I know, that doesn’t sound right. Tried something new yesterday. And I definitely have a new recipe. Couldn’t decide if it should go under Poultry, Beans, or Chili ..... naaaaa, it’s obvious. It’s the beans that shine through.
I have got to tell you, the Rancho Gordo Marcella beans were amazing. Some of the best beans that I’ve ever had .... Cannot wait to cook more with these.
My wife insists on calling this a chili because of the flavors from the cumin and salsa and the beans in it. I think it is more of a stew, but I used beans instead of potatoes. It also reminds me of an Italian soup a little bit, probably because of the white beans and tomato sauce.
For those concerned, this isn’t overly spicy. It gets a mild bit of spice kick from the salsa verde, but not over the top at all.
I’m gonna have to find a good name for it, though. Cause, as much fun as it would be to tweak our Chili Purist friends, I can’t bring myself to call it Chicken Chili.
PS this is also not BBQ, if you were looking for smoked or grilled something. Although you could do the chicken on the grill/smoker first, if you wanted.
Anyway, here’s the backstory. It’s the first fall weekend and here in Washington it feels like fall. Kinda cold, rainy, chilly mornings, sometimes get some sun in the afternoon. I’ve cooked a lot of good smoked and grilled meat over the last month, or so, and decided to do something different. I did what I usually do for "something different" and I rummaged around in the freezer and the pantry.
Findings
Chicken Stew
Beans method
Beans just done boiling and returning to a simmer .... they look a bit shrunk and crinkly .... totally normal
Beans are simmering, waiting to go in the stew pot
Chicken shredded and returned to stew
Beans have been returned to stew
In a bowl, with some diced tomato and avocado and a glass of wine
I have got to tell you, the Rancho Gordo Marcella beans were amazing. Some of the best beans that I’ve ever had .... Cannot wait to cook more with these.
My wife insists on calling this a chili because of the flavors from the cumin and salsa and the beans in it. I think it is more of a stew, but I used beans instead of potatoes. It also reminds me of an Italian soup a little bit, probably because of the white beans and tomato sauce.
For those concerned, this isn’t overly spicy. It gets a mild bit of spice kick from the salsa verde, but not over the top at all.
I’m gonna have to find a good name for it, though. Cause, as much fun as it would be to tweak our Chili Purist friends, I can’t bring myself to call it Chicken Chili.
PS this is also not BBQ, if you were looking for smoked or grilled something. Although you could do the chicken on the grill/smoker first, if you wanted.
Anyway, here’s the backstory. It’s the first fall weekend and here in Washington it feels like fall. Kinda cold, rainy, chilly mornings, sometimes get some sun in the afternoon. I’ve cooked a lot of good smoked and grilled meat over the last month, or so, and decided to do something different. I did what I usually do for "something different" and I rummaged around in the freezer and the pantry.
Findings
- Some chicken thighs that needed to be cooked
- Some frozen chicken stock (I put chicken stock in quart freezer bags, about 3 cups worth in one bag, and then freeze it. Works great)
- Bag of Marcella beans from Rancho Gordo (Just got them, haven’t tried them yet)
- A lonely bottle of Kona Longboard Lager
- Bottle of Goya Salsa Verde medium strength
- Can of tomato sauce
Chicken Stew
- 2 chicken thighs, skin on, bone in - about 5 oz each
- 2 chicken breasts, skinless, boneless - about 7 oz each
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup Lager (I drank the rest)
- 8 oz Salsa Verde medium (Goya is awesome, but any green sauce)
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 bay leafs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lb dry beans (Rancho Gordo Marcella, Cannellini, White Northern, Navy, etc) or 1 can (if you don’t want to cook from scratch (but why wouldn’t you?)
- 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 bay leaf
Beans method
- If these are not Rancho Gordo beans, then you need to pre soak them before the next step.
- Add (soaked) beans to a decent cooking pot, for this quantity I use a 2 quart saucepan
- Add tomato sauce and cumin and bay leaf
- Add enough water to cover beans by about 1 inch total
- Bring to boil over high heat, boil for about 5 minutes
- Reduce heat to very low, creating a bare simmer by adjusting the heat and the lid
- A bare simmer means that the liquid will be forming 2-3 bubbles per minute, no more. You want this cooking to be very gentle. You want the beans to cook and form a great stock, but you don’t want to be rough with them, breaking the skin, etc
- When you reach Step 10 in the Stew, you are going to add the beans to the stew. Don’t just dump them, which will break/injure the beans. Spoon them from the saucepan into your stew. Then add the stock from the beans. You want this, trust me!
- Salt the chicken liberally with the kosher salt. Do this as much as an hour prior, but a long dry brine really isn’t needed since you are stewing the chicken.
- Add olive oil to a heavy pot or Dutch oven, get hot over medium heat
- Brown chicken until skin is crispy and golden brown and fat from thighs is rendering
- Reserve the chicken, add the cumin and bay leaf and cook 1-2 minutes, until aromatic
- Add the beer and scrape all browned bits off the bottom of the pan
- Add the stock and salsa and stir in well
- Return chicken to pot and reduce heat to low, you want this to just be simmering to braise/stew the chicken
- Cook until chicken is tender and falling off bones, about 90 minutes
- Pull chicken from pot, remove skin, debone, chop/pull chicken into pieces about 1â€
- Return chicken to pot
- At this point the beans ought to be ready to be added from that process, go ahead and add them
- Reduce heat to very low, adjust lid as needed, to keep the stew with beans cooking at a bare simmer. Should be forming no more than 2-3 bubbles a second. More than that will damage the beans and you don’t want that.
- Continue cooking until beans are done. Beans are done when they are tender enough to easily bite through and do not have any sort of crunch. Stop cooking at this point, or they will get mushy and you don’t want that.
- Serve with desired toppings (I like diced tomatoes and avocado, could do shredded cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, etc)
- Serve with adult beverage of choice. We had a glass of Syrah, but could be a beer, wine, whatever. Something that goes with the spice of the stew.
Beans just done boiling and returning to a simmer .... they look a bit shrunk and crinkly .... totally normal
Beans are simmering, waiting to go in the stew pot
Chicken shredded and returned to stew
Beans have been returned to stew
In a bowl, with some diced tomato and avocado and a glass of wine
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