Aron’s Original Turkey Chili Recipe cannot be beaten. He welcomes a challenge.
As the weather cools and peppers are abundant at the green market, we start making soups and stews with bone broths. This is one of our pillars of health and delicious to boot. Any time we are roasting a chicken, we throw the carcass in a pot with water, ugly onion, carrot, and celery, barely chopped, and let it simmer away until it’s reduced by half and full of flavor, minerals, collagen and gelatin derived from the bones. This can be done with beef bones as well. After skimming and straining, your bone broth is ready to use or be frozen. It’s better than what you will get in a boxed stock, both in terms of flavor and nutrients. And adds wonderfully to this Chili recipe. Aron started making it this way a few years back and tried many different techniques to find the perfect balance of sweet earthiness and umami. If you want to experience the full complexity of flavor, don’t skip the roasting and peeling of the peppers. This step completely alters the quality of the peppers. It’s worth the effort. As always, if you can source organic ingredients, it will enhance the final outcome.
Aron’s Turkey Chili
Ingredients
1 large onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1 large can whole peeled Italian tomatoes
1 large red bell pepper
1 large yellow bell pepper
1 large orange bell pepper
1.5 lbs ground turkey (browned separately in a bit of fat if necessary)
1 can pink beans
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1qt bone broth (or 1 carton of chicken stock)
Spice Blend
3 TBSP Mild Chili Powder
2 TBSP Sweet Hungarian Paprika
1 TBSP Cumin
Salt to taste
Add Chulula Hot Sauce (to your own bowl if you’re sharing the meal with kiddos as we do)
****Don’t Skip This Step******
Place halved peppers faced down on a cast iron go under broiler until skin is blackened. Allow to cool, then peel and dice.
Meanwhile, sauté celery, garlic and onion til soft on a medium flame. We tend to use a large dutch oven since we keep adding ingredients and we create less dishes to do after.
Add can of tomatoes, roughly crushing each with your hand, and add juice too. Let simmer for 10 mins.
Meanwhile brown turkey separately on medium low heat. If you have a very lean turkey (not our preference), it will tend to dry out, so cook it slowly and add fat.
Add beans (drained) to pot, along with meat, spices and peppers. Mix well and cover pot, stirring occasionally.
Simmer for at least an hour, or simply continue cooking on low for hours until your meal is served. We enjoy it with sour cream and grated white cabot cheddar as well as crusty sourdough toasts (well-buttered). To drink is Doc’s Apple Cider, or a dry IPA.
It only gets better after a night or two in the fridge as all the flavors mingle and intensify. It freezes exceptionally well. Buon appetito!
Note: We have made this with ground beef, pork, or turkey with great results. We also have made a vegetarian version and it’s perfectly tasty.