Bean-A-Thon: White Bean & Turkey Chili

This week?s Bean-A-Thon recipe (see the previous three Bean-A-Thon recipes here, here and here) come?s from one of Koko?s roommates and good friends, Mi, who I met while visitng Koko in NoLa.

When Koko raved to me about Mi?s recipe when I told her I was doing a Bean-A-Thon, I decided I needed to try a white bean chili.  I?ve never really had wihte beans before (maybe once or twice), so I was excited to venture into this new realm.

Two weekends ago when I cooked up a storm of beans, I had soaked and pre-cooked 2 cups of white beans, and then froze them.  This, very conveniently, saved me a lot of time this weekend (I have a midterm on Thursday), and so I was able to start cooking up a storm at 4:30pm yesterday.

Ready to cook:

First things first, I poured chicken stock I had picked up on sale a few weeks back from Whole Paycheck into a large pot and dumped my frozen white beans into the mix.  I put the pot on the stove on medium heat.  (Once the beans had melted, I turned it up to a low, rolling boil.)

Then, I chopped up the jalapeños, garlic and onion in olive oil.

Then I sautéed the jalapeños, garlic and onion for about five minutes, before adding it to the beans & chicken stock.

Then, in the same pan I sautéed the veggies, I cooked up the ground turkey with some cumin, oregano & ground black pepper.

Then I added the turkey to the beans in the pots, and let it simmer over medium heat for about an hour.

While it cooked, I could help but sample a bit.

(The last one is for good measure )

When it was all done, I served myself up dinner with a side of my homemade whole wheat olive oil bread (recipe to come later this week ? I promise!).

Verdict?!  I loved the mixture of the flavors and the consistency of the chili: not too thick, not too soupy.  I would?ve never thought to add oregano to the chili, but I loved it!  I was sad that the white beans more or less turned to mush ? but maybe next time I?ll cook them for a shorter amount of time than I cook black/pinto beans.  Maybe they?re a bit more fragile?  Also, although Mi had recommended I use a CUP AND A HALF of jalapenos, I thought she was nuts, so I only used 2 at first, then after my samplings, I added another jalapeno.  It definitely wasn?t spicy enough for me, so I probably could?ve added another one or two.  Insane, I know.  But seriously: I couldn?t taste the spice!

Lucky for you, Mi has given me permission to post this AWESOME recipe.  (If you can?t tell I?m sort of biased towards chilis, but seriously loved the flavor mixtures).

White Bean Turkey Chili

(Straight from Mi)

Rinse the beans and toss them into a pot with the chicken stock and bring it to a boil.
Then sauté the jalapeños, garlic and onion in a saucepan for about 5 minutes, and add them to the chili pot. Use the same pan to cook the ground turkey. Add the spices to the meet while it cooks. When the turkey is cooked through, add that to the chili pot as well.

Lower the heat to medium and cook it for an hour/hour and a half. It will smell SO good!  (And it seriously did!)

Advice from Mi (which I did not head as I did not have the ingredients?but would be an awesome addition): If you want a real treat, make jalapeno cornbread to serve with it.

What do you think of the Bean-A-Thon thus far?  Is there a specific recipe you?d like to see me try?  I?ve still got an incredible amount of beans left (lots of lentils, pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans?you get the idea), and while I have a list of recipes I want to make (and am planning on making), I?d also like to make a few you all would love to see on the blog!