White Chili

October 17, 2008

I love the fall season for many reasons, but one of my favorite things of fall are the foods. There are so many different foods that go along with fall; but I think soups, stews and chilis are among the most popular types. There is nothing better than having a hot bowl of chili with cornbread on a cool, crisp fall day.

Since I live in Arkansas, seasons are very rare and don’t last long at all. It seems like we go from extreme heat to extreme cool with no between period. Any time we get semi-seasonal weather we take advantage of it to the fullest.

This past Saturday was a perfect fall day here and I was craving some chili. I had recently made regular chili so I thought this would be a perfect time to try out White Chicken Chili that I’ve seen on so many blogs. I had really never seen or heard of white chili before I got into the blogging world and started browsing other people’s blogs. I knew when I saw it I had to try it because it looked incredible. Saturday was the perfect day to try out this new found chili recipe (new for me at least:) ).

This recipe was actually pretty easy to put together. It’s also one of those recipes where you pretty much have everything on hand at all times…I love those types of recipes! It was such a hearty chili that I didn’t really need to cook any side items to go with it; so I cooked some cornbread and that was it. The chili was a big hit with everyone, there were barely any leftovers and what we did have left over was gone pretty quickly.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

2 Cans navy beans
1 large onion, chopped
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup chicken broth
2 cups half-and-half
1 teaspoon Tabasco, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon white pepper, or to taste
two 4-ounce cans whole mild green chilies, drained and chopped
5 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 2 pounds), cooked and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack (about 6 ounces), plus extra for topping
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

In a skillet cook onion in 2 tablespoons butter over moderate heat until softened.

In a 6- to 8-quart heavy kettle melt remaining 6 tablespoons butter over moderately low heat and whisk in flour. Cook roux, whisking constantly, 3 minutes. Stir in onion and gradually add broth and half-and-half, whisking constantly. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in Tabasco, chili powder, cumin, salt, and white pepper. Add beans, chilies, chicken, and Monterey Jack and cook mixture over moderately low heat, stirring, 20 minutes. Stir sour cream into chili.