find it's good to tell myself why I did this, on the label, as well as what it is. Saves puzzling.
As you see, it's not just about cooking in my oh, look, a bird! world. But I do get things done.
In the middle of this circus, I stopped for a bowl of soup, needing to restore my strength, also sit down a minute.
I cooked the garlic and all the spices first in the olive oil, then added the onion then the ground turkey. I like to cook spices first to release the aromatic effects.
In this case it may have had the unintended consequence of heating the chili a notch more than planned. Not dramatically, but hotter than I meant. But it's still good.
Then beans and can of diced tomatoes, tom paste, chicken broth, all that. At that point the counter was empty, so I think everything got in that shoulda.
And here it is
Plenty to share and enjoy and freeze. When I recover, I'm making cornbread to go with it. That's another thing I haven't made in decades. Must find recipe. No, no, not right now..
Oh dear. Hubby cannot eat red meat and I have been at a loss for chile this winter. NOw I will try your version! How lucky for me. I bookmarked this post.
ReplyDeleteI used sweet Italian turkey sausage. I usually like the hot, but this recipe was already hot enough, so it's good they only had sweet. I hope you like this version. Let me know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThat's the thing about chili - it's flexible. You can use any beans you have and in any combination. You can throw in all kinds of different veggies and whatever you need to use up in tomato-y 'stuff'. If it ends up too spicy, just throw in some diced potatoes. Always good stuff on a cold winter day!
ReplyDeleteI must remember the diced potatoes tip, thank you.
ReplyDeleteYay for chili! In winter especially it is the perfect meal.
ReplyDeleteFreezing the tomato paste is a great idea. I'm going to put to good use.
I make mine with black beans, kidney beans don't go well with my digestive system. I'll try the small white beans as well. Great recipe you have there.
I'll make it note about black beans. I don't seem to use them.
ReplyDeleteA note, not it. Predictive text practically writes speeches while I'm just trying to say simple stuff. You should see the words about vehicles and who knows what else that appeared just while I wrote that correction.
ReplyDelete