let's see, do I remember how to cook?

ah, to be back from vacation.  to sleep in my own bed, and see my home neighborhood with slightly fresher eyes.  to cook for ourselves again!

While cruising on the Explorer of the Seas, I had three goals:  to relax, to read, and to eat great food.  The onboard chef made my last goal rather easy to achieve, but oh, it is so nice to be back to cooking for myself and eating simpler fare. 

Tonight I'm making chili so I can wait and let it simmer on the stove until eiocy gets home from hockey. My chili recipe changes every time I make it, of course, but I think I've settled into a pretty good process.  I may have shared my chili recipe here before, but trust me, this one's different in some way, some how.  So I'm going to share it again.

While I was cooking I was reminded of something I said once about midway through my first year in New Mexico.  We were traveling to Albuquerque, on our way to the airport for our holiday visits home I believe.  My mentor picked us up and offered to take us to dinner.  Where would we like to go?  "As long as it's not on a tortilla!" I responded.  We ended up going to a yummy Vietnamese place.  Looking back, I can't believe I was ever sick of tortilla.  I use tortillas in my meals at least twice a week now, even though I haven't made my own by hand in a while.  It's not like I was eating them everyday in New Mexico, prolly just as often as I am now.  Call me a tortilla convert. 

Anyway.  Tonight's chili recipe
0.5 lb ground turkey
2 small onions, chopped
1 tbspn flour
2 tbspn chili powder
12 oz bottle of beer (Stoudt's Scarlet Lady). 
15 oz can fired roasted diced tomatoes with green chilies
garlic
oregano
cumin
chipotle chili in adobo
1 can kidney beans, drained

Heat some cooking oil in a dutch oven. Brown the ground turkey, then add the onions and saute until golden.  Add a little more cooking oil, then the flour and chili powder.  Stir to coat flour and chili powder with oil, and distribute through the turkey and onions.  Add beer and whisk up the brown fond that should have formed by now on the bottom of the dutch oven.  Add tomatoes with their juice, then garlic, oregano, cumin, and chopped chipotle chili.  Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer.  Add kidney beans.  Simmer uncovered on low until sauce thickens to your liking.