Turkey Chipotle Chili

The weather turned a little cooler here as of late, making it feel like the start of autumn.  Cannot wait to start breaking out the pumpkin pie and cranberry recipes.  Until then, will settle for chili.

There's a great turkey stand at the farmers' market from Di Paolo Turkey Farms (you can read a smidgen about them here) that has some great ground turkey--it's not just the breast so you get lots of flavor. Anyway, so I decided to make turkey chili. 

The original recipe serves about 8-10 people.  I was not interested in eating chili well into October, so I halved the recipe.  Interesting thing is, when you halve a recipe you should probably halve all the ingredients, which I neglected to do.  Sadly this was not out of choice, but out of brain fartopolis.  So for the ingredients listed below, I've noted where I screwed up--otherwise the ingredients are halved.

Ingredients (for the "half" recipe that I made):

• 1 canned whole chipotle chili in adobo (You can place the unused chipotle chilies in a plastic sealable bag and freeze for another time.  Also, if you click on the recipe link you can see how to use dried whole chilies in this recipe.)
• 1 pound fresh tomatillos (as hopeful as I was to find canned tomatillos, it was a no-go)
• 1 large onions chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced, and divided into 2 portions
• 1 or 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 2 pounds ground turkey
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 bay leaf (didn't halve this, because really, does it matter--this was the only ingredient I didn't halve on purpose)
• 3/4 teaspoon dried orégano, crumbled
• 1teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (didn't halve this, because what am I supposed to do with a half bell pepper sitting around, but really I'm pretty sure I just forgot)
• two 4-ounce cans mild green chilies, drained and chopped (forgot to halve this, so my chili was a little generous on the Old El Paso canned green chilies aspect)
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal (omg I forgot to halve this also)
• a 19-ounce can (about 2 cups) white beans, rinsed and drained (wow, didn't halve this either)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander (didn't do this because I was worried that the cilantro wouldn't hold up well in leftovers)
• sour cream as an accompaniment if desired (nah)

First, let's deal with those tomatillos.  They come in papery husks.  Remove the husks.

Bring pot of water to boil and blanch the tomatillos for about 5 minutes.

Drain tomatillos and puree in blender.  Heed warnings about blending hot ingredients and tightly hold down cap, only to be rewards by steam pressure winning the nature battle and having a good portion of hot, steaming tomatillo puree splatter all over your hand and refrigerator.  Call it a night and finish the recipe the next day.

Screw you.

Heat vegetable oil in 6 quart pot over medium heat.  Stir in onion and half of garlic until onion is softened, about 8-10 minutes.

 Add in cumin and stir for about 30 seconds (to toast the spice and bring out the oils).

See this ground turkey? Doesn't it look so much better than the stuff at the supermarket? 

Add turkey to pot.  Cook for about 10-12 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink, stirring once in a while (esp at the beginning to try and break up the turkey)

Add the tomatillo puree, chipotle, chicken stock, oregano and bay leaf to the pot.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Stir occasionally, and add more water if necessary so that the level of liquid *barely* covers the turkey.

 In the meantime (and then some), chop your bell pepper, and open and drain the canned chilies.  Go hang out in front of the tv.

After an hour of simmering, add in the bell pepper, green chilies, and cornmeal to the pot.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Add in the white beans,  remaining garlic, cilantro if using, and any salt.

Ta-da!