Week 3: Soup (Championship Weekend Bonus)

It's the Conference Finals for the American football professional league, the NFL. As a proud NY Giants fan, I have to post an extra entry for soup week. My team is playing for a chance to be in the SUPER BOWL, which US marketing has convinced me that the entire world watches!

You should have some of this, and that, seriously both!

We'll be eating this, and I bet you wish you were too!

Support the NY GIANTS! GO BIG BLUE!!!!

 This recipe is from Cooks Illustrated. They are cock-knockers when it come to sharing their recipes on the interwebs. We have a subscription to the magazine, but they STILL charge us for web access. In that spirit, here is the recipe, as written in The Best Light Recipes cookbook, published by Americas Test Kitchen in 2006.

White Chicken Chili


Serves 8

3lbs bone-in skin-on chicken breasts
1 tsp vegetable oil
3 poblano peppers, stemmed, seeded, and chopped medium
3 Anaheim chiles, stemmed, seeded, and chopped medium
1 medium Jalapeno, plus 1 small Jalapeno chile, seeds and ribs removed, flesh minced
2 medium onions, minced
6 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp ground cumin
2tspn dried oregano
8 c chicken stock/broth
2 (15 oz) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 c juice of lime (2-3 limes)
1/4 minced cilantro
4 scallions, sliced thin

1. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat until just smoking. Sear the chicken skin, side down, until browned, out 4 min. Flip the chicken and sear on the second side until browned, about 4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, and remove and dscard the skin.

2. Add all of the chiles, except the small jalapeno, onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, and 1 tsp salt in a large dutch oven. Cover and cook over medium low heat, stirring often until the vegatables are soften, 12-15 min. Transfer half of the chile mixture to a clean plate and set aside.

3. Stir in the broth, chicken, and beans. Bring to a boil over medium high heat; reduce heat to medium low, stiring occasionallly until the chicken is fully cooked, about 20 min. Using tongs, transfer chicken to large plate. Continue to simmer the chile uncovered until it has thickened 35-40 min.

4. When the chicken is cool, shred to bite-siz oieces, discarding the bones. Stir the shredded chicken, reserved chile mixture, lime juice, cilantro, scallions, and small jalapeno into the chile. Seaso with salt and pepper to taste. If the chile is too thick, stir in additional water to thin.