White Chili

White Chili 
Serves 6 people as a main dish or 3 people as a complete meal

 












This recipe is adapted from COOK'S Illustrated: All-Time Best Soups & Stews, 2014. I made adjustments to make it just spicy enough to have flavor but not too spicy so my 18mo old would eat it (he loved it!) plus we like hominy so that had to be added. Enjoy! Double the recipe for a large family (for one night of dinner), or double it for two nights of dinner (for a small family like ours).

1.5 lbs Organic chicken legs (or any bone-in chicken pieces)
1 tbsp Olive oil
3 Jalepeno chiles
1 lrg White onion (or 2 smaller onions)
6 cloves Garlic, smashed and chopped
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp Herbes de provence
2 (6oz) can Cannellini beans, rinsed
1 (14oz) can White hominy
5 cups Chicken broth
10-12  wedges of Lime
1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, thinly sliced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Tortilla chips and salsa

Step 0. On the day you plan to serve your chili cut limes into wedges, and chop your cilantro and scallions, put in fridge until time to serve soup. (I made our white chili on Sunday. We ate it on Monday- it was delicious).

Step 1. In 1 tbsp hot oil, cook chicken legs in dutch oven on medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes on one side and 2-3 minutes on the other. Only move the chicken to flip them over, otherwise, leave them be. Remove chicken and set aside to cool.

Step 2. While you are browning the chicken, remove the ribs and seeds from the jalepenos and chop fine. Finely chop the onion as well. Throw onion and jalapenos in a dutch oven with all the spices (garlic, cumin, and herbs de provence) and cook until onions are translucent. Remove from heat.

Step 3. Take half the onion/jalepeno mixture and put in blender with 1 cup of the beans, 1/2 cup of the hominy, and 2 cups broth. Blend until until smooth.

Step 4. Pour the blended mixture back into the dutch oven over the unblended ingredients, add 3 cups broth and stir to mix together. Remove the skins of chicken legs and put the chicken legs in the dutch oven. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer for ~20 minutes or until chicken reaches 165 degrees. Remove chicken and set on cutting board or plate to cool.

Step 5.  To the dutch oven mixture add the rest of the beans and hominy and simmer until heated through. While chili is simmering, tear chicken into bite-sized chunks and add to chili sauce and stir in.

Step 6. As soon as chili is heated through, let set/cool for a bit while you set out garnish on the table.

Note: If you plan on serving your chili on another day, you can wait to add in the remaining hominy, beans, and chicken until the day you reheat (I know some folks are particular about mushy beans), or you can add it all in on the day of and put it in the refrigerator or freezer until you are ready to re-heat. Because the beans I had didn't seem overly soft to start, I added everything in on the day of initial preparation and it turned out fine after the reheat. I chopped my garnishes on the day I served it. The lime wedges are really nice splash of acid, which we love.