Better late than never Sunday Night Dinner

I totally made Sunday Night Dinner, but I had a cold so I forgot to write it up. I swear. But here's what I made and it was yummy. Give it a go.

Chicken with Riesling

Rice Pilaf

Mixed Green salad with mustard vinaigrette

Okay here is how it went: the chicken with Riesling is a Mark Bittman recipe, from his cook book called "The Minimalist". I totally recommend picking it up, it's an amazing book, along with Bittman's "How to Cook Everything". It's the cooking encyclopedia.

Anyhoosers, start with a whole chicken (bone in, skin on), cut up. In a heavy bottomed dutch oven (le crueset people!), heat a three to four count of olive oil over medium high heat. Salt and pepper the chicken, then sear all of the pieces in batches in the oil. Don't overcrowd the pan, get some good color on both sides of all pieces and take it out of the pan. While the chicken is done browning, slice four onions. Yeah that's right I said four. To avoid stingy onions tears, refrigerate the onions beforehand. It's the only trick that's ever worked for me - it seems as if the onions are cold they don't release as much of the tear inducing air. That's science right there, peeps. Theater degree, what.

After removing the last of the chicken from the dutch oven, put all of the sliced onions in with a good dose of salt and pepper. I also added five or six shakes of garlic powder, one bay leaf, and a good handful of fresh thyme wrapped in butcher's twine. It's easier to do the thyme that way because you don't need to scrape all of the thyme leaves off - they fall off in the sauce and you can remove the stems in one fell swoop. Stir the onions often and get them nice and soft. I let them go a bit farther than soft, because I like a little carmelization on the onions, but don't let them burn. Once they are to the color and texture that you like best, add half of a bottle of dry Riesling. Be sure to look for a Riesling that says "dry" on the bottle, because you do not want this dish to be too sweet. Add the browned chicken pieces back to the pot, and settle them in the sauce - make sure all of the chicken is mostly covered by sauce. Add more wine if necessary. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to simmer, and cook that deliciousness for about forty five minutes. As I like to say: taste taste taste. You really need to balance the sweetness of the Riesling with salt, so be sure to taste and season to your liking. When it's done, the chicken on the thighs and legs should be falling off of the bone.

As the chicken cooked, towards the end I made two boxes of Near East Rice Pilaf. I know that's cheating, but like I always say - take the help where you can get it. You know that the boxed rice pilaf will come out perfect every time, so why not do it. I also made the mustard vinaigrette for the greens: two tablespoons of Dijon mustard, a splash of the Riesling that you cooked the chicken in, three tablespoons of red wine vinegar, salt/pepper and a 1/4 cup of olive oil. Whisk all ingredients together and set aside. Right before serving, toss your greens in the vinaigrette. Ha, toss it.

Once the chicken is done, remove it from the pan and then get out my favorite kitchen tool. Say it together people: "immersion blender". Awww yeah. Immersion blend that sauce until it thickens a bit, then add the chicken back in and heat through. Again, if you don't have an immersion blender, dudes, buy one. Orrrrrrrrrr blend it in a blender, sheesh.

Serve the chicken with the rice pilaf and the pan sauce, along with your salad with mustard vinaigrette. A baguette to soak up the sauce is also helpful, and everyone loves bread! It's a delicious, slow cooked meal worthy of the coldest of days. It will warm the cockles of your heart. Haa, I said cockles.

As always, let me know how it goes.

BFF,

Dana

White Bean Chili Sunday Night Dinner

Hey kids, sorry for the absence last week. I was super busy....getting engaged! Woot!

But back to the grind. There was a bit of chill in the air today, fall is finally coming. Well, fall in California terms anyways. So of course I immediately thought of chili! However, instead of a heavy red meat chili, I went with a white bean and chicken chili. It's creamy without having any cream, and it still has the nice burn down the throat that you want from chili.

So, start with a rotisserie chicken from the deli. Like I've said before, take the help where you can get it, even when you are making a Sunday Night Dinner. Take the skin off, de-bone, and shred the chicken. Set aside for laters.

In a stock pot, pour a five count of olive oil and add on large onion, sliced. Add some salt/pepper and let the onions sweat out a bit. Next add four chopped garlic cloves and one can of diced green chiles (the brand is Ortega, it's a small-ish can; you can usually find it in the salsa aisle at the market). Let those flavors meld a bit, and when the onions start to get some color, add a few glugs of white wine or light beer to deglaze. Cook that down for a bit, and then add a box and a half of chicken stock and two and a half cans of white cannelloni beans. You will use the rest of that half can later. Give it all a stir, and then it's time to add the seasonings that make chili taste like chili! I really eyeball this when I make it, so I apologize for not being able to give you specific measurements, but you'll just have to deal. Man up, and add some chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper. Go eaaaaaaasy on the cayenne at first, maybe five or six shakes. You can always add more, but you can't take it out. You can go heavier on the chili powder and cumin, but remember that cumin can overpower a dish quite easily, so be careful. You'll probably need some salt at this point, so season away and taste taste taste. Let the chili bubble away for about twenty minutes at this point so all of the flavors can meld. Keep tasting and adding more cayenne if you want more heat. You could also add a few shakes of tabasco or sriracha.

Okay now we want to thicken this chili up so that it resembles chili and not tortilla soup. Get that handy dandy immersion blender out and blend it up! If you are super lame and don't have an immersion blender, go get one. Or use a normal blender, but blend in batches and don't burn yourself. Then go buy an immersion blender.

So now that your chili is nice and blended, add your shredded chicken along with a can and a half of white cannelloni beans, and half a bag of frozen corn. Let this all bubble away while you make some corn bread.

Oooh I love me some corn bread. I am not a giant fan of baking, so I used a mix. Just follow the directions on the box and bake - it was delish. But if you want to make it from scratch, good on you.

Now, no bowl of chili is complete without some accoutrement on top. I shredded some pepper jack cheese, chopped some avocado, and put out a bowl of tortilla chips. Please add whatever you love best on top of your bowl of chili, and do it now! Try this recipe, it's a really great twist on traditional chili but it still gives you that chili love that I know you are jonesing for.

Let me know how it went!

Thanks for the great recipe, momma :-)