Ghostly White Chicken Chili

Happy Halloween!! To celebrate this ghoulish nite I made a Ghostly White Chicken Chili.  What you will  need if you choose to take part in the gore is: 2 lbs ground chicken breast, 1 large store bought rotisserie chicken removed from carcass and shredded, 1 tbs canola oil, 4 cloves garlic minced, 2 jalapenos chopped (seeded if you can't handle the heat), 2 poblano peppers seeded and chopped, 1 large yellow onion chopped, juice of 2 limes, 1 large handful of cilantro chopped, 2 tbs ancho chili powder, 3 tbs cumin, 2 tsp coriander, S&P to taste, 2 14.5oz cans cannellini beans rinsed and drained (mash 1 can of the beans with a potato masher), 4 C unsalted chicken stock, grated white cheddar cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips (Scoops are great for this).  Ok, let's cook.  Take a large pot, I used my medium size Le Creuset (if you don't have one of these you should definitely make the investment-well worth the money and will last a lifetime) and heat the oil over med heat.  Add your garlic, peppers and onions to pot and saute for about 5 minutes or until the veg is soft.  Add your ground chicken and continue to cook until no longer pink, breaking the chicken up into bite size pieces as it cooks. Add your spices and lime juice and continue to cook for about 5 minutes add S&P to taste.  Add the chicken stock, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for an additional 20 minutes.  Add roasted chicken, beans and cilantro and continue to cook for an another 5 minutes.  Serve the chili in bowls, topped with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream and use the tortilla chips for scooping, I dare you to try this!!

Gourmet Breakfast Sandwiches

These are not your ordinary breakfast sandwiches, these are gourmet.  So why gourmet you ask? It's all in the cheese.  The cheeses that I chose were a Colliers Welsh Cheddar which is a mature, robust cheddar with a slightly sweet flavor.  This cheese originated from the Welsh mountains in Denbighshire.  The other cheese was a Fromager D'Affinois which is similar to brie with a bloomy rind and a creamy paste.  It's produced in the Rhone Alps and boasts a creamier texture and more buttery flavor than brie.

I made 2 sandwiches, one for me and one for Will.  Will's gourmet sandwich consisted of a toasted Asiago Cheese Bagel with melted Murray's "Colliers Welsh Cheddar" with Wrights Applewood Smoked Bacon, JD mild sausage and 1 large fried organic egg.  My gourmet sandwich consisted of a toasted Everything Bagel with melted Murray's "Fromager D'Affiniois" with Wrights Applewood Smoked Bacon, JD mild sausage and 1 large fried organic egg.  Yummy!  Not the healthiest choice for breakfast, but it's not like we do this everyday.  If you get a chance visit Krogers Gourmet Cheeses section, they have a great selection of cheeses and they also have a section where you can choose small portions of a variety of cheeses, so you're not stuck with a large amount of cheese you don't like and it won't break the bank.  BTW, the Fromager D'Affinois sells for $14.99/lb and I was able to get a small portion for $2.55, the Welsh Cheddar sells for $9.99/lb, but the small portion only cost $1.60.  I also picked up a few other cheeses that otherwise I wouldn't even had thought of buying or trying for that matter had it not been for the small portions with the small price.

Sausage & Peppers with Polenta

Last night we did sausage, peppers and polenta.  I've never made polenta before, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  Polenta is just cornmeal cooked in boiling water.  I used an instant polenta, so it only took about 1 minute to cook.  Polenta is a very popular dish in northern Italy and preferred over pasta dishes.  I began by preheating my oven  to 350 degrees and then I took 1 lb of sweet Italian sausage, if you use links be sure to remove the casing and break into pieces.  I browned the sausage in a large skillet.  While the sausage cooked I julienned 1 green bell pepper, 1 red bell pepper and 1 jalapeno pepper and tossed them into the sausage.  I added about 1/4 C of chicken stock and just let this saute for about 5 minutes until the peppers softened and most of the stock had cooked off.  I removed the skillet from the heat and transferred the sausage and peppers to bowl.  I then cooked the polenta, which only took 1 minute to cook.  I then poured the polenta in the skillet and spread out in the pan.  I drizzled a little EVOO over top and then placed the sausage and peppers over the top of the polenta.  I placed this into the oven and baked for 20 minutes.  After is was finished baking, I generously sprinkled the dish with parmigiana reggiano.  That was all there was too it.  I was surprised how yummy it really was.  We both had leftovers for lunch and agreed it was just as good the next day.  Buen Appetito until next time.