WINTER WHITE CHILI

White Winter Chili

This is a flashback post from my last food blog. I originally started messing around with this recipe while I lived in Maine, and there were about 4 feet of snow on the ground. It's interesting, and not quite what you'd expect from a chili. It's very mild, and great comfort food for when it's cold outside. The recipe's the one I had back in Maine, but the pics are brand new.

I feel like I should apologize for the lack of light, this was pretty spur of the moment and I lack a backdrop/did this at night. I went a bit pic heavy, because wtf. Why not?

Ingredients:

1 lb Sweet italian sausage
1 julienne small white onion
1/4 medium chopped green bell pepper
1-2 cloves chopped garlic, to taste (yeah, I cheated. meh. Do as I say, it's way better with real garlic. I had none at the time.)
1 small can sweet corn (or, for better results, grill some in it's husk and chop it off the cob. Man, I feel like Sandra Lee right now. Eef.)
2 cans cannelini beans, drained well but not rinsed
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
pepper to taste
1/4 c water
splash of olive oil

Directions:
First, hack your veggies into small pieces. Dicing the peppers is a pretty straightforward process, but julienning (is that a real word?) onions is a bit more complicated. So, I took pictures! I'd apologize for the overabundance of them, but really? I had fun. Don't judge me.

Peel the onion, and chop it in half from the top down.

Lay the onion half on it's side.

Then, cut it into strips.

THE VEGGIES! This is what your onions should look like, but the thickness is up to you. I like them a bit thicker cut.

De-case your sausage.

That takes care of the prep.

So, take a cold pan and put a splash of olive oil in it. Heat it on medium heat until the oil is rippling and the pan is good and warm, then add the sausage. A cold pan makes the olive oil smoke less, and break down less. Any recipe that tells you to add it to a really hot pan for sustained cooking is lying to you, and they suck at cooking. Unless it's Gordon Ramsay. He's always telling the truth, so do that. All the time.

Break up the sausage into the pan, and discard  the cases. Let it brown for a few seconds, and toss it around.

Add your veggies and mix it up really well.

Add the chili powder and cumin.

Then, cover and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, then recover and cook until the onions are translucent and the veggies are nice and soft.

Add the corn. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Then, add the beans. This might seem like a lot, but that's kinda the point of this recipe. Before you ask, no. You won't have the usual problem beans give you. At least, I never have. This time around I used northern white beans, but any mild white bean will do. Cannelini beans are delicious in this recipe. Cook the chili for about 5 more minutes, then add the water. Allow it to go for about 3 more minutes, until there's a nice creamy base.  The reason you don't rinse the beans is the bit of starch left on the beans makes the stock thicken, and provides the body of the chili. This recipe also goes against the grain in one major way: The leftovers are WAY better than the original dish. This tastes best if you make the chili the night before, then reheat it and garnish. Lazy winter food, it keeps amazingly well.

Garnish with sour cream and shredded cheddar, if desired.

Variations include adding some diced carrots in with the veggies in the beginning, or mushrooms. You can also use ground turkey instead of sausage, but if you do you're going to have to add a bit of caraway seed, some coriander seed, celery seed, a bit of salt, some paprika, and maybe a pinch of cayenne pepper. If you want a more smooth recipe, grate the carrots, onions, and some red bell peppers, then sautee them in the olive oil until they break down a bit, before adding the ground meat. This makes for a really smooth chili, with amazing flavor, but it doesn't have as much texture. Obviously, your tastes will vary.

Any way you cook it, with any of the variations, I hope you enjoy it! White chili is not very heavily represented in American cuisine, which is a shame given how very delicious it can be. It's also awesome over rice.