Robust Turkey Chili

Robust Turkey Chili

Who doesn't love chili? It's great any time of year, and especially now with cold snowy days outside, and the Super Bowl just around the corner. There are literally hundreds of variations on chili and here at A Wicked Scoff I myself like to mix it up and create my own chili variations. In an effort to make my first ground turkey chili, I created a recipe that made the dish unique when compared to the beefy chili I make. Besides going with chili, I wanted to give the dish some unique character. The road I went down was smoky and robust. For the smoky I exclusively used chipotle peppers, which are smoked jalapenos, and I also used chipotle powder in my spice blend. For the robust, I added a cup of good dark beer. I used a Robust Porter made by the Smuttynose Brewing Company out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Robust Porter is an award winning beer and with undertones of chocolate and coffee, I thought it would go excellent with the richness and aggressive seasoning of a chili. I was right. In the end product I doubt you could detect that there was beer in the chili, but the dish came out incredibly balanced with great depth of flavor.I owe that to the beer. Overall it was smoky, well seasoned and had the right amount of heat for me. It had good zing, but I didn't have to race for the sour cream after every bite. Try it like this and adjust the spice accordingly. Here's how I put it all together.

Ingredients:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil

- 2 medium (or 1 large) yellow onion, medium dice
- 1 large green pepper, medium dice
- 1 pound of mushrooms, rough chopped
- 1 package of ground turkey (I used a 1.3 lb pack of 93% lean)
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
- Chili spice mix (1 Tbsp each of chili powder and chipotle chili powder, 1 tsp each of paprika, salt and black pepper, and 2 tsp of ground cumin)
- 5 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
- 1 large 32oz can of crushed tomatoes (can use whole tomatoes)
- 1/2 bottle of chili sauce
- 1 cup of dark beer (such as Smuttynose Robust Porter)
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 can of kidney beans
- 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
- green onion, sour cream, cheese and cilantro for topping

Directions:

In a large Dutch Oven or heavy bottomed pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion,  green pepper and mushrooms and saute until tender; about 4-5 minutes. Push the pepper and onions to the sides and add the ground turkey to the center. Allow the turkey to brown on one side and begin combining the meat and vegetables. Once it has cooked together for a couple minute and the turkey is browned, add the garlic, chipotles and spice mix. Add the tomatoes, chili sauce and beer and mix well. Bring to a simmer, cover and reduce heat to low. Stir the chili occasionally and cook for about 45 minutes. Add the drained and rinsed kidney and black beans, along with the chopped cilantro. Cook for an additional 15-30 minutes on low and serve.I served mine Cincinnati style, on top of spaghetti (whole grain thin spaghetti actually) with some light sour cream, reduced fat sharp cheddar, green onion, and more cilantro.Enjoy!