Chicken and White Bean Chili

Chili is in the air!  It’s falling from the sky and warming not jsut the house.  It seems to be the chili week at the Whiskey house.  We had chili this past Saturday, chili last night, we’ll have chili on Friday and more chili on Saturday at a friend’s house.  Thank goodness there are a million chili recipes out there!

Chili is a warm memory for me.  Until The Husband and I married, I’d only had 2 chili’s in my life. My mom’s chili, which is still the ultimate in comfort food and my grandma’s chili… which was canned chili with a few ingredients tossed in for good measure.  Grandma’s specialty was not soup of any kind. Mom’s chili remains part of The Husband’s and my normal rotation, tradition insisting the first pot be made on the first day of Fall and another on Halloween then several more throughout the cold, cold winter.

As I was organizing the site the other day, I almost gasped at the fact that I only had 2 chili recipes!  Here’s a great recipe from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa, with a few tweeks, to kick off chili madness week.

Chicken Chili
Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa

1 medium onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 c olive oil
1 poblano pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 green or yellow pepper, chopped
1 T chili powder
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t coriander
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, in juice
3 1/2 c chicken stock
4 chicken breasts
1 can white kidney beans

To Serve:
Shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
Tortilla Chips
Sliced Scallions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Use either bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or boneless, skinless (as I always use).   Lightly coat chicken on both sides with a little olive oil, salt and pepper.  Bake for about 20 minutes, until cooked through.  Remove from oven and cool slightly.

Meanwhile, in a stockpot, heat olive oil over medium high heat.  Cook onions, garlic, poblano pepper and bell peppers for about 5 minutes, until tender.  Season with chili powder, cumin, coriander and salt and pepper.  Stir in tomatoes and chicken stock.  Bring to a slight boil.

Using an immersion blender (if you don’t have one… seriously, you should. This is a great one.) or transfer, in batches to a food processor or blender, blend the tomato mixture until smooth.  If using food processor or blender, return to pan.  Stir in beans.

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and stir into soup.  Warm through.  Taste the chili to make sure the seasonings are good, adding more chili or cumin if needed.

Serve with shredded Monterrey Jack cheese, sliced scallions and tortilla chips.