Tomatillo Chicken Chili

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Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free/Nut-Free

Skill Level: Beginner/Intermediate

Yield: 4 servings

Prep Time: 20-25 minutes

Cook Time: 4 to 5 hours (slow-cooker cook time)

Equipment Needed:

• Colander

• Slow cooker

• Cutting board

• Chef's knife

• Blender

• Microwave-safe bowl

• Tongs

The Recipe:

This recipe is adapted from two recipes, one by America's Test Kitchen and the other by Samin Nosrat

Ingredients:

• 1 (15-ounce) can hominy

• 2 cups chicken broth, divided

• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 big cloves or 3-4 average/small cloves)

• 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

• 2 teaspoons ground cumin

• 1 teaspoon ground coriander

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

• 10 ounces tomatillos, husked and diced into 1-inch chunks

• 2 poblano chiles, stemmed, seeded, and minced

• 1 medium shallot, diced

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley leaves

• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

• Kosher salt

• Ground black pepper

• Corn tortilla chips for garnish (optional)

Procedure:

1. Empty can of hominy into a colander set in your sink and rinse thoroughly.

2. In a blender, process about HALF of the hominy and 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth (this should take about a minute). Transfer this mixture to your slow cooker.

3. Place chopped onion, minced garlic, 1/2 tablespoon of the olive oil (your 1/2 tablespoon equivalent is 1 1/2 teaspoons, if you need it), cumin, and coriander in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, stirring about every 90 seconds, until onions are softened (about 5 minutes). Transfer this mixture to your slow cooker.

4. Stir remaining hominy, HALF of your diced tomatillos, and 1 cup chicken broth into slow cooker. Set aside the other half of your tomatillos; you'll come back to these in a bit.

5. Trim chicken thighs of excess fat and season generously with kosher salt and ground black pepper.

6. Nestle chicken thighs into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until chicken is tender, about 4 to 5 hours.

7. After about 2 hours, add the other half of your diced tomatillos to the slow cooker. Give everything a quick stir, cover, and continue cooking.

8. Near the end of the cooking time, combine diced shallot and red wine vinegar in a small bowl and allow to sit for about 15 minutes to macerate (this will take a bit of the sharpness out of the shallot).

9. Add chopped parsley, 1/4 cup olive oil and a generous pinch of kosher salt to the shallots and vinegar; whisk to combine. Set aside.

10. Place minced poblano and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave until tender, stirring about every 2 minutes (this should take about 8 minutes).

11. Using a tongs, break tender chicken up into 1-inch (or larger, based on your preference) pieces while still in the slow cooker.

12. Add poblanos and reserved parsley/oil/shallot/vinegar mixture to slow cooker and stir to combine. Let sit for about 2 minutes.

13. Stir in cilantro. Taste, and adjust with salt and pepper to your liking.

To Serve: Ladle into bowls with a couple of tortilla chips as garnish, if desired. I crushed some chips on top of my chili, as well as dipped some in and ate them that way.

Adjusting for your diet: Could this chili be made vegan...I think so, although I haven't tried it. You would omit the chicken and substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth. From there, I think you might want a little more body so I might try adding an extra can of hominy or even another can of a different bean, such as black or pinto. You could also try hydrating some soy curls and adding those at the same time as the poblanos. Their texture is similar to chicken, so that might be a nice substitute as well. It could be interesting-please let me know how it goes if you try it!

Tips:

• I just about always use yellow onions when cooking, but I think you could use any variety you have handy.

• If you're not familiar with hominy, it is made from the whole corn kernels that have been soaked in a lime or lye solution to soften up the outer hulls, which are then removed. It has a really wonderful corn flavor and is a great addition to this chili. I've only ever used canned hominy (although I know you can purchase it dried as well), which you will often find in the aisle of your grocery store that is home to Mexican ingredients such as canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, canned green chilis, salsas, etc. I frequent two grocery stores; one carries it and one does not. If you can't find it, I might try substituting a bean like black beans or pinto beans. Or of course, you can always order it on Amazon.

• If you don't have a blender but do have a food processor, you could easily use this for step 2. This step adds a bit of thickness to the base of the chili; if you prefer a thinner chicken chili you could skip this step and add all of the hominy whole.

• Using a microwave to soften the onion and poblano is a nice time-saver because you can walk away and do something else while microwaving, instead of having to babysit the stovetop. However if you are a purist (I salute you, btw), you could certainly soften up your vegetables on the stovetop as well :)

• I season up my meat quite generously; don't be shy with the kosher salt and pepper when prepping your chicken thighs.

Chicken thighs are the "dark meat" of the chicken; beautiful, rich flavor.

• Poblano peppers are another traditional Mexican ingredient that one of my grocery stores carries and the other doesn't. You would find it in the produce section, near the other chiles and peppers. They are a mild variety of chile pepper that are as large (if not larger) than a bell pepper. "Seeding" the peppers just means removing the seeds and tossing them, however if you want a little more heat in your chili I'd encourage you to leave them in! If you can't find poblanos, you could substitute a green bell pepper or even a can of diced green chiles.

• And finally, the star! What are tomatillos? They are small, round fruits that are harvested when green. You would also find these in the produce section, likely near the tomatoes. They come with a papery husk on them (see photo below) that needs to be removed. Tomatillos have a lovely bright, acidic flavor and are popular in Mexican cuisine. You can let them ripen, but they have the most flavor when they are green. When cooked, their tanginess will mellow out a bit and produce a milder, sweeter flavor. I was lucky to find fresh tomatillos, but if you can't, I have a solution for you. The original recipe I based this one off of actually called for a cup of jarred tomatillo salsa, stirred in at the end of the cook time. If you would like to go this route, you should omit the shallot/oil/parsley/red wine vinegar mixture from your chili all together (steps 8 and 9), as I really made this as a replacement for the salsa because I wanted to use fresh tomatillos. I liked the playfulness of adding half of the tomatillos early and half later to add some variation and depth in texture, but you could totally add them all at the beginning if you wanted to make your life easier.

• Use Italian flat-leaf parsley; it has beautiful flavor unlike it's cute-but-flavorless curly cousin. Curly parsley really only belongs as a garnish next to a Denver omelet if you want my honest opinion.

• I have a few other ideas for toppings that I might try next time: diced avocado, more minced cilantro, queso fresco...if you think of any more, drop them in the comments!

The Story:

I love a good slow cooker recipe in the heat of summer! This summer has been crazy hot and humid in Minnesota, which honestly I kind of welcome in celebration of surviving another winter.

Little stunners!

I had seen tomatillos at one of my grocery stores and made a mental note, since you don't always see these in Minnesota, I had never cooked with them but wanted to, and aw shucks they were just so pretty!

Husked and diced, ready to rock and roll.

I found the recipe I mentioned above which was called tomatillo chili, but really used jarred tomatillo salsa as the only source of tomatillo flavor, and figured I could tinker with that. Since tomatillo salsa is just a variation of salsa verde, I turned to one of my all-time favorite books, Salt Fat Acid Heat, to get a nice basic recipe for salsa verde.

My sweet lil' salsa verde.

This chili does take a little bit of time, effort and advanced planning. But, the cook time is almost all in the slow cooker which allows you to go get other things done! And friends, if you're looking for a flavorful and unique chicken chili...this is the one. The color and flavors are so fresh and vibrant. You're going to get some tang from the salsa verde, sweetness from the tomatillos and hominy, a touch of heat from the poblano, freshness from the parsley and cilantro, and meaty richness from the chicken thighs. Adding the crushed tortilla chips on top gave me a lovely, crunchy texture as well as a little extra salt. This is my new go-to chicken chili...maybe it will be yours, too :)

50 shades of green in this chili, and every last one is just gorgeous.

Happy tasting!