Smoky Chicken Chili

Clearly, this weather screams for chili. While I love the standard recipe (beef, tomatoes, beans, chili peppers, onions), there is nothing wrong with some variety. This is a composite recipe that takes several shortcuts without any sacrifice relative to flavor or nutrition.

I start chicken chili with 2 chicken breasts, which I roast (seared in a pan on the stove top with salt/pepper/olive oil and finished in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes). Once cool, I pull them apart by hand; cutting is not optimal for the texture of this dish.

The base starts by dicing 2 Poblano peppers, 1 bell pepper (any color but green), 1 onion and 3 garlic cloves. I cook these down in some olive oil, then add the shredded chicken, 2 cups of water, 2 cans of chili style tomatoes, 1 can of navy beans, 1 can of rinsed/drained black beans, 1 dark beer, 1 tsp of salt and a package of "white chicken chili seasoning". This needs to gently simmer for an hour. We serve it with cheese, scallions, Frito's, sour cream, chopped red onion or even fried corn tortillas for toppings. It heats up great for days.

Lasagna

Yesterday's snow day was perfect for making lasagna. This is another "weekend only" meal in our house, as since I enjoy the process as much as the result, I take no short-cuts. It takes about 3 hours.

I make my lasagna with two sauces, a Bechemel and a traditional Marinara. The Bechemel is basically a gravy, made by whisking 1 and 1/4 Tbs of melted butter with 1/8 cup of flour in a sauce pan over very low heat. Once it is smooth, I add 1 Cup of milk and reduce it until it is thick. It should never boil. Once it is ready, it needs to be seasoned off heat with an 1/8 of a tsp of salt (at least) and a pinch of nutmeg and white pepper.

The Marinara sauce is made with two quarts of tomatoes (canned this summer from Dad's garden), 1 bunch of basil, 2 diced onions, 4 minced garlic cloves, a tsp of dried oregano (from our garden), a tsp of sugar and salt/pepper. I puree the tomatoes and basil in the food processor while I cook the onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Then I combine everything in the pan and simmer it until it is thick.

The final prepared layer is 15 ounces of Ricotta (NOT COTTAGE) cheese, 1 Cup of Parmesan cheese, 3 ounces of chopped Prosciutto, 1 Large Egg, 3/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper. I use a mixer to combine this layer.

To put it together, I butter the lasagna dish and pour in the Bechemel sauce. Then I place 3 al dente lasagna noodles adjacent to each other and begin making layers, using some of the ricotta mixture, the marinara, some browned and finely chopped Italian sausage and some shredded provolone. I usually make 4 "levels", which requires 12 pieces of pasta. I then put some more Marinara on top and grate some Parmesan on that. It needs to warmed through in the oven at 350 degrees. For Lacey, I finish it under the broiler to brown a little cheese on top. It was pretty good last night. It was great this morning.