If you came to read about the Niner's game then.. you need to click away NOW!  I'm simply the family provider of nourishment on game day.  We are SO the "keep it simple" folk.  So today was my favorite, Turkey Eggplant chili and before you say YUCK please take a minute and read this.

chili with cheese and onions

Late Fall Japanese Eggplant
I had several small late Japanese eggplant that I didn't want to waste.  Even though it's a beautiful (if not downright bizarre) 74+ degree November day there is something about serving chili on football Sunday.  I guess I could have slathered the eggplant with olive oil and grilled them but... it's the game chili thing I had to go for.

So, I simply combined all those wonderful oblong fruits with a few refrigerator ingredients and some fresh ground turkey from Lunardi's (local grocery store) and made this nice chili.

japanese eggplant from my garden

Secret Ingredient
Every time I make this chili I try adding something "different".  I've tried white wine (that was nice), red wine (not my favorite) but today I threw in a splash of Canadian Club whiskey.   There was no overt alcohol flavor (something I'd not be fond of in chili) but it added just a little "something".  I'd do this again.

Little Extras
What do you put on your chili?   In our family it is chopped yellow onion,  chipotle or traditional Tabasco sauce and shredded sharp cheddar cheese.  When I was a kid my mom made something she called "chili size" I have no idea why it was called that.  But she'd cut a slice of French bread,  pour a ladle-full of chili on top then add fresh chopped onion and shredded cheddar.  It was filling and great; a family favorite.

Click here for the Turkey Eggplant Chili recipe...

And in the spirit of simplicity I made some fresh cornbread.

My Cornbread
I'd love to tell you it came out perfect but it didn't.  I think sharing food experiences should always include the less-than-successes and in fact I think they may be better culinary lessons.  In this case, I like my cornbread to have a slightly-sweet flavor but not enough to distract from the corn flavor.  I succeeded on that front but the texture.. just not the right texture.  I think I over-mixed the ingredients.  My texture ended up a bit "cake-like" for me.  Too smooth.  I want my cornbread to have a little 'grit', a little texture; it was just too smooth.  But.. it tasted good. 

cornbread slathered with butter and local wildflower honey

I have to say the last really good cornbread I made was this recipe for a chile buttermilk cornbread.. that was heavenly!  OK so still no gritty texture but making cornbread with buttermilk provides a just to-die-for flavor.

And The Game
Well even though dinner is over (and no complaints) the game is still going on.  The 49'ers seem to be having an 'up and down' season so far. This is all I can say given I'm pretty clueless about sports.  What I like about sports is that it provides me with an incentive to pull out some simple favorite recipes to share with my family.