There was, I must admit, a bit of a shock and disbelief for us after the Patriots lost to the Jets in the NFL playoffs this year. We’re big football fans here, and both remember when the Patriots weren’t reviled around the country for being a dominant team.

No, no. Not reviled in the least. In fact, they were generally scoffed at as the perpetual joke of the league, yet that didn’t keep both JR and I from loving our hometown team.

During the 80′s, including the 1985-1986 football season, JR and his brother held season’s tickets for games in the old, grungy Sullivan Stadium, so they sure as heck weren’t going to miss out on their opportunity to head to New Orleans for the Superbowl contest with the Bears. (For the record, I was busy crafting alternate lyrics for the Superbowl Shuffle, in order to teach and then lead my Attleboro High School Junior Class Powderpuff squad in a very mid-1980′s dance-off pep rally rendition. Go ahead. Let your imagination run wild.)

On any occasion during which the Superbowl is mentioned – in its generic form, it does not need to be the 1986 Superbowl – JR leans back, takes a deep breath, looks directly into my expectant eyes (for I know what is coming) and says, “Ahhhh, yes. The Superbowl. That reminds me of the time my plane was hijacked.”

Pausing, he looks deeper into my widened eyes, my fear – of hearing the story again – unmistakable.

“Have I ever told you about the hijacking?”

(Also for the record, he does not usually repeat the story, he simply likes to fill me with dread that the story could possibly be recounted once more.)

If you are able, please flash back to 1986. A time of Madonna in fishnet shirts and five hundred rubber bracelets up each arm. A time of Purple Rain, and bad supergroups, and actual music on MTV (clearly my focus is very high school-centric here). The Berlin Wall still stood, Ronnie Reagan was only 75 years old (ahhh, youth.), however, there had been a spate of hijackings around the globe during 1985, and as such, when one drunken, belligerent football fan on a New Orleans to Boston flight yelled, “I’ve got a bomb!” after being chastised by the flight crew, well, you can pretty much play out the movie of what happens next in your head, right? And, please, be sure that every man on that plane is wearing a wide-collared Patriots logo golf shirt in your film, okay? It’s important that we get the period costumes right in this rough-and-tumble faux hijacking film of ours.

JR has sour memories of New Orleans as a result, and he and his brother let the season’s tickets slide after that Superbowl run. It sounds like a sad tale, but, on the upside, he won’t have to wait 16 hours on the tarmac after the game is over this, or any year.

As chili seems to be the Official Dish of the NFL – or perhaps just the Official Dish of the Big Game, I thought I’d share this turkey-squash chili with which I am currently quite enamored. Please feel free to use dry beans if you have them (Over the last two years, it appears that I’ve become quite particular about my dried beans, and, therefore, I’d like to warn you that I’m trying to determine how to become the Brockton Bean supplier for my area; they’d work well in this or any chili, so if there’s another variety of bean that you love more than is probably acceptable to tell your friends about, it’s worth throwing into the turkey-squash chili pot in place of the canned beans that are called for.).

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Turkey-Squash Chili

Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion
• 1 pound ground turkey (we use dark meat, feel free to use white meat)
• (2) 15-ounce adobo-seasoned diced tomatoes (such as Muir Glen - see note below if you aren't able to find the adobo-seasoned variety)
• (1) 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• (1) 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups puréed butternut squash, or one 15 oz can pumpkin purée (no spices added - be sure it's plain pumpkin)

Instructions

1. Note Number One: If you're unable to find those adobo-seasoned tomatoes, use regular diced tomatoes, and add chiles in adobo, in small amounts, until you've reached your desired heat level. Be careful, though, if you do use the chiles in adobo - unless you are a spicy-heat freak, you definitely don't need to use the whole can (I've heard more than one tale of mistakenly using the entire can, and so felt it wise to make mention).
2. Note Number Two: We tend to have pureed squash or pumpkin in the house (in the freezer) throughout the winter, so it's still a convenience food for us, however, if you don't stash squash puree in your freezer, a can of pumpkin will do. For tips on how to process winter squash, head on over here (the post is about sugar pumpkin, though the whole boiling and pureeing applies to butternut and other winter squash varieties as well).
3. Heat the oil in a medium soup or stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until it's softened and translucent, 3 to 5 minutes.
4. Add the ground turkey, and cook it until it is lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes, beans, and squash, stir well to combine, and simmer gently for 20 minutes before serving it forth with a dollop of sour cream (and chopped green onion and/or chopped cilantro).

3.0

http://www.tinyfarmhouse.com/2011/02/turkey-squash-chili/

Estimated cost for a batch of chili: $14.85. The olive oil costs 36-cents. The onion should cost no more than 75-cents. The turkey costs $4.99 per pound, and, as you can see in that there photo of the ingredients, my latest pack o’ turkey cost $5.24. The tomatoes cost $2.39 each, and the beans cost $1.09 each. The squash was grown in our garden, so for us, it’s free, but for purchasing this time of year, it’s 79-cents per pound, and a 2-pound butternut squash will yield around 2 cups once processed, so that’s $1.59, and sans garnish, we’ve got $2.48-per bowl chili. Super, indeed.