life:and:lim

White Chicken Chili
                           
1 1-lb. package dried white beans, soaked overnight in water, drained
       (I used 1 can white kidney beans and some leftover canned pinto beans I had)
6 cups chicken broth (I used nowhere near this amt, prolly more like 3 cups)
2 cloves garlic minced
2 medium onions, chopped (I used 1.5 onions and added 3 stalks chopped celery)
2  4oz cans chopped chili (1 can hot, 1 can mild) (I used just one -- I couldn't find hot)
2 tsp. ground cumin (I used a bit more--I love me some cumin)
1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I didn't have any so used chili powder)
4 c. diced cooked chicken (good ole Costco rotisserie chicken)
3 c. grated Monterey jack cheese (I only had cheddar and gouda, so I used the gouda)

Combine beans, chicken broth, garlic & 1/2 chopped onions in large soup pot & bring to a boil.  Reduce heat & simmer 2 or more hours until beans are very soft.  Add more chicken broth if necessary.  In skillet, sautee remaining onions in oil until tender.  Add chili & seasoning and mix thoroughly.  Add this mix to beans mixture & stir.  Add chicken and continue to simmer one hour.  Add the cheese just before ready to serve.  

I should mention that I didn't really follow this.  What I did was simmer the onions, garlic and celery for a long while, like 20-25 min.  I added the chili and let it simmer a while longer.  Then added the beans, and then the spices.  I added 1 bay leaf.  After letting it all render down for a bit longer, I added the chicken and then the chicken broth.  Let simmer for maybe another 20-30 min.  Ate it with some delicious corn bread.

1. Chopped up one VERY large onion and put it in the stockpot to fry.  
2. Meanwhile, chopped up 3 stalks of rather old celery. Added that, then peeled and chopped 2 large carrots.  I added salt and pepper and let the mirepoix render down for a long time, probably 20-25 min., while I gathered the other ingredients.
3. I had some leftover green parts from two leeks I had used last week.  I washed them and threw them into the pot, whole (planning to fish them out later)
4. I added a can of regular Swanson chicken broth.  I hated using the stuff because it's practically radioactive, but that's all they had at the Mexican market.  Normally I would have used TJ's chicken broth or chicken bones.
5. I added water.  Don't ask me how much.  Enough to kind of cover the ingredients, though I added more over the course of cooking as it evaporated.
6. I washed whatever leftover Italian flat-leaf parsley I had and threw the stalks in, whole.
7. I added several healthy shakes of oregano and thyme, plus one bay leaf. I really wanted to add some chicken bones so I took the leftover crispy chicken I had from the Chinese restaurant I went to on Friday night and pulled the little bits of bone from it and threw that in too.  I let everything stew for another long while.
8. Meanwhile I took some leftover Costco rotisserie chicken breast, along with leftover Chinese crispy chicken breast, and cut into cubes, then set aside.
9. This is where it gets hazy for me.  I can't remember if I added any other herbs.  But when the soup was looking pretty good and smelling very nice, I started fishing out the leek greens, parsley and chicken bones.
10. I had two leftover frozen Pillsbury Grands biscuits I had been saving for just this purpose.  Tore them up and stuck them in, for dumplings.
11. Tossed in some orzo.  Not very much.
12. I tossed in the chicken.
13. Let it all simmer (it kind of boiled a bit too) for a little while.  I was worried about the chicken getting too tough.  I hate tough chicken in soup.
14. It was smelling great, and after tasting it I added a bit more salt to taste, but I didn't like how thin it was.  I had some half-and-half and poured a little bit in at a time, until the color looked just a tad creamy.  
15. After a few min though the cream started scumming across the top.  I was like, oh crap, I need something to keep it evenly distributed.  I had just watched an episode of Alton Brown's stewing techniques, so I knew that cornstarch would not be a good option for this.  
16. I had no arrowroot on hand, so I decided to go with flour.  From the episode I knew that dumping in flour just like that would make it clump horribly.  So put a tablespoon or two of flour in a small bowl and mixed it with and almost equal amt. of water.  When it was like a glue, I added a bit of the soup broth and kept mixing, and added more, until I had a thick liquid.  THEN I poured the liquid slowly into the stockpot, and mixed until it started thickening and coming together very nicely.
17. I can't tell you how I knew when it was "done," but at some point I had to stop because I was late meeting a friend up in the city.  So that was that!