The Accidental Masterpiece a.k.a. White Bean Chicken Chili

Cooking is an intentional art. You create your masterpieces by taking ingredients and putting them together on a canvas that is a plate, bowl, or whatever item your are presenting your dish on. In most cases I have created new dishes by combining multiple recipes online, or advancing a dish that was taught to me. This dish was created in a new way, completely by accident.

I started with the intention to create a soup, the same soup I have been making every week for the past month. This soup was inspired by my grandma (Mima). Allow me to give a bit of back-story so we are all on the same page: When I am home, I visit my grandma for lunch during the week, pretty consistently. Usually I eat with my older brother Frank and my Uncle Gino. Mima usually makes a small variety of things because they fit into our diet (me and my older brother's). This includes soup, pizza, meat (chicken or pork), a huge vegetable omelet, or salad. The soup that she usually makes consists of either lentils or beans. It contains a type of bean or legume, vegetables, and escarole or broccoli rabe.

When I returned to Troy from my "vacation", she gave me sets of ingredients to create this soup on my own. Since then, I have made soup 4 times. Each batch lasts about 4-8 meals depending on how much I decide to throw in the mix. The other night was just like any other night I would make soup, except I was lacking some major ingredients, because I ran out -- vegetables. I had to cut my own vegetables this time, so as I was about to start cutting, I decided to use the food processor, because this is how my grandma saves time with her soups. The dish evolved from there: I started with carrots, and decided to chop peppers, and then onions. Now I realized I was well on my way to making a chili. I had the beans (not lentils this time even though they were in the freezer waiting also), I had the vegetables, and I had the spices.

Recently, I have craved a white bean chicken chili. Being well on my way to creating this dish, I began defrosting a chicken breast, and prepping my tomato sauce and chili spice mixture. So as you can see, I ended up creating an unintentional chili dish, which came out fantastic. Keep in mind as you read this recipe that my meals intentionally contain less salt to avoid the "American diet". So if you are not content with the salt content, feel free to add more. This recipe is also very new, so please leave room for error in my judgment. I am passing this on for the purpose of remembering it myself, so most ingredients were added in quantities unknown. I will estimate.

The Accidental Masterpiece a.k.a. White Bean Chicken Chili

Ingredients:
4 medium carrots (chopped with or without a food processor)
2 peppers any color (chopped with or without a food processor)
2 medium onions (chopped with or without a food processor)
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
OPTIONAL: 2 jalapenos chopped (not necessary but adds a great deal of flavor and heat)
2 tbsp cumin (1/3 of mexican mix)
1 tbsp chili powder (1/3 of mexican mix)
1 tbsp coriander (1/3 of mexican mix)
1 tsp red pepper flakes (more or less to add or subtract heat)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to add or subtract heat)
3 cans white beans (16 Oz; also you can add a can or two of red kidney beans if you wish)
2 cans of tomato sauce, or diced tomatoes (28 oz. the type is at your discretion)
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil

As you can see, this dish has the exact same ingredients as my Vegetarian Chili (more or less). It is a product of that masterpiece. The inspiration and method of making this chili came directly from that dish.

Start with your olive oil in a large pot at medium-high heat. Add your onions, and within a minute add your garlic. Turn the heat on high at this point in time and make sure to not let the onions burn, but instead allow them to caramelize (or brown on all sides). After about 5 minutes add your peppers and carrots and let this mixture cook on high (stirring every 30 seconds or so) for another 10 minutes. Once the peppers and carrots have a bit of color (caramelization), add your spices, cumin, coriander, chili powder, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste (you would add your jalapenos here, but be careful not to make it too spicy; REMEMBER: you can always add more heat later, but you can't get rid of heat without adding other ingredients, so add less now, and when you can taste it add more as you see fit). Stir this around, making sure to infuse the vegetables with flavor thoroughly.

In the meantime, boil your chicken on high heat until cooked thoroughly (stick a fork in it and lift, if the chicken stays on the fork it is not finished, if it wants to slide off, it is done).

Now, add your beans and tomato sauce to the pot. Then add the cooked chicken (minus the water you boiled it in). The majority of your food preparation is done at this point in time. You can let this cook on high for about 20 minutes, making sure to stir every few minutes, otherwise it will burn at the bottom of the pot. After this time has elapsed, take your chicken breast out of the pot, and shred it using two forks (as if you were making pulled chicken). Add it back to the chili. Depending on the type of sauce you used for the dish, this dish may take longer to cook (a thinner sauce yields a longer cooking time and vice versa). You are looking for a relatively thick consistency when all is said and done. After your chicken goes back in, assume another 40 minutes on low heat to become fully cooked (stirring every five minutes). After 40 minutes, the chili is edible, but not complete. Another hour on low heat will really make this come to the correct consistency. Use your judgment. How do you want your chili to look? Do you want it more like a soup, or a stew? Prep time: 15 minutes; Cook time: 2 hours.

This serves between 5 and 8 people, and can be served with a multitude of things. You can add plain yogurt, or cheddar cheese (or any cheese for that matter, try blue cheese). You can serve with rice, or with bread. Or you can enjoy it without any of this, simple, plain, and naked (the way I like it).

Another option for those who like salt, is to add a chicken bouillon to the dish when you add your beans and sauce. This adds a nice flavor to the dish while being consistent with the chicken theme.

I will make updates to this dish as I see fit. I will also be adding pictures for all my dishes in the near future, as I create them again. Make sure to leave comments if you make any of my dishes, to tell me whether you are satisfied, angry, or just want to say hi!

Thanks for reading, and sorry for my lack of blogging, but it is Tasty Thursday, and its been too long. I was inspired, and I wanted to write, so hopefully I have delivered some value to your life. Also check www.allforlocal.com in the upcoming weeks for some exciting things!