Chicken Chili

Last night we were reminiscing about winters past and how we'd be holed-up in our old apartment on freezing, snowy Sundays, watching football and venturing out to walk to the store for "supplies" and maybe to clear the car of snow. Both of us having been brought up in some very snowy regions of New England, we certainly love the snow - so we'd always enjoy getting bundled up to head out and otherwise being "snow-bound" on those December and January weekends. For example, here is a picture of our old street in the South End of Boston from the evening of December 6th, 2003:



This weekend, January 6th, 2007? We played tennis at the park and sat out on the back deck in the sun wearing shorts and t-shirts. It was nearly 70-degrees on Saturday! We've had a TOTAL of .5" of snow so far this winter, and - on the Boston Common - the trees are sprouting flowers and the tulips are starting to come up. WHERE ARE YOU WINTER? WHERE ARE YOU SNOW? COME BACK TO US!!! (why do I think I'm going to regret asking that...?)

Regardless, it's still technically winter and playoff Patriots football is on, so we decided to do what we've done for years and make Chili. Chicken Chili, to be exact, but something a little different than our old White Bean and Chicken Chili. This Chicken Chili was going to be meatier - with two different "types" of chicken, breast chunks and ground chicken - and more traditionally "chili"...

We started some water boiling and cut up 1.6lbs of boneless/skinless chicken breast into big chunks before dropping them into the boiling water for ~10 minutes - until they were simply poached and cooked through - then just take them out and let them rest. At the same time, we started our dutch oven on medium-ish heat and browned 1lb of ground chicken.

As that was finishing and after drained, we seasoned with our collection of chili spices that we'd use throughout this recipe: Ground Cumin, Mexican Oregano, Chili Powder, (a little bit of) Cayenne Pepper, Smoked Paprika, and salt and black pepper. The Cumin, Mexican Oregano, and Smoked Paprika were all from the recent Christmas Gift of Penzey's Spices that we received from Stacey's Parents - greatest gift ever!

The now-seasoned ground chicken comes out, we gave the dutch oven a wipe and started some fresh oil and in went a couple of medium onions chopped to 1/2" pieces - to sweat it out for almost 10 minutes on low-ish heat. Then a green pepper and a red pepper - all chopped to 1/2" pieces - joined the party for another 10 minutes. Finally, we added a couple cloves minced garlic and let this all come together for 5 more minutes. We then seasoned with the same combination of spices that went on the ground chicken... and turned up the heat.



When the veggies were cooked down and getting very tender, we added about a cup of chicken stock and used our wooden spoon to rub off all of the cooked bits in the bottom of the pan - getting all those spices and flavor into the new liquid. Then we immediately added 2 32-ounce cans of diced tomatoes and 2 small cans of tomato sauce and got all of that up to temperature.

As that was heating up, we shredded that poached chicken breast with our fingers and add it piece-by-piece into the chili. Finally, the cooked-and-seasoned shredded chicken gets added back in. We decided we needed some more liquid, so we had an extra cup of chicken stock on hand, of which we added another 3/4. An initial taste and addition of seasoning and then it was set phasers to simmer and see-how-long-we-can-wait time!



After about 20 minutes, we were ready to add the final ingredient - beans. We knew we had about 20 minutes left total cooking time, so in went a 32 oz can cannelini beans and a 16oz can pinto beans.

After that final 20 minutes, we were back in tasting and re-seasoning... just a little more of that wonderful oregano and a little salt and it was tasting spicy and delicious. Scoop out a nice, chunky spoonful into a bowl with a dollop of sour cream and we were ready to eat.

With great smoky flavor from the paprika and cumin, spice from the cayenne and chili powder, and lots of meat from all the chicken, this Chicken Chili came out wonderfully spicy and really hit the spot on a Warm Winter's Day. The flavor was almost "buttery" from all the spices and the liquid... The leftovers will certainly be even better and a big ziplock bag of this Chicken Chili will end up in our freezer for when the REAL cold weather comes!