Baptismal Chili

(Haley and I have decided to write our blog entries to one another. We hope this format will bolster our self confidence by guaranteeing us a sympathetic audience of one sister who truly cares about the ins and outs of preparing a batch of biscuits.)

Dearest H,
I pictured you and Finn this morning, big and small, at the breakfast table. Likely, Finn took a peek under your shirt at your pregnant belly and said good morning to baby Cobie. Have you and Mike agreed upon the spelling of Coby's name? Notice that I have used both possible spellings. Perhaps looking at your options in print will clarify your decision.

You are probably wondering how the baptism lunch went, so I will tell you. The day started perfectly at Pease Lake. The sky was clear. The lake was still, the mountain reflected on the water. We sang, Caleb dunked with the help of Pastor Harv, we prayed and sang again. It's impossible form me to convey the beauty and simplicity of the experience.

After the church service we took to the Speller residence for a family lunch. In typical form, the Reemes arrived early, talked loudly, and waited impatiently for the food. Actually, lunch was ready, but in typical form, the Spellers trickled in slowly, calling for rides, toting laundry, and disappearing into places like the bathroom just as a blessing for the meal was about to be said.
Interestingly, between us, Caleb and I have created a balancing point between the propensity for punctuality and the inclination to arrive at least a half hour late for every appointment. I no longer fret and fuss over time and Caleb is occasionally early.

The lunch was nice. I called upon mother and mother-in-law for help, playing to their strengths. Sheilah baked two fruit pies and Joan provided a Greek salad, of which the primary ingredients were gleaned from her garden. Rachel (sister-in-law) brought an enormous bread-bowl dip. Hence forth I vow to always call on others to fill in the odds and sods for a group meal. This way, I was able to focus on the chili and bread. This was a white chili, with pale beans and chicken, forgoing the typical tomato based sauce. It is really quite good. Sadly, I have no photos so you'll have to make it to see it. The bread was also a success. Actually, it led to a lot of binging amongst the guests. Rachel scoffed when I hinted that I hoped for leftovers to take home. The loaves were based on the no-work recipe. I tinkered with the flours and threw some raisins and spices into one. The recipe for the no-work bread is located in our archives.

The recipe for White Chili was created by Jacqueline McMahan. I paired down on the chilies, tinkered with the beans, and made a few other alterations to suite my ingredients and ease. Otherwise, I followed her directions

White Chili

Beans
1 pound combination of dried pale coloured beans of your choice
5-8 cups water
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
pepper
salt
Combine these ingredients in a big pot. Simmer them until the beans are soft. This will probably take one to two hours. If you want to speed up the simmer time, pre soak your beans over night or for about 8 hours.

Drain the beans and reserve a cup of liquid

Chili
One bottle light beer
1 cup diced onion
2-3 minced garlic cloves
2 jalapeno chilies, seeded and diced (use one, or half, if you want a mild chili)
4 Anaheim chilies roasted, peeled and seeded (you can skip theses and just use jalapeno chilies but the roasted chilies don't add heat to your chile, they merely add to the complexity of the flavour, which is a good thing)
1 to 2 tsp cumin
Combine these ingredients in a large pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add these ingredients to the pot:
1 and 1/4 pound chicken breasts, diced
1 tsp chile powder
1 cup reserved bean liquid
Simmer for at least 15 minutes or until you have the tomatillo sauce ready.

Tomatillo Sauce
1 pound tomatillos, husks removed (or subsitute roma tomatoes for the tomatillos)
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
Place the ingredients in a food processor and process until the consistency of salsa. Stir into the chili. Add the beans. Simmer for 20 min.

Serve topped with grated cheese if you would like. I prefer the chili without cheese.

Variation: Quick Method: Use canned beans and skip the bean preparation step. Add the beans and their liquid along with the chicken.

Nesting and Gnocchi

Rach, it was a good week. Thanks for getting off the island and spending time with me and Finn. The pre-baby wait isn't for the adrenaline junky, but it was great having company in my "nesting." I added the above pic to give you accolades for my newly-organized pantry. When
I open the door to find something it takes mere seconds- beautiful rows of baking supplies and cooking goods wait for me expectantly- no longer jumbled together in one big pile (how many half empty bags of oats did you find.. 5?). I record in writing, my solemn vow to fight my "Hale-tropy" slide toward disaster and to do all in my power to maintain this organized state. I am picturing your skeptical face right now; fine, new plan, how about you come out every few months to do a visual?? Or I could post a pic every two months or so?

I needed to document our fabulous gnocchi meal. Judging by the amount he pounded back Finn's weight is now secured at the top percentile of the two-year-old growth chart. This was a great meal that did well on our eating local aspirations - basil pesto made with my bumper crop, beans also from my garden, and potato gnocchi made with yukon gold potatoes from our Dutch egg lady down the road.



Gnocchi with Pesto
(from The Williams Sonoma Cookbook)
-makes 4 servings

Salt
3 russet potatoes, about 1 1/2 lb russet potatoes, scrubbed (we used 6 yukon golds)
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (we used dried)
1 large egg, beaten (props to us for one more local item -eggs from Fairfield Island)
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour, plus more as needed for rolling
6oz haricots verts or other slender green beans, trimmed
1/2 cup pesto (see recipe below)
6 tbs unsalted butter (I used 1 1/2 tbs)

To make gnocchi, in a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the unpeeled whole potatoes until tender, about 30 minutes. OR follow our lead and bake the potatoes (after all, your oven is on for the muffins and date squares). Drain and let cool. Peel and place in a large bowl. Add the 2 tbs grated cheese, 1 1/4 tsp salt and nutmeg and mash well with a potato masher. Let cool to lukewarm, mix in the egg and 1 cup of the flour.

Knead the dough, adding more flour 1 tbs at a time as needed, until a soft and sticky dough forms, about 3 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then divide into 6 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, use your palms to roll each piece into a rope 3/4 inch thick. Cut the ropes into 1 inch pieces. To form the grooves that will hold the sauce, roll each piece over the tines of a large fork.

In a large pot of generously salted boiling water, cook the beans until tender-crisp, about 3 minutes. Using a skimmer, transfer beans to a colander and drain.

In 2 batches, cook the gnocchi in the same pot of boiling water until just tender, stirring often to prevent sticking, about 5 minutes per batch. Use the skimmer to transfer to a baking sheet.

Put the pesto and 1/2 cup grated cheese into a large bowl. In a large frying pan, melt butter over medium high heat. Add the gnocchi and saute until heated through, 5 minutes. Add beans and toss for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to the bowl of pesto and cheese and toss to coat. Divide among 4 plates, serve at once.

Pesto - Note we used a combo of pine nuts and walnuts. Other note - yay, the "deflowering" of my new food processor!!

In a food processor, combine 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 large clove of garlic, halved, 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Process until garlic is minced. Add 2 cups firmly packed basil leaves and 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts and process until the basil is finely ground. With, the motor running, gradually add 1/2 cup (I used 1/4 cup) olive oil and blend until almost smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and refrigerate. To store for up to a week, spoon additional oil over the pesto to cover. Makes about 1/2 cup.

Before I sign off, another huge thanks for the baking in my freezer- I've got enough muffins, bread, granola, and squares to last me for a bit. Could you please post me a recipe for the apple-cinnamon-raisin bread? We finished the last of the first loaf on french toast this morning.

Here's to hoping that babe makes an appearance soon (well, after I've reorganized my closet!).