Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Chipotle Turkey Chili with Chipotle Cornbread

Hola mis amigos!  It’s almost Cinco de Mayo!  In honor of this south of the border holiday, I thought I would share this Chipotle Chili recipe with you.  There’s also a bonus quick and easy recipe for Chipotle Cornbread…just because I thought ya’ll might REALLY want to celebrate. J  I made the chili to use some leftovers from the turkey breast recipe I posted last week and it turned out fantastico!  Seriously, Tim (my husband) and I were blown away by the flavors in this simple and HEALTHY chili!

I find chili to be more of a method than an exact recipe.  So this time around, I’m going to post the directions first and the ingredient list (with my measurements) second.  Finally, I’ll post the directions for the quick and easy Chipotle Cornbread. 

Step 1

Dice some onion and chop some garlic and chipotle peppers in adobo.  At this point, I also cubed my turkey breast.  Feel free to use leftover beef or chicken instead if that’s what you have in your fridge.  If you don’t have any leftover meat sitting around that you want to use, ground turkey, chicken or beef would work just fine!

Step 2

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium high heat.  Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  When it’s hot, add your onions.  Cook them until softened (about 3-5 minutes) and then add the garlic and chipotle peppers.  Stir them together and let the mixture cook for another minute.  Then add the meat.  Since my meat was already cooked, I just stirred them together and let them heat while I went to the next step.  If using ground meat, you will want to brown it before proceeding.

Step 3

Drain and rinse a can of kidney beans and add those to the pot.  Then hand crush a can of stewed tomatoes (mine had onions, celery and green peppers in the can as well) and add those to the mixture.  Combine the ingredients.

Step 4

Add chili powder, some of the adobo sauce from the can, chicken (or beef if using beef) stock, oregano and...drumroll please…TEQUILA!  Yes, you read that correctly!  I tasted it after adding the other ingredients and thought it needed some depth.  I had no beer on hand, so I reached for the only Mexican alcohol I had which was tequila.  It made all the difference!  Just try it…I don’t think you will be disappointed!  Finally, add some salt to taste and let the chili simmer, covered, for at least 20 minutes.

Step 5

Serve with sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Ingredients

3 Cups turkey, cubed

1 Onion, diced

2 Cloves garlic, chopped

2 Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped

1 Tablespoon adobo sauce (from the can)

1-14 Ounce can stewed tomatoes

1-14 Ounce can kidney beans

2 Teaspoons chili powder

½ Teaspoon oregano

2 Cups chicken stock

2 Tablespoons tequila

Salt

Sour cream

Shredded cheddar cheese

Gastronome's Note:  Chili can be a rather personal thing.  If you like it to be more of a soup, add more stock.  If you like it thick, add less stock (I know, common sense...just felt I had to say it! :-)).  Add spices to your own taste.  Make it the way you like it!

Chipotle Cornbread

To use leftover chipotle peppers from the chili, I added them to some cornbread.  I just used a Jiffy corn muffin mix and made it to the package specifications.  To the batter, I added 2 chopped chipotle peppers, a handful of frozen corn kernels (for texture) and about a half cup of shredded cheddar cheese.  I then spread it in a square, greased baking dish and bake it according to the package directions!  It was perfect served along side the chili!

Confused Tom

Roasted Turkey Breast

Poor Tom Turkey was confused this past weekend.  With all the cold weather lately, who can really blame him?  But the poor bird arrived in our home this holiday weekend instead of Miss Piggy.  We didn’t want to embarrass the befuddled bird, so we smiled, thanked him for coming and made him instead.  Well…his breast really.  I’m sure the rest of him went to great use.  Ever have a smoked turkey leg?  We did at Christmas Candylane one year…YUM!  Yes, I’m sure the legs went to a great cause such as that!  But we only had the breast, so we roasted it and were wowed with the results!  What a happy outcome to the poor fowl’s confusion!  Here is what we did:

Ingredients:
5 ½ Pound turkey breast (if yours is larger, just increase the butter mixture a little)

3 Tablespoons butter, softened (I use unsalted)

7 – 10 Sprigs fresh thyme

2 Cloves garlic, minced

4 Tablespoons Dijon, divided

2 Tablespoons lemon juice, divided

1 Onion, quartered

3 Ribs celery, cut into large sticks

1 ½ Cups chicken stock

Salt and Pepper

Step 1

The first step is super easy - preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  See?  How easy was that?  It will get a little more involved now…but will still be easy!

Step 2

We need to prepare the butter mixture that will be spread under the skin.  Begin by putting the softened butter into a bowl.  Remove the thyme leaves from the stems and add them to the bowl.  Mince the garlic and add that too.  Finally, add 2 tablespoons of Dijon, 1 Tablespoon of lemon juice and a nice amount of salt and pepper.  Mix to combine.

Step 3

Now the skin of the breast needs to be separated from the flesh.  This is where my husband comes in because I have freakishly large hands!  He just works his hands between the skin and the flesh until there is a nice, large cavity over the breast meat.  Then spread the butter mixture on the breast meat, but under that skin.  This ensures flavorful meat!  If you just spread the mixture on top of the skin, the skin will taste delicious, but the meat will not be seasoned or flavored.

Step 4

Quarter the onion and chop the celery into large sticks.  Place the turkey into a roasting pan, breast meat up.  I used the onion quarters and celery to help keep it securely upright.  Then pour the broth, remaining Dijon (2 Tbsp.) and lemon juice (1 Tbsp.) into the pan, around the turkey.  Whisk them to combine, briefly.  Add a nice sprinkling of salt and pepper to the top of the skin.  Then place the bird in the oven.

Step 5

We roasted it for 1 ¼ hours.  Then, I turned the heat up to 350 degrees for 15 minutes, just get the skin a little more browned.  Make sure you check the meat temperature before you removed it from the oven.  I look for 160 degrees because it will get to the desired 165 while it’s resting, covered in foil, for 15 minutes.  I find if I roast it to 165 and then remove it, the turkey is dry.

Step 6

After the turkey has roasted, it’s time to carve!  Make the horizontal and vertical cuts on each side of the breast bone, to remove both breasts from the bird.  Then slice it against the grain.  I don’t know why, but it stays more juicy and tender when sliced against, instead of with, the grain.  Serve the turkey with some of the pan juices spooned on top of the meat.

Enjoy!

Gastronome's Note:  I have a nonstick roasting pan, so it cleaned easily.  If yours is not nonstick, you may want to line the roasting pan with aluminum foil for easier clean up.