Crowd Pleaser: A White Bean Chili Packed with Aromatics

Occasionally, you need to feed a crowd. Or a community fridge, which is what I have been doing once a week, this winter. Creamy beans have the triple benefit of being comforting, nutritional, and economical. They are also sponges for flavor, which allows for very wide variation, when it comes to adding different herbs, spices and vegetables. Or meats, if you eat those. If I am making chili with brown, black, or red beans, I add cocoa, for example. For my white bean chili, cumin.

In both versions I add more fresh bay leaves—from our indoor tree—than you would think correct: in the beans’ soaking water, when they cook, and to the last stage of cooking. And, because I like to pack as much green herbal goodness as possible into cold weather meals, store-bought cilantro, parsley, and oregano build layers of flavor in each bowlful.

The flock of fresh bay leaves in the beans’ soaking and cooking water, and in the later chili stage, add a layer of upliftingly green perfume to the stew. Dried bay’s flavor is nowhere close.

White Bean Chili with Fresh Bay Leaves and Optional Chicken

Serves 12

The dish is chili, the capsicum is chile (or chili or chilli).

Soaking dry beans for at least 24 hours makes a world of difference on their cooked texture. And do add salt to their cooking water; it’s a myth that it will toughen their skins.  The delicious scent of fresh bay leaves and garlic help flavor them, and when the garlic is soft you squeeze it into the finished chili. As a vegan chili the beans and vegetables stand alone, but the addition of roasted chicken will make omnivores very happy.

Chile substitutes: Ancho chiles are dried poblanos, and are mild, and sweetly smoky. You can also use hotter chipotle morita, or pasilla chiles, which are mildly fruity.

Beans:

• 2 lbs white beans (e.g. cannellini, Great Northern, black-eyed peas, gigante)
• 8 fresh bay leaves
• 2 whole heads garlic, tops sliced off
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• Water to cover beans by 2 inches
• 3 ancho chiles

Squash (and optional chicken):

• 10 oregano stalks with leaves
• 6 Tablespoons avocado oil
• 2 lbs deboned, skinless chicken thighs
• 2 lbs orange squash, de-seeded, in slices or chunks (skin can stay on)
• 1 cup fresh orange juice
• ½ teaspoon salt

Vegetables and aromatics:

• 3 Tablespoons avocado oil
• 1 lb yellow onion (about 1 very large onion), chopped finely
• 1 lb celery, chopped finely
• 1 large bunch cilantro, stems chopped finely (reserve leaves)
• 1 large bunch Italian parsley, stems and leaves chopped very finely
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (or substitute black)
• 1 can peeled tomatoes
• 6 fresh bay leaves
• 3 Tablespoons Better than Bouillion Vegetable paste (or vegetable broth or chicken broth instead of water)
• 2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Water to cover (approximaetly 8 to 10 cups)

Beans: In a large bowl cover the dry beans with water, add the bay leaves and soak for at least 24 hours.

In a very large pot, combine the soaked, drained beans with the heads of garlic, the same bay leaves and the  ancho chiles. Cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat at once to a steady, bubbling simmer and cook until tender (about 20 minutes for small beans, about 40 minutes for large). Turn off the heat. Lift out the now-soft ancho chiles, remove and discard their seeds, and chop them. Return them to the beans. Squeeze the garlic from its skins and return the soft garlic to the pot.

Squash and chicken: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Oil two baking sheets and scatter the oregano stems across them. Lay slices of squash on one, and the chicken on the other, if using. Pour orange juice over both, and season with salt. Slide the trays into the oven and roast for 45 minutes until the squash is tender and the chicken cooked-through. Remove, cool, and cut both into bite-sized pieces.

Vegetables and aromatics: Warm the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, celery, cilantro stems, all the parsley, the cumin and the white pepper and stir well. Cover, and sweat-cook for about 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Add the cooked beans and their cooking liquid, the canned tomatoes, the bay leaves and the bouillon paste, if using. If the bean-liquid does not cover everything by an inch, add water (or broth if you are not using the bouillon paste). Bring to a boil and then cook for 45 minutes at a steady simmer. Taste, and add slat, if necessary. Now add the chicken and the lemon juice, and cook another 45 minutes, uncovered. Finally, add the squash, just to heat through. Taste, and add more salt if necessary.

Serve in bowls with the reserved cilantro  on the side.

See also:

• Winter Comfort: Roasted Pears with Fir Sugar
• Naancaccia: A Butter-Drenched, No-Knead Flatbread Singing with Field Garlic
• A No-Knead Focaccia for Thanksgiving and Beyond