Green Chilli Turkey

Well, I'm back, but pretty busy with work, music, and other writing. There's a few changes coming up at the Canberra Times that I need to work on, and my singing teacher's got a studio concert on Friday. I haven't even got my Cairns report started yet. I'll do it on the weekend, honest, guv.

Meanwhile, we've been eating some good old sausage and mash, and this green chilli turkey. I got the recipe from a Frugal Gourmet book that I bought in the US, way back in 1990 or so. The hardest thing about it is actually finding a turkey hindquarter. Supermarkets seem not to stock them anymore, in favour of either those "marinated" boneless turkey thigh roasts, or turkey thigh chops or mince. I used a frozen "self-basting" one, that I found in a poultry place at Belco markets. Fresh ones require pre-ordering from specialist poultry shops, it seems. Anyway, it didn't taste noticeably chemical after its treatment, so that was OK, but I wouldn't like to try it with the marinated roasts.

This is another American "BBQ" recipe along the lines of the Carolina Pulled Pork - a very slow cooked meat, shredded. We had it one night with coleslaw and bread rolls, and another night with rice and broccoli. I'm not 100% happy with it - it's very tasty, but it looks quite unappetising, what with the greyish brownish greenish colour and the shreds. I might try the red chilli version sometime. And perhaps add tomatoes. Red always looks better, unless it's a traffic light.

Recipe: Green Chilli Turkey
8 long green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp oregano
1 scant tsp salt
300ml water
300ml chicken stock
1 turkey hindquarter
a dash of vegetable oil
Place everything except turkey, stock and oil in a blender and liquidise thoroughly. Skin the turkey and scrape off any obvious large bits of fat. Lightly brown the turkey in the oil.
Transfer to a pot for slow cooking. Pour over the stock and the green chilli liquid, and slow cook covered, on high for four hours.

Let cool, then shred the turkey meat - it will fall off the bone, and pull apart easily in your hands. Strain the liquid to make sure there's no bones left in it, then mix it back in with the turkey meat. Chill and defat it, if you want to, and just reheat when you want to eat it. The stock will gel.

Notes:Obviously, use more or less chilli to taste. I used the big long green ones, which are quite mild, and wish I'd used more. Also, you could slow cook on low for longer, it's pretty forgiving. Use a big heavy covered casserole in a 140C oven if you don't have a slow cooker. Then you could do the browning in the same pot, and save washing a frying pan.