Monday, December 11, 2006

Leftover turkey? Apparently not.

When I planned our menu for this week, I assumed we'd have leftover turkey from Sunday that I could use in my white chili. Five adults + one miniature schnauzer + a 10 lb turkey = no leftovers!

Luckily I had some chicken that I cooked last week and froze. Here are the ingredients for my white chili:

Clockwise from top, white beans, roasted poblano pepper, ground coriander diced yellow onion, roasted hungarian pepper, cumin, chicken and minced garlic. Turkey stock, salt and pepper not shown.

I found the hungarian pepper at the farmer's market. You can really use whatever peppers you prefer - bell pepper or canned diced chiles work great. To roast the peppers, cut them in half and remove the seeds and veins. Stick them under the broiler for about 10-15 minutes or until the skins are blackened. Place the warm peppers into a plastic resealable bag - the steam will help the skins come off. After about 15 minutes, remove the peppers from the bag - the skins should peel right off. Roasted peppers freeze well - if you don't have the time to go through this process, you can buy jarred or frozen roasted bell peppers at Trader Joes.

To make the chili, saute the diced onion in a small amount of olive oil until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients and enough chicken (or turkey) stock to cover. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until heated through. Garnish with any of the following - avocado, shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips. If you don't have leftover chicken on hand, use turkey. Or brown some ground chicken or turkey in a skillet and proceed with the recipe. One can of beans and about a cup of meat made enough chili for two generous portions. You can scale the recipe accordingly.


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