White Chicken Chili with Roasted Chilies

On Sundays I love watching the Seahawks and cooking something really special for me and my fiance.  I came up with this White Chicken Chili recipe, and while you can simplify it by using beans out of the can and canned chilies, I wanted to do everything from scratch!  So if you have a Sunday afternoon or some extra time one day, this is a recipe that will make your family luuuuuuurve you even more than they do now! 

White  Chicken Chili 

2 chicken breasts on the bone (or whole chicken) whatever you like best
1 lb. Great White Northern beans 
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 Anaheim peppers
2 poblano peppers
2 jalapeno peppers
6 cups water 
8 cups chicken LOW SODIUM stock
1 cup milk 
2 tbsp. masa (you can use corn flour...i used corn muffin mix)
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander 
fresh cilantro garnish
fresh lime to spritz 
Monterrey Jack cheese for topping 
Warm corn tortillas for dipping 

Sort beans for rocks, rinse, then soak overnight.  OR, I soaked them in hot water while I cooked the chicken.  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

Sprinkle salt and pepper on the chicken.  In a large dutch oven on medium-high heat, brown the chicken pieces on both sides.  You are not cooking the chicken, just getting a nice color on it.  Once the chicken is brown, remove it from the pan.  

Add 6 cups of water to the pot and scrape up the chicken bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a boil, add the browned chicken, lower the heat to a simmer, and cover with a lid.  Let simmer 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, put all the peppers on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Roast about 20 minutes or until peppers begin to turn black.  Remove from the oven and let cool.  When the peppers are cool enough to touch, prick with a fork and remove the outer layer of skin from all the peppers.  Then chop all the peppers.  

Remove the chicken and set aside.  Pour the broth into a bowl.  

In the same dutch oven, add chopped onion and saute for a few minutes.  Add the roasted peppers and garlic.  Add the cumin and coriander and stir quickly around the pan.  Pour the reserved broth back into the dutch oven over the onions and peppers.  Add the rinsed beans.  Add 6 - 8 cups of chicken broth.  (I used close 2 boxes of chicken stock.  Keep an eye on the beans.  They soak up a ton of liquid, and you may have to add more stock during the cooking process.)  Let the beans come to a boil, put a lid on the dutch oven, and turn the heat down to a simmer.  

The beans will need to cook 2 hours or until soft.  

While the beans are cooking, remove the skin from the chicken.  With two forks, shred the chicken finely.  

When the beans are tender, add the chicken back to the pot.  Mix together the milk and masa in a cup, then add to the chili.  Let this cook for another 10 minutes.  This will thicken up the chili.  

Serve the chili with warm tortillas and top with fresh cilantro, Monterrey Jack cheese, and a spritz of fresh lime juice!