Experiment 1 - The Selection

Before we get to the selection for this week, a couple other things.

At the end of my last post, I listed tools needed and skills needed.  I should also have added "lessons learned".  So for Experiment 0, my lesson learned is that there's a happy medium between "using a recipe as a suggestion and just winging it" (my standard technique) and slavishly following what's written down.  I could have avoided the cilantro issue if I'd taken the time to add it slowly and done some tasting, or even if I'd actually thought about how much I had and what I was doing with it.  When I had the leftover soup on Tuesday, I picked out as much of the green stuff as I could while it was reheating, and also while I was eating it.  It was a bit better, but I think most of the damage had already been done.  C'est la guerre.

And speaking of "tools needed", on January 1, I went to IKEA (a new tradition, starting last year) and got a garlic press, along with many other things not cooking related.  It's probably a good thing that the closest IKEA is nearly 90 miles away.

OK, without any further ado, this week's recipe selection is ......

White Chili

This comes from an undated clipping from the Hartford Courant.  Since I moved away from Connecticut in 1995, it has to be from before that.  Most of the headline was clipped, but the tail end says "[f]rom holiday meals", so I'm guessing it was published in December some time.  My clipping also has a recipe for Hot Crab Dip, which I might or might not make in addition to the main course.

Here is the ingredients list for the chili:
1 pound dry Great Northern beans, soaked overnight and drained
4 cups defatted chicken stock
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canned chopped green California chiles
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed in a mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 pound Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

Looking over this list, I see those damned "medium" onions again.  I guess I'll have to get used to that.  I imagine that I'll be buying chicken stock in a can or aseptic box, so defatting is shouldn't be a problem.  I currently have neither a mortar nor a pestle, so I may find another way to crush my oregano.  Which sounds painful.  I think I'm set with the other ingredients, although I might have to check the provenance of my green chiles.  Oh, and cheese is never optional.

This recipe includes some nutritional information, so I'll tack that on.

Makes 8 cups.  Each cup without cheese has about 195 calories (10 cal from fat), no cholesterol, 290 mg sodium and 105 mg calcium.