I’ve shared before that we as a family used to run an equestrian boarding barn and event facility in Northwest Montana (Flathead Valley between Kalispell and Columbia Falls).
We truly loved living in the Flathead; those years flew by in a blur with our kids being of high school age and me still working 70+ hours per week in another business. (And while that corner of the state is not necessarily known as Montana’s fly fishing mecca, there was a pile of fishing and other nifty outdoor stuff to do.)
We entertained a flock of different groups from the equestrian world, from high-brow English riders to the most authentic Western horsemen crowd. On event days we’d serve a hot lunch and often a big sit down dinner in Ed’s barn. Most of the horsefolk were an absolute pleasure to cook for and serve…most of them.
There was this one group of women, dressage riders to be precise, who brought in a Canadian Olympian to teach in a long weekend clinic our first fall. They were the snootiest, most complaining, most uppity and frankly the most downright bitchy of any group we ever hosted.
Getting a menu planned and budgeted for them took more effort than the latest state dinner at the Whitehouse. They scoffed at our trademark hardwood smoked barbecue, refused SWMBO’s boeuf bourguignon and hemmed and hawed endlessly over a damned nifty array of soups and stews.
They finally decided they wanted a chili feast, though it couldn’t be made with beef, pork or any wild game.
We scratched our heads and finally, with friend Ed’s help, dug up this recipe for a turkey based chili – make sure your ground turkey is at least 1/3 dark meat and it will hold its tooth and texture better. It took a bit of fine tuning and we almost alway up the spices when we’re cooking it at home as the original recipe here was toned down a bit. It’s damned tasty and lighter (and much less fatty) than a traditional beef based chili.
Ed even christened it with a name that’s stuck over time – Barn Bitch Turkey Chili.
1 large red bell pepper, seeded, small dice
1 large green bell pepper, seeded, small dice
1 large onion, small dice
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup good commercial chili powder
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
1 can spicy diced tomatoes (we’re partial to Rotel)
1-2 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Tabasco or Cholula sauce to taste
Masa or flour (1-2 tbsp.) to thicken as needed
Sauté and brown. Heat the oil in your trusty chili pot; add the onion and peppers, sauté until soft. Add the ground turkey and cook, stirring, until brown. Drain off any fat.
Make it chili. Add all of the dry spices, the tomato sauce, tomatoes, brown sugar, 1 cup broth and hot sauce. Simmer over medium heat for a couple of hours, stir occasionally. Add the remaining broth if needed.
Thicken. Add the masa or flour if needed (or desired) to thicken; cook another 40-45 minutes.
Serve it up. We’d never be so presumptuous as to tell you how to eat your chili; this will stand up as well as any chili you’ve ever made – do with it what you will. We’re having it over fritos with freshly grated cheese and chopped onion tonight. Pass the breath mints dear.
Enjoy.
