Food: What's cooking? Cool weather: Serve chili
The weather has cooled and November has arrived.
It is a great time to serve your guests your favorite chili dish.
Here are just a few of chili’s virtues: It can be made ahead of time. It can be spiced to taste. Unless you use a recipe calling for ground nuts or chocolate, it is generally gluten/ dairy/ allergenfree. It’s relatively cheap. Both kids and grown-ups like it.
Chili was born in the territories that became Texas; according to food historian John Mariani, a visitor to San Antonio first described it in 1828, noting that it was a dish for poor people who used abundantly available chili peppers to stretch what little meat they had into a kind of stew. From its humble beginnings, chili’s popularity spread and took on many guises: with beans and without, served with spaghetti, layered into casseroles, and used as a meaty condiment for hot dogs and hamburgers.
Jane and Michael Stern, specialists in American foodways, published a book called “Chili Nation” with recipes from every state. Florida’s “Havana Moon Chili” includes green olives and almonds; Maryland’s “Chesapeake Bay Chili” pushes the envelope with its base of shrimp and crabmeat.
The chili recipe here is from a new cookbook that lives up to its name: “Seriously Delish” by Jessica Merchant. Long on bacon and caramel and short on fennel and kale, Merchant’s book is sprinkled with inventive concoctions such as S’mores-Stuffed Strawberries, Short Rib Hash and Baked Breakfast Risotto. Her chili is straight up delicious, and her Proseccocider punch is a perfect accompaniment. Both recipes can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled for larger gatherings. BBQ CHICKEN CHILI Yield: 4 to 6 servings 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
2 boneless, chicken breasts
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil 1 red onion, diced 1 jalapeno chili pepper, seeded and diced 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 1/ 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1-tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2-teaspoon salt Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 (12-ounce) jar roasted red peppers in water, drained and chopped
1 1/2 cups canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 cups canned light or dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup BBQ sauce (see note)
Freshly grated cheddar cheese, for garnish
Torn fresh cilantro, for garnish
Place the stock and the chicken breasts in a saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring to almost a boil, skimming any foam, and reduce heat so the liquid just simmers. Cover and simmer 10 to 14 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the chicken reads 165 degrees. Remove chicken from pot with a slotted spoon, allow to cool and then shred. Set aside, and
skinless
ground set the stock aside separately. If doing this step a day ahead of time, cover and refrigerate chicken and stock.
Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the onion, jalapeno and garlic; stir to coat. Cook the mixture until it has softened, 5 minutes. Add the paprika, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, salt and red pepper flakes. Stir and cook for 5 more minutes.
Add the shredded chicken, reserved broth, red peppers, beans, tomatoes and BBQ sauce. Stir well to combine. Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook the chili for 20 minutes. Remove lid and stir. Taste and season additionally with more salt, pepper or spice if you desire. Cover and cook for 10 more minutes.
Serve immediately, or cool, cover and refrigerate for up to two days. Reheat gently before serving. Top each serving with cheddar cheese and cilantro.
Note: Beware of sweetness in your BBQ sauce. You may need to decrease the amount of sauce or up the spices if you don’t want the chili too sweet.
( Slightly adapted and excerpted from “Seriously Delish,” copyright 2014 by Jessica Merchant. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.) PROSECCO-CIDER SPICED PUNCH Yield: 6 servings 1 ( 750 ml) bottle Prosecco, chilled
2 cups apple cider, chilled 2 oranges, sliced 4 cinnamon sticks 1/ 4- teaspoon ground cardamom
Combine all ingredients in a punch bowl or pitcher and serve.
Note: For a kid-friendly version, substitute a bottle of sparkling (no alcohol) cider for the Prosecco.
( Excerpted f rom “Seriously Delish,” copyright 2014 by Jessica Merchant. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.)