Comfort Food

In honor of Fall and due to the fact that I have no cycle news to report, I thought I'd share one of our favorite cool weather recipes -

White Chili.

This is a recipe that I made up based on some chili that I had at a restaurant and fell in love with. Growing up in Texas, I was raised on traditional red chili. Needless to say, I make a pretty mean chili if I do say so. I even won first place in a chili cook-off once!

I know there is supposedly a big divide over whether or not "true" chili contains beans (actually, it doesn't), but ever since my days as a poor starving college student when I had to stretch every ingredient to its fullest potential, I've been adding beans to my recipes.

To chili snobs everywhere, I say: WHATEVER! My chili tastes good! The Professor goes back for seconds and that is a rare occurrence indeed. Anyhoo, on to the instructions:

2 chicken breasts
1 medium white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6C chicken or vegetable broth
1 16oz can white beans, drained & rinsed (I use cannellini)
1 small can chopped green chiles
1 7oz can Herdez salsa verde (or 3/4C green salsa)
1t cumin
1t dried oregano
1/2t chili powder
1T masa (or regular flour, but masa is better)
salt to taste

You will want to use a large soup pot. I don't use any oil, because I am cooking in cast iron, but you can if you like.

1.  Sear the chicken breasts over high heat until they begin to brown, then reduce heat to medium and chop or shred the chicken as it finishes cooking.

2.  When the chicken is almost cooked through, add the chopped onion & garlic and cook until soft.

3.  Stir in the cumin, oregano & chili powder. I like to deglaze the pan at this point with a splash of bourbon or white wine.

4.  Add the broth, beans, green chiles & salsa verde and stir. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.

5.  Place the 1T masa or flour in a small bowl and stir in small amounts of hot water until it reaches the consistency of heavy cream. Add this mixture to the simmering chili, stirring constantly. Simmer for another 10-15 minutes. If the chili is not thick enough, repeat with another tablespoon of masa/flour.

This makes four servings. We serve with cornbread. If you are making cornbread from scratch, you can also substitute masa for the regular flour in the cornbread recipe - it makes it that much better!

As far as where to buy masa if you don't live somewhere they sell it in the grocery store, you can get it on Amazon (this is even the brand I use, though I got mine at the store).