A Perfect Dish for Delivery: Turkey and White Bean Chili

A common thing in mom communities is to bring dinner for families with new babies. So, when someone has a new baby, one friend makes a list of dates and circulates it among all the other friends. Each person signs up for a date and delivers dinner for the family. It's a really helpful thing for the new mom -- when my youngest was born, I had so many meals from my friends and the other moms at my daughter's preschool that didn't have to cook for more than a month! And if you're the one delivering the meal, you want it to be tasty, you want to appeal to all the members of the family (which generally includes toddlers or preschoolers who can be notoriously picky), and let's face it: you want it to be easy. Well, I've found one such recipe: Turkey and White Bean Chili.

I've made this a few times for other moms, and will probably be making it again this week for a meal that I am delivering on Friday. One of the great things about this recipe is that it's really quick and easy to make. It also lends itself to doubling quite well. What I have been doing is making a double batch the night before I need to deliver it. I use one half of it for my family on the night that I make it. Then, I use the other half for delivery the next day. And since chili actually tastes better the longer it sits, delivering it the next day means that my friend's family gets an even tastier version. I save it in the refrigerator in the Dutch oven in which I cooked it (with the lid on) so that the next day I can just pop it on the stove and warm it up before I deliver it. That way, I can bring it to my friend nice and warm and ready to eat.

I can't remember where I found the original recipe. But over time I've made a bunch of my own alterations to it, so by now it has really become my own. I don't have any pictures right now, but perhaps when I make it tomorrow night, I'll take some and add them to this post.*

Courtney's Turkey and White Bean Chili
makes 5-6 servings
1 red onion chopped
1/3 cup chopped pasilla pepper
1 clove minced garlic
1 1/4 pounds ground turkey
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 14oz can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 28oz can diced tomatoes
1 14oz can chicken broth
1 tablespoon of cilantro paste or 1/2 cup chopped, fresh cilantro

-- Heat large saucepan over medium heat
-- Add the first 4 ingredients (through turkey) and cook for about 6 minutes or until the turkey is done, stirring frequently to crumble
-- Stir in chili powder and the next 8 ingredients (through broth)
-- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer at least 10 minutes
-- Stir in cilantro

And a few notes...
-- I generally serve this with shredded jack cheese, sour cream, nacho chips, and lime wedges. Not only do these things add to the flavor, but it also makes it more fun and enticing for little kids.

-- I tend to use pasilla peppers because they're not too hot. But, you can substitute any green pepper. In fact, if you are cooking for anyone who doesn't love spicy food, you can use just a small portion of the pepper in the chili, and keep the remainder aside for folks to add on their own. This is how I do it when I am delivering it.

-- I also use cilantro paste instead of fresh cilantro only because I don't use fresh cilantro often enough to warrant buying an entire bunch. Inevitably, I use what I need for a recipe, and then end up wasting the rest of it. So, I always keep a tube of cilantro paste in the refrigerator so that I have some on hand when I need it. But you can use the fresh stuff, if you like.

This dish is perfect on its own as a meal, but you can also add a salad to make sure you get your green veggies. Enjoy!

*I made it tonight and remembered to take a picture as it simmered on the stove. (4/3/08)

Soup Surprise

As a mom to a three year old who won't touch a green vegetable without some elaborate bribery involved, I am always looking for ways to sneak additional nutrients into the dishes I know she'll eat. Given that today was an unseasonably cool and overcast day in the Bay Area, I decided to make soup. I let my daughter choose from a couple of recipes, and she chose the Southern Ham and Bean soup. Great choice, as she loves both beans and "hammie". It also posed the perfect opportunity for me to covertly add some pureed kale to the recipe. Oh what a tangled web we weave...

Anyway, I used the recipe from America's Test Kitchen Fast & Fresh Recipe Card Collection. The recipe calls for 2 cups of green beans to be added to the soup at the end, but I just substituted about 1/4 cup of kale juice instead. Kale juice? Yes. Okay, the full story is that I make my own baby food by steaming veggies, pureeing them, putting the puree in ice cube trays, and then defrosting a couple of cubes at a time as needed. Well, when you puree kale, you end up with a lot of little green specks in green kale juice. I strained out the kale bits and was left with the liquid -- the bits were used for baby food, and the juice went into the soup. Kale can have a tendency to smell a little like freshly mown grass, and I was a little afraid that this would have a undesirable effect on the flavor of the soup. But fortunately, the other flavors from the ham, the beans, and the brown sugar were so rich, that you couldn't even taste the kale. I think you could probably use other greens too, if you wanted. I might try Swiss chard next time.

Here is the recipe as published in America's Test Kitchen
Southern Ham and Bean Soup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped fine
2 celery ribs, chopped fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound ham steak, chopped fine
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
2 (16-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups frozen chopped green beans
Makes 4-6 servings

-- Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat
-- Cook onion, celery, garlic, ham, sugar, thyme, and half of white beans, covered until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes
-- Using potato masher, mash beans and vegetables to rough paste
-- Stir in remaining white beans and broth
-- Simmer, covered, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes
-- Add green beans and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes

I also got a nice sourdough baguette and threw a couple of chunks into my bowl to make it just a little bit heartier. Yum! It was a great soup and even my daughter loved it, kale and all. Score one for Mommy!