Originally published on May 20, 2015
I’ve never been a girly-girl easily grossed out by stuff, especially food stuff. So sticking my hand into a huge bowl of raw meat has never been a big deal. But I will tell you that ground chicken is not like other grounds meats. Unlike beef, and even turkey, ground chicken is not for the faint of heart. It kind of smooshes together and becomes a big glob of raw grossness. It sticks to your hands and kind of plops down into the pot, like little blobs of slimy pink play-dough. It’s not pleasant.
That being said, once it’s in the pot and starts cooking, it does separate and doesn’t have any of that off-putting aroma that some say ground turkey has when it cooks. And when you add all the other ingredients to the pot to make this fantastic chicken chili, well there’s really nothing quite like it. I had never thought that chili was something you could change all that much. But when you use a different kind of meat, stock instead of stewed tomatoes, and add a couple handfuls of fresh greens, you might just end up with my new favourite chili.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 pounds ground chicken
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons chili powder
3 tablespoons flour
2 cans (15 oz.) white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 bunch baby spinach
2 ears of fresh corn, shucked with kernels removed
4 cups chicken stock
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Directions:
1.) Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
2.) Add the ground chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, cumin, fennel seeds, oregano, and chilipowder. Cook, stirring frequently to break up the chicken, until the chicken is cooked through, about 8 minutes.
3.) Stir the flour into the chicken mixture. Add the beans, corn, and chicken stock. Bring the mixture up to a boil, scraping the bottom of the pan as you do to release brown bits. When boiling turn heat to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.
4.) Add the spinach and the red pepper flakes, stir, and continue simmering for another 20 minutes or so, until all the flavours have blended and the spinach has wilted. Taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary.
5.) Ladle the chili into serving bowls and sprinkle each serving with some Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
6.) Serve and enjoy!