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Chicken Chili
Ingredients:
Onion, diced
Carrot, julienne
Celery, diced
Garlic, minced
Red bell pepper, diced
Rotisserie chicken, shredded
White beans, canned or previously cooked
Flour
Chicken Stock
Heavy Whipping Cream
Spices
Directions:
Sauté onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and bell pepper in heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat until quite tender. Add spoonful of flour until to lightly coat the veggies. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken stock in until mixture looks "soupy." Add in a hefty splash of heavy whipping cream. Add in white beans and shredded chicken. Allow to come to boil. Season to taste. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce (if so desired).
Chef's Notes
This is a fairly straight forward recipe. To be fair, it's hard to fuck mess up chili. That being said, we've all fucked messed it up a time or two (or five).
All of that notwithstanding, here's what I did a little differently than the recipe. I like red bell pepper for the color consistency with the orange carrot, because food that all looks the same is kind of meh, but I didn't have any red bell pepper -- only yellow. As you know, I use what I have (no food waste here, Chef), so yellow bell pepper it was.
I buy my rotisserie chickens at Costco or BJs, because they are cheaper, but if you want to roast your own: feel free to do you. I'm just not going to do that when I can grab one for $4.99 and shred it neatly. Some people use their KitchenAid stand mixers to shred it. I don't. I slap on a pair of food service gloves and I grab 3 bowls: dark meat, white meat, bones. The dark meat gets shredded into fine pieces. The white meat gets left as whole as I can. The bones ... well, I don't worry about getting every last morsel off of them. The bones I use to make the chicken stock I throw into everything.
I used dried navy beans in my chili, because that's what I had. I don't do that overnight soak nonsense because it's not 1825. I have an InstantPot. Technically, I have 2 because I have a huge family and sometimes you need 2 InstantPots, a Crock-Pot, a dedicated rice cooker, AND an air-fryer.
We LiStEn AnD wE dOn'T jUdGe. Actually, judge away. I already have one full-time job; I'm not making cooking a second one.
So, beans into the InstantPot. Cover with about 2" water. There should be a bean setting. When it's done, release the pressure, dump and rinse, back into the pot, 2" of water, another round of cooking, then viola! Your beans are ready for whatever you're ACTUALLY doing with them. If you want to use canned beans, you can. Just rinse them well. It'll taste just about the same. I don't buy canned beans because 1 can of beans (price) equals 1 bag of beans (price), but 1 bag of beans (quantity) equals 4-5 cans of beans (quantity). If you are going with dry beans, do NOT add salt to the cooking water. This is a terrible idea and results in the. worst. beans. ever. Just fresh water, rinsing in between cooking. I can usually make enough beans in the InstantPot for that night's dinner in an hour's time. Also, you know you can do other things, while the beans cook. Like set up your mise en place.
Mise en place - a French, culinary term describing the process of having everything diced, chopped, sliced, measured, lined up, etc. and ready to go. This saves you SO MUCH time. Imagine you've got your own cooking show. Line up your ingredients in little bowls and stuff. More dishes? Sure. Easier cooking experience? Yes. Can you just rinse out the dishes that didn't have proteins in them? I do. Go see the part about listening and not judging.
Why the rinsing in between and the fresh water for the second round of the bean cooking? Because that renders your beans with less raffinose and stachyose (i.e. the sugars that cause gas within the human intestinal tract). Do you need a slightly less scientific explanation? Rinsing beans and then cooking with fresh water means you will be able to eat more beans without killing your family with your methane production.
Lastly, I believe that one's relationship with spice is both personal and private. Thus, my chili won't knock your socks off. A) I'm feeding children and children often have less refined palates. B) I'm feeding people with gastrointestinal issues that don't tolerate spice well. Those who love spice are familiar with the location of the cayenne, the chili pepper, the red pepper flakes, the Tabasco, the Franks, the Cholula, and the Tapatio. They also know where the specialty hot sauces - like Fat Cat brand reside in the refrigerator.
Reminder: I don't get paid if you click that link (or any links you see on this site), so click or don't - it's all the same to me.
Arepas: Our Comfort Food
Chili can be served with about a gazillion things - honestly. Tortilla chips? Sure. Quesadillas? Yup. Cornbread? Hell-to-the-yes. Arepas? //record scratch// WHAT?!?
I won't dishonor the humble arepa by attempting to make poor comparisons of it to similar foods. You can learn more about arepas here. YES, I know that arepas are common to LOTS of cultures. I picked one at random; you can pick another.
Ingredients:
1 cup masa harina
1 1/4 cup very. very. warm. water. (if you can stand to have your fingers in it, it's not warm enough) You may also need a bit more, tsp by tsp.
1 tsp of salt
Olive oil (I prefer the blends from The Olive Pantry or The Annointed Olive)
Directions:
Measure your masa harina into a bowl, and add your salt. Mix lightly with a finger or a fork. Add in the water and mix gently with a fork. If the dough seems overly dry, add in additional water spoonful by spoonful. Let the dough sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, you should be able to shape the dough with your hands. I like to either a) wear food service gloves or b) put a bit of oil onto my palms to help with the dough sticking to my skin. Roll the doll within the bowl, making sure that it's a singular consistency. Think Play-Doh. This is what we are going for. Pinch off a golf ball-sized amount and roll into a ball. Continue this process until your large bowl of dough is a bowl of several golf ball-sized balls. On a flat surface, roll out some waxed paper. Begin to heat a skillet or frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. You want the pan HOT. Select one ball and place it on the waxed paper. Cover it with another piece of waxed paper and use the bottom of a plate to press the dough into a circular disc.
Can you roll it out with a rolling pin? Yes, but that takes longer and it is harder to control the thickness.
What size plate? Whatever size you want the arepa. Smaller arepa - dessert plate. Larger arepa - dinner plate. The photo shows arepas made with a dinner plate.
How much pressure? I put my hand in the middle of the plate and then press down while rising up on my toes. That's how much pressure. LOL It should be about the thickness of 2-4 pennies (or other coins) stacked. Thicker = longer cooking time, but it's not the end of the world.
Be careful, as your pan should be hot -- don't burn yourself as you place the arepa in the pan!
You should be able to "peel" the waxed paper off the arepa with literal ease as it drops into the pan. This next part is crucial: don't touch it. You're going to want to. You're going to want to "check it" -- RESIST THE URGE. You can tell that your arepa is ready to be flipped in one of two ways: a) you can "slide" it around the pan by moving the pan b) it starts to puff up in the middle. Once either of these happens (or you've made enough that you start to get a knack for when you can move it), flip it with a spatula and allow the other side to cook. It may puff up. It may not. Once both sides are lightly browned, remove it to a plate. It will be hot, but that's never stopped a single big back in this house from snatching one up and scalding their mouths - myself included.
How to serve: Butter. Light sprinkling of cheese. Deli meat and cheese and fold it up like a taco. Dip it in just about anything.
Arepas can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days. Mine always go off after that. Your fridge might be better. To warm them back up, pop them back into a hot skillet and allow them to warm.
Want sweet arepas instead of savory? Sub sugar for the salt.
Lastly, what color masa harina? Whatever color you want! At present our masa harina is white, but we often have yellow. I've tried red and blue masa harina and I can't say I love the results - but honestly that's just me not taking the time with a new ingredient. :)
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