White Bean Chili

We got a little cool snap this weekend that will be stretching into this week so I decided I would crank out one more pot of white chili before the soup season closes. In my mind soup is not a summer food, which is why it drives me up the wall that  the local chowder cook off is in the middle of summer. Who wants to eat chowder in 90 degree weather? Not me but then I just don’t want to even exist in 90 degree weather.

Some notes on this recipe before we get to it. This is chili not rocket science. Unless you do something really, really bad you cannot mess this up. I have never followed a recipe exactly for this, and i don't expect you to follow this exactly, so I will just give you a good frame work to work off of. I always add way more spices than what is listed here, I call it adjusting for taste. Just remember you can always add more but it is difficult to remove what you have added.  

One final thing, I usually make some cornbread to go with this recipe. Nothing like chili and some cornbread made from scratch but I tried something different this time. We were over by a very good local bakery, that makes an olive bread to die for, so we decided to pop in and pick up a good loaf of bread. Instead of the olive bread we got a cheddar cheese loaf, which kicked off the idea of white chili. The bread was amazing and went with the chili very well. I am surprised that the bread survived the night but I guarantee that it will not survive tonight. ; )

Ingredients:

Olive Oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 shallot, chopped (optional, I just had one laying around)

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cubed

4-10 cloves of garlic, pressed (in your Zyliss garlic press)

 1 fresh pepper (cayenne, Anaheim, jalapeno) chopped (optional depending on tolerance for heat)

30 oz of chicken broth

1 can chopped green chilies

1 ½ Tbl. Cumin (roasted)

2 tsp oregano

1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper (I used a dash of African cayenne)

1 tsp crushed red pepper

White pepper to taste

2 cans of white beans, undrained (Navy, great northern, cannellini, etc. mix them if you want)

Toppings:

Shredded cheese, Monterey jack works well but anything will do

Fresh Cilantro (optional if you think cilantro tastes like soap)

Wedge of cornbread or artisanal bread

1.      

1. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and sauté onions (and shallot) until tender, remove from pan.

2. In the same pan cook the chicken until done. Drain the excess fat off of the chicken.

3. Add onions and chicken to a large stock pot.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients to the stock pot and heat almost to a boil then reduce heat and simmer.

5. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes, then serve.

6. After you put the chili in a bowl sprinkle with the shredded cheese and cilantro.

As an alternative you can cook it in a crock pot on a high heat for 3 - 4 hours. That is what I did and it turned out very well. Just remember to stir it before you serve it because your seasonings will settle on the bottom of the pot and who ever gets the last bowl is in for a kick.

Serve with your favorite beer, I think I had a Flying Dog