A Squirrel in Babylon: The Squirrel Can Cook

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Squirrel Can Cook – White Chili

I recently noticed that I’ve got multiple bags of dried beans in the pantry, so I’ve been trying to find recipes that make use of them. A few weeks ago, I used some of them when I treated you to the Squirrel’s Cajun pork and beans. This week, I’ll use up some more as we make a savory batch of white chili. White chili is, in many ways, “Italian chili.” I do not know if the origin of the dish is actually Italian or not, but it definitely has an Italian flair.

Our ingredients are:

3 cups of dried white beans, cooked and drained
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 large white onion, chopped
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of Basiks Italian Table Blend
1 “box” of low-sodium chicken broth

First, the beans – Measure out 3 cups of dried beans, sort through them, picking out in any rocks or stones, and rinse them well. Put the beans in a large bowl with 6 cups of water, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. (I usually do this the night before.)

Drain the beans and put them in a stockpot. Fill the stock pot with water to a level about 2 inches above the top of the beans, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 1 hour. Drain well.

Next, the chicken – Put the chicken breasts in your pressure cooker with 1 cup of water. Seal, bring to pressure, and cook for 8 minutes. Let the pressure cooker cool and return to normal pressure on its own. Remove the chicken breasts and shred.

Place two or 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of your stock pot over medium-low heat, and sauté the onions until translucent, add the minced garlic and sauté for another minute.

Then deglaze the pan with the chicken stock, making sure to get all the bits of onion and garlic unstuck from the bottom of the pan. (Burned bits made for bad chili.) Now add the chicken & spices. Add enough water to cover the contents to a depth of 1 inch. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.