Leftover Chicken Chipotle Chili - Dubious!

[Rozzer]

Well, you can't call it chili. Never had white bean chili, never had chicken chili, never used chipotles in adobo before either. Had a bunch of chicken leftover from a roast chicken last night. Followed what looked like a good recipe. Read at least eight other white chili recipes. Used my own, home-made chicken stock. Fried up some onion, put in oregano, cumin, chili powder and some leftover pimentos. Two cans of cannellini. Plus one canned chipotle chili with some of the adobo sauce it came in.

Came out like chicken soup with red pepper. Now I like chicken soup, though I never put beans in chicken soup before. And I can't really complain about the chipotle. I didn't overdo it, I only put in one. So the soup wasn't really hot-spicy. But I guess I expected something more like real chili. With that wonderful richness good chili has.

Would it be because it doesn't have beef in it? Or can there be that much difference between kidney beans and cannellini? After all, I understand that cannellini are just white kidney beans. And I don't put flour into chili to thicken it, I just let it reduce. And that's what I did with this "chicken soup." Kind of a chicken-bean stew. but it's not chili. I just didn't think chicken chili would be that different from beef chili. Hmmmm.

[K. Slink]

It's pretty much a whole different animal without beef and tomatoes, although "real" chili contains no tomatoes at all...

[CM]

If you're looking for a thicker, more stew-like result, try mashing a few of the beans into the "soup" or cooking it down a bit longer (there's a point, though, where it will lose a fresh flavor).

You might be able to revive it by stirring in some low-sodium soup base or concentrated soup stock or maybe a little roast garlic.

When things don't turn out as you'd planned, find a different use for it - for example, you might try adding some salsa, chopped peppers and onion and Southwestern/taco flavors and a batch of rice, then serve it as a taco filling with shredded cheese and lettuce topping. Or since there's already cannellini beans in there, add some smoky ham or prosciutto, a few fresh basil and oregano leaves and diced tomatoes, then add some pasta or egg noodles for a pasta and bean soup.

Once I have a soup made with chicken if it's lacking flavor I might toss in something from the pork family, or even a rind of Parmesan or Romano cheese, but I rarely add beef because the flavors can become muddled.

[K. Slink]

Would masa harina thicken it up enough? Or maybe even nacho chips?

[Rozzer]

Would masa harina thicken it up enough? Or maybe even nacho chips?

I'm sure it would, and I'm sure even regular flour would too. Now I've left it in the fridge overnight and I'll see this afternoon whether it's better. It's not really that it wasn't good, it's that it wasn't as expected. I'm sure it's thicker now than it was yesterday. It's perfectly edible. It's just not as delicious as real chili. I've always liked the lemons/lemonade idea, so I'll use some of your suggestions and see if this sludge can turn into a taste treat. Thanks!

[K. Slink]

I'm sure the refrigerator will work its usual magic, it does sound tasty as it is right now. One question--did I miss something about lemons/lemonade?

[K. Slink]

Duh, I just now got it upon re-reading the post...

[Rozzer]

Well, I left it for about 24 hours in the icebox, took it out, heated it up, made a little roux and thickened the gravy - and you know, it wasn't bad at all. Every ingredient got together and shook hands. I should have about tripled the onion (I only put in one, diced), maybe experimented with a little sage. Could have used a teaspoon of poultry seasoning instead of a teaspoon of oregano. The cumin was good, though. As was the chipotle and the chili powder. Could have used two tablespoons of chili powder instead of one. Anyway, if you ever have any leftover chicken lying around, here's the recipe:

Leftover Chicken Chipotle Chili

2 cups chopped leftover chicken
2 cans (14 oz.) cannellini beans (any kind of beans, really)
3 medium yellow onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp. chili powder (or 2, depending on your taste)
1 or 2 chopped chipotles in adobo sauce (1 is warm, 2 are hot!)
1 jar pimentos, chopped
1 tbsp. oil to fry the onion and garlic
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. flour, to thicken gravy

This is about as simple as can be. Fry the onion and garlic in the oil. Pour in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, pimentos, salt, pepper and chopped chipotle. Fry the spices for at most three minutes. Add the chopped chicken and mix it around to coat. Add the beans. Add the chicken broth. When you've finished heating everything up, you can add the flour and thicken the gravy. Or you can make a little roux by mixing the flour and some melted butter and use that to thicken.

Now, by the time you add the chicken broth, everything in the dish will already be cooked, in a manner of speaking. I.e., not raw. The chicken was cooked beforehand by you, the beans were cooked when they went in the can, you just cooked the onions and garlic yourself. So, technically, when your broth starts to boil, you're ready to eat. However, I myself like my beans really, really soft, and for that you'll have to cook them at least 20 minutes. But to my knowledge, there's nothing in the pot that's really going to get killed if you just let the pot simmer. And keep in mind that it does taste better the next day. Up to you.

Of course, as with all chili recipes, you can frizz this one up to your heart's content. Add some of this and some of that and something else just languishing in the fridge. Nothing wrong with that, so long as you like the finished product. The next time I do it I'm going to fry some bacon and crumble it into the pot while the onions are frying Probably double the chili powder. I might even fry some cabbage and add that, just to see how it turns out. The point of the exercise is to try to create a dish that goes down as well, and feels as good as, real chili or, for that matter, real macaroni and cheese. Good luck!

[K. Slink]

Don't you just love saving and re-creating a dish like this!

[Rozzer]

Don't you just love saving and re-creating a dish like this!

Yeah! .......................................