Favourite Recipe Friday - Chilli Con Turkey

I mentioned this in a recent blog post and I just had to share it again in case anyone has any left over turkey still hidden in the freezer or in case you spot any on offer.

Turkey goes a long way, especially if there is only a few of you! You can make a roast dinner, pie, have it in sandwiches and then this frankly splendiferous and most yummy of dishes.

From the culinary talents of Jamie Oliver this is one of the brightest and tastiest meals ever and was loved by my three year old and 11 month old too.

 Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 leek, trimmed and roughly chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 1 fresh green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• a bunch of fresh coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves picked
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
• optional: 1 heaped teaspoon runny honey
• optional: 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 600g leftover turkey, shredded
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 x 400g tin butter beans or chickpeas, drained ( I use butter beans as personally prefer them)
• juice of 2 limes
soured cream, to serve

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Heat a few lugs of olive oil in a large casserole-type pan on a medium heat. Add the onions, carrot, leek, peppers and chillies, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. Add the coriander stalks, cumin and paprika, and cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently until soft and delicious. Sometimes I like to add some honey and white wine vinegar at this point and let it cook for a couple of minutes. I find this adds a wonderful sheen and enhances the natural sweetness of the vegetables. 

While that’s happening, shred the turkey meat off your carcass and roughly chop it. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper to the pan of vegetables, then add the turkey and take the pan off the heat. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas or butter beans and stir everything together. Pop it in the hot oven to blip away for 2 hours. Check on it after an hour, and add a splash of water if it looks a bit dry.

Take the chilli out of the oven and scrape all the gnarly bits from the edge of the pan back into the chilli for added flavour. Squeeze in some lime juice, and stir through most of the coriander leaves. Have a taste to check the seasoning then serve with steamed basmati rice or tortillas, and a good dollop of sour cream and guacamole on top. Scatter over your remaining coriander leaves and some finely sliced fresh chilli if you fancy then get everyone to tuck in. 

I love this recipe because you can use whatever you have in the fridge/cupboard really and flavour it however you want. The colours are amazing with all of the fresh vegetables, we had this for three days running and it never got boring. 

The fact that my children like it just goes to show how nice it really is and that it doesn't have to be too spicy.