White Chili Feeds a Fourth of July Crowd

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Perhaps you, too, have a houseful on Fourth of July weekend. What to cook on the Fourth itself isn’t a problem. If outdoors, then burgers and hot dogs or barbecue chicken is the choice. If indoors, maybe you will have the traditional salmon and peas. But what about feeding everyone on the rest of weekend? This White Chili might work well for you.

Like a lot of dishes, this chicken and bean chili isn’t pretty exactly, but it sure tastes good. Have you noticed? Looking pretty on the plate is more of a concern in our graphics rich age than it ever used to be. If something smelled wonderful and tasted great, it almost didn’t matter what it looked like unless the food was served on a festive occasion when presentation was important. But to take a picture of something that looks a little like sludge, immediately calls for red or green sprinkled around to make it more appealing. So it is with this chili dish whose flavor is actually enhanced by the cilantro that decorates it.

I first sampled this dish at a party. The hostess made a huge crock-pot full and I thought it was such a good idea. I loved the cumin, chili, garlic, tender beans, and chunks of chicken. All the good flavors of chili, but no tomato, were such a welcome change. You can take a speedy route with this or a more leisurely one. Canned cannellini and diced-up boneless chicken breast will work, and so will cannellini or Great Northern beans, stewed after an overnight soak, combined with slow-braised pieces of a whole disjointed chicken.

Because Toby cannot pass up a sale-priced, family-sized package of boneless skinless chicken breasts, periodically he comes home with a package of eight to ten of them. I go through them, chop off the skinny little triangles at the bottom of the breast; open them flat, and trim off small loose pieces, plus any that are kind of flat and thin. I freeze the now-trimmed breast and set aside the little pile of pieces. Either I freeze them, also, for use later, or immediately turn them into a stir fry, or in this case, the chicken for white chili. A big package of breasts usually provides enough chicken for two in a really robust supper or a good-sized supper plus lunch after I add about two cups of beans. Since I grow horticultural, or shell, beans, I often use those for this dish. Onion, plenty of garlic and the spices, plus a couple of cups of chicken broth, all set on the stove to simmer, finishes it.

Don’t feel like you have to have recipe for this; figure on one breast piece of chicken and a cup of cooked beans per person and you’ll be fine. One large onion for the pot, enough water or broth to barely cover the chicken and beans, and everything else is added to taste. It is better the next day.

I like to serve this over rice. You can add jalapenos if you like, or a garnish of salsa with or without sour cream. I am happy with just a bunch of cilantro chopped to sprinkle on top. You’ll see what I mean about its looks: a little beige, and mucky, but what a flavor!

White Chili
 
Ingredients
  • Olive oil
  • 1 large onion
  • 2-3 cloves garlic minced
  • 4 cups of diced chicken breast
  • 4 cups (or 2 15-ounce cans) cannellini beans
  • Chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon chili powder, or to taste
  • 2-3 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
  • 2-3 teaspoons ground coriander or to taste
  • Jalapeños, chopped to taste, optional
  • Cilantro, chopped, for garnish
  • Salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a cook pot, then add the onions and garlic and cook until softened.
  2. Add the diced chicken and cook until it just done.
  3. Add the beans, and then add just enough broth to barely cover the chicken and beans.
  4. Add seasonings and simmer all together until the mixture has thickened.
  5. Taste and adjust seasonings.

 

Sandy Oliver

About Sandy Oliver

Sandy Oliver Sandy is a freelance food writer with the column Taste Buds appearing weekly since 2006 in the Bangor Daily News, and regular columns in Maine Boats, Homes, and Harbors magazine and The Working Waterfront. Besides freelance food writing, she is a pioneering food historian beginning her work in 1971 at Mystic Seaport Museum, where she developed a fireplace cooking program in an 1830s house. After moving to Maine in 1988, Sandy wrote, Saltwater Foodways: New Englanders and Their Foods at Sea and Ashore in the 19th Century published in 1995. She is the author of The Food of Colonial and Federal America published in fall of 2005, and Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving History and Recipes from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie which she co-authored with Kathleen Curtin. She often speaks to historical organizations and food professional groups around the country, organizes historical dinners, and conducts classes and workshops in food history and in sustainable gardening and cooking. Sandy lives on Islesboro, an island in Penobscot where she gardens, preserves, cooks and teaches sustainable lifeways.