Winter's Night Chilli

Days have been crazy recently. It takes me several days to put away the laundry and when I finally do I have another load to do! I have time to make breakfast, lunch and dinner for my girls and husband but I eat on the run myself and I am very rarely able to sit down to have breakfast, dinner, read something or watch unless it is after 10 pm.  I do not enjoy food eaten in a rush. We are all guilty of eating too fast and not celebrating the food. That is why sometimes I stop and try to really saveur the food that I cooked. And today's dinner was delicious and worth stopping everything for it! A heartwarming chilli with some quesadillas and a quick salad. Delicious!

When days are getting colder most of us crave comforting foods such as piping hot oatmeal, hearty soups, stews and steaming hot apple pies. A dish that I crave quite frequently in cold weather is chilli. I have never heard of it before coming to Canada. The first time I ate it, I remember nothing spectacular- it was a simple meat-bean-tomato stew with very little flavour. After becoming a little more adventurous in cooking I started to like this dish more and more until I finally cooked it in a way that I love. First of all I use turkey, a leaner and healthier meat. Then I add the Mexican chilli powder that has a gorgeous depth in its flavour. I add bacon, because bacon makes everything better. And for a special kick and something to make my chilli unique I add a tenderly spicy poblano pepper. Yum, yum and yum!

Turkey Chilli

3 pieces of bacon, chopped

1 onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

2 red peppers

1 poblano pepper

half a small can tomato paste

2 teaspoons Mexican chilli powder

1 teaspoon cumin

400 g ground turkey

salt and pepper

3/4 can large can chopped tomatoes or fire roasted

1 can red kidney beans

cilantro and cream to serve

Dice the bacon and fry it with the chopped onion. Add the garlic, peppers, can of tomato paste, chilli podwder and cumin. When all mixed together add the meat, salt, pepper and canned tomatoes. Cook until the meat is done and add the beans just at the end. Serve with bread or quesadillas and some fresh cilantro.

Of course cold weather requires a pie. And this pie is quite yummy. Tastes best served with ice cream.

Nigel Slater's Apple and Blackberry Pie

250 g of flour

75 g butter

75 g lard

salt

ice water

6 apples

3 handfuls of blackberries

4 tablespoons sugar

milk to brush

Mix in the chunks of butter and lard butter with flour and salt until crumbly. You can use your hands or a mixer. To bring this mixture to a rollable dough add some ice water litte by little. Roll into a ball and set aside in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Peel, core and slice the apples into thicker chunks. Mix with the sugar and blackberries.

Divide the dough into two. Roll out the pastry to cover the base of the apple pie dish. Place the fruit inside the dish and cover with the remaining pastry. Brush with milk and make about 3 slits in the pie to allow for the steam to escape. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden. Serve with ice cream.