Turkey & Potato Chili Verde

Ahh, I love the change in seasons! I love the cold, I love gray skies, I love hearing the wind whistle through the trees and I love the possibility of snow!! I am sure many will disagree, but I LOVE it when weather shuts down the hustle of the outside world! My heart flutters a bit faster just recalling those days the kids and I bundle up, drink warm marshmallowy things and watch holiday movies all day long. 

Well, I love it for about two days and then I am throwing them out to play when a “heat wave” of 21° hits. ((You know what I mean – I am sure!))

We have a perfect sledding spot in our neighborhood and I am not telling where it is! But come a snowy, frigid, crisp day you won’t have any trouble figuring it out.  Neighborhood kids know the perfect joy that awaits, just a few turns past that certain cul-de-sac… they show up in droves ((most of those neighborhood kids have the same last name – but that is another story for another time)).

This dramatic shift in weather, from what seemed like an eternal summer, makes me anticipate the greatness of the approaching season. So, I am excitedly preparing meals in hopes of extreme cold on the horizon.

But really, it is 27° outside – I don’t have to anticipate much today! The cold season is here, my toes are cold and I LOVE IT.

I had the perfect idea for a meal worthy of cold weather, my pantry was stocked with the necessary staples & it was a hit.

A few nights ago, I anticipated the weather to come and browned 2 pounds of ground turkey, allowed it to cool and refrigerated it. The next day, I diced up one large sweet onion and 10 or so medium Yukon Gold potatoes. 

It a large dutch oven, I sautéed the onion, added the diced potatoes along with the pre-browned ground turkey. **UPDATE** After making this recipe over a dozen times, I have modified the recipe to better fir my tastes. I will re-write this entire blog post one day, but in the mean time, I have found adding the precooked protein ((whether shredded or ground turkey or chicken)) at the end and heating it through on the stove top yields a much better texture.

The next few things happened in rapid succession: I added a large jar of salsa verde, a can of chopped green chilies, two cans of cannellini beans ((One more change: I only use dried beans now – between 1 & 2 pounds of dried navy beans depending on the quantity I am looking to make)), a heap of mild Hatch green chili powder, a smaller heap of cumin, and about 32 oz of chicken broth. I happened to have 2-3 T of heavy whipping cream leftover from my latest buttercream-palooza so I added that as well. A seasoned it lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

I gave it three good stirs and I covered my lovely dutch oven and sent it off to cook low and slow in dutch oven heaven ((my oven)).

5½ hours later my house smelled of spicy, savory, wonderful, warm goodness. The outside was dark and blustery but inside we were cozy and our tums were anticipating tasty comfort.

I love “no-peek” cooking – but if I had to tell you why, I might not be able to explain it well enough to convince you. Trust me when I say: something magical happens in “no-peek’ cooking. Broths thicken and rich, deep flavors are more completely developed. Yes, slow-cookers are wonderful – and perform perfectly most of the time. But for stews, hearty ((pasta-less)) soups & meaty pasta sauces — a “no-peek” dutch oven method is they way to go.

What is “no-peek”? It is the simplest method of cooking EVER. Simply combine everything in a dutch oven. Depending on the recipe, either bring the ingredients to a low boil prior to placing the dutch oven in the oven on a low temp ((usually between 250° and 300°)) – or just stick the dutch oven directly in the oven without preheating.

Now for difficult part: do not open the oven for 5 hours, do not uncover the lid — that’s right, do not peek.

When dinner time comes around, pull it out of the oven, uncover, stir and serve. BOOM. It’s a dinner miracle.