This is kind of a boring post, but Alex and I made the best chili ever the other night and I wanted to remember what I did so we can reproduce it.

I got the idea of turkey chili with squash because Alex said he saw it in some Vancouver lifestyle magazine, and slowly became obsessed with the idea of a nice tomatillo-based chili with big hunks of squash and white beans. Every recipe online called for tomatoes, but I was convinced tomatillos were the way to go (after our great success with the Green Turkey Chili recipe card from Whole Foods last year), so we kind of improvised. This was definitely one of my better made-up recipes; chili’s hard to screw up. The creaminess of the cooked squash contrasts with the more mealy bean texture, and the corn adds a different texture and sweetness. The turkey made it heartier, but there’s enough going on that I bet one could make this vegetarian (vegan, really) without missing anything.

Also, the leftovers were pretty good wrapped in a tortilla, burrito-style, with chopped avocado, grated cheddar, more green onion, and sour cream.

I was too lazy to take a picture of it, but the squash made it all sunny yellow.

“Recipe” below:

Ingredients:

1 small onion 1 lb-ish ground turkey (we used thighs, because they are cheaper and more flavourful, but whatever you like will work fine) 3 cloves minced garlic chili powder a couple of canned chipotle peppers cumin oregano ground coriander seed a decent amount of frozen corn (maybe 3/4 of a cup?) 1 small-ish butternut squash 1 huge can tomatillos 1 can white kidney beans water sour cream and green onions to top

  • Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Rub with a bit of oil and put face down on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, so it’s softened and a bit easier to cut up and peel. Then, cut up and peel. If you are really good at cutting and peeling, you can skip the par-baking step, but I am not so confident.
  • In a big pot, saute up onions and turkey with a bit of olive oil. Even ground turkey thighs are pretty lean, they need a little fat to get them going.
  • When the onions are translucent and the meat is brown, add your minced garlic.
  • Add spices. Throw in some dried oregano, a bunch of coriander, a bit of chili powder, a small-ish pinch of cumin, the barest pinch of cinnamon (a couple of quick sprinkles), a couple of vaguely chopped canned chipotles and a pinch of cayenne if you like things really spicy.
  • Add some frozen corn. I think I used about 3/4 of a cup, but I didn’t measure, I just said “Hey Alex, do you think that’s enough corn?” and then he was like “I dunno, maybe some more,” so I put in more.
  • Add the tomatillos in their liquid. You can just add them whole, they totally break up when you let them cook/poke them with a spatula.
  • This all simmered for a bit, but this probably wasn’t necessary because Alex was doing the difficult job of chopping up the partly-cooked squash. Add drained and rinsed white kidney beans and squash.
  • Add water to cover. (If I’d had chicken stock or something I probably would have used that. Beer might also work; I’ve put dark beer in beefy tomato chili before and it’s always tasted good.)
  • Bring to a boil. Simmer until excess liquid’s reduced away and the squash is cooked. I put in too much water and left it on high heat with a rolling boil, but if you’re a bit more sparing with the liquid, the bottom probably won’t burn.
  • Serve with a dollop of sour cream and some little green onion slices. Other options: cheese, avocado, cilantro.