i heart cooking clubs & ultimate recipe swap ~ giada's chicken chili

a wonderful Fall meal

This week's theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs is Fall Favorites. Since we're cooking our way through Giada's recipes I sat with my cookbooks looking for inspiration and I kept coming back to this recipe. When Fall arrives in Northern Virginia there are days of warmth and magnificent sunshine quickly followed by cold windy blistery days. It really is a crap shoot. It's also football season which means chili and lots of it. 

This recipe was a different take on chili that I hadn't tried before. The combination of cumin, fennel seeds, oregano and chili powder and hardy swiss chard gave the chicken chili some real weight and a surprisingly mild flavor. I was pleasantly surprised. The chili was filling and but not overwhelming as chili can sometimes be. It is a recipe we will be making again.

Celebrate the Feast!

Mary

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White Bean and Chicken Chili

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 pounds ground chicken

1 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning

2 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons chili powder

3 tablespoons flour

2 (15-ounce cans) cannellini or other white beans, rinsed and drained

1 bunch (about 1 pound) Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces

11/2 cups frozen corn, thawed

4 cups low-sodium chicken stock

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Freshly ground black pepper for seasoning

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chili powder. Cook, stirring frequently, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, Swiss chard, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a simmer, scraping up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Simmer for 55-60 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half and the chili has thickened. Add the red pepper flakes and simmer for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Ladle the chili into serving bowls. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.