By Request of My Beloved

My Beloved wanted chili for supper tonight, the above being a picture from my cameraphone as I was letting it simmer. (The other, better-color pictures are from my Nikon.) I, trying half-heartedly (why? I love him!) to get out of it (oh! I know this one! because I'm LAZY) countered with,
"But, Sweetest, we don't have any ground beef."

Said he: "Well, what DO we have?"

Me: "Chicken."

He: "Mmm. Could you make chicken chilli??"

...knowing full well that, though I've never made it, I can, and of course because he has asked, I will. And it will exceed his expectations. Ahh, the things we do for those we love... (recipe to follow.)



Here's my recipe. I made it up as I went along. Turned out great.

4 chicken breasts, cubed
I browned these in olive oil on the bottom of the dutch oven, with:
1/2 a large diced yellow onion
1 Tbsp chili powder... it was heaping.
1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
salt (I use a light hand -- you can always add more later, but it's not so easy to undo overdone salt!)
fresh ground black pepper (again, light hand; it's the red chili pepper I want)
pre-minced garlic and its juice -- the equivalent of an entire head of garlic (no, I didn't mean clove, I said and meant head. I like garlic. You use what you want. This isn't chemistry.)

When I was satisfied the chicken was fully cooked, had good color (not that it would matter as a chili dish, but it matters to me being thorough), and good 'chili' fragrance, I added:
3 cans of diced tomatoes
2 cans of tomato sauce
2 cans of tomato paste
1 can of chicken stock
2 cans of garbanzo beans (it's what I had -- I'd have added black beans, navy beans, and black eyed peas too if I had them; use what you have. This isn't chemistry. Nothing will explode.)
1 1/2-2 C frozen corn, approximately (I didn't measure, I just dumped. Again, not chemistry.)
more fresh chopped onion
fresh chopped celery

Finally, to tweak the flavoring after simmering for an hour or so, I added the following flavors without measuring: dried cilantro (lots), white pepper, more salt and fresh ground black pepper, sage, and 2 scant dashes of cinnamon, more chili powder, and more red pepper flakes. Simmer more. Simmering is good.

It's awesome. Yes. I said that about my own cooking. Sorry. But it is. I had some for breakfast. It's better today than it was yesterday. Good flavor, good heat, and good texture. I'd serve it to anyone. I'd love to add some ground buffalo; it's nice to mix meats, but really, this is complete as it stands.

I made beer bread from a mix to accompany the entire wonderfulness. My Beloved was a very happy man when he walked in the house, and for more reasons than simply because he was seeing me!

I love to put a smile on his face.