This is a variation on a dish my roomate used to cook frequently. It's a simple white bean chicken chili with the addition of cilantro, green chilies, and tomatillos to give it a nice tang. There are a couple of steps I include to deepen the flavor profile, such as using chipotles to cook the beans, blistering the tomatillos for a light char flavor. Essentially just rounding out the flavor so it's a little more complex.
As with most chilies you can garnish it in numerous ways. One of the reasons why I use the chipotles in cooking the dish, is that I finish it with a chipotle cream garnish. In addition to that, I threw a couple of cilantro springs on it. That being said, fritos, onions, avocado, cheese, and fresh peppers are options you can use. If you want a spicier soup, add more hot sauce or extra hot peppers to the cooking process.
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
Chicken Thighs, boneless & skinless 2 lbs
Lime Juice & zest 1 ea
Garlic, sliced 3 cloves
Tapatio 1 tsp
Garlic oil 2 T
Adobe spice 1 T
Soup
Onions, diced 2 ea
Tomatillos, shucked 10-14 (depending on size)
Garlic Oil 2 T
Bay Leaves 2 ea
Oregano 3 springs
Chipotles 2 ea
Beans, great northern 28 oz (2 small bags, 1 large)
Garlic Powder 1 T
Coriander, ground 1 T
Cumin, ground 1 tsp
Lime, juice and zest 2 ea
Peppers, sliced 10-12 ea
Green Chilis 10 oz
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chicken Stock 2 qts
Water to cover
Chipotle Cream
Sour Cream 1 cup
Chipotle (same two from soup)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lime Juice 2 T
Method of Procedure
Marinate chicken overnight in all ingredients.
Place the dried beans in a large tupperware container and cover with water overnight. (This re hydrates the beans and improves the final texture. If unable to soak overnight, you can bring them to a boil in a separate pot, then cover with plastic wrap to re hydrate and degas.)
Next day preheat oven to 350 and place chicken on a roasting rack. Cook chicken until set, about 10 minutes and remove from heat. Once cooled, dice. If there is any liquid on the roasting pan, reserve for soup.
Heat your soup pot and place onions, garlic oil, oregano, and chipotles in. Saute for 20 minutes until soft.
Heat a saute pan until hot, almost at the smoke point, and place shucked tomatillos. Cook on high heat until blistered and then add 1 cup of chicken stock. Bring to a light boil and reduce. Cook about 15 minutes until softened. Puree the tomatillos and reserve.
Drain the white beans. Add the green chilies, drained beans, tomatillo puree, spices, and chicken stock. You will need to add some more water to cover the beans, but you will want them covered.
Bring all ingredients to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add diced chicken and spices and cook until the beans are done and until most of the liquid is absorbed, around 2 hours. Remove chipotles.
Take 1 qt of beans and chicken mixture and puree in a food processor. You can use an immersion blender, a bar blender, or anything that will puree the soup.
Put the pureed mixture back into the soup and cook for another hour.
Season to taste and serve with your garnishes.
Chipotle Cream
Stem and seed the chipotles and puree with other ingredients. Season to taste. (You should have a tart, smokey, slightly spicy sauce to accompany your soup)
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