- So, today I'm making a recipe that I've been making for almost 20 years.

It is a grilled chicken, white bean and hot pepper stew.

Now, the peppers aren't too hot.

They're actually a beautiful, mildly spicy green chili called a poblano, plus, lots of other good things.

Let's get started.

[soft music] The first thing I'm going to do is to put some butter in my pan.

[pan sizzling] Ooh, let that get nice and sizzly.

And I'm going to add some chopped onion and stir that around.

[utensil scraping] And to that onion as it cooks, I'm going to go ahead and put in my salt, so that that onion can start releasing its flavor, [utensil scraping] because I want it to get tender and beautiful and wonderful, but I don't want it to turn crispy.

Now, at different stages in this recipe, I'm going to be adding lots of flavor.

The first thing I'm gonna put in is a chopped red jalapeno.

Now, this is your opportunity to either dial up or dial back on the spiciness of this.

[utensil tapping] I think this is gonna turn out to be a really good midpoint that's going to appeal to a lot of people.

I have made enough of this stew over the years that you could float a boat.

And this is the version that I think makes most people happy time after time.

So, the second fresh thing I'm going to put in is a chopped fresh serrano.

[utensil tapping] Now, for my dried spices, I've got four delicious things.

The first is some ground up ancho chili.

And ancho has a very subtle heat and a beautiful fruitiness.

I'm gonna put that in.

I've got some great smoked paprika.

I have a little bit of Mexican oregano.

Yes, there's Mediterranean oregano and the Mexican, and they actually tastes pretty different.

The Mexican one is gonna be the best for this recipe.

And then I have some cumin seed.

I'm gonna give this just a minute.

I can smell the beautiful aroma of these spices.

I'm going to add some flour, because that's how I'm going to thicken this stew.

So, I'm just gonna sprinkle that over and stir it in [utensil scraping] to coat everything that is in the pot.

Now, I'm going to put two different kinds of liquid in here, and I'm going to start with some chicken stock.

Just pour that in.

[stock splashing] And then I have some whole milk.

Dairy is a wonderful way to sort of mitigate the heat of the chilies and give great flavor and texture to this stew.

I'm going to stir this and let it come to a gentle bubble [utensil scraping] until I can see that this starts to thicken.

[soft music] So, while I'm letting my mixture come to a bubble and thicken, let me tell you what I have here.

The first are white beans, and then I have some grilled chicken.

And then I have here some roasted poblano and I have roasted and chopped these.

So, now that I see good bubbling here in the pot, let me add these ingredients.

[beans splattering] So, in go my beans.

[bowl tapping surface] In goes my gorgeous roasted poblanos.

Here goes those gorgeous pieces of that smoky tender, beautifully seasoned chicken.

[soft music] And I'm just gonna stir this in, because each of these things are already cooked, really, it just has to warm through at this point.

[utensil scraping] Now, for one more little bit of heat and some acidity, I have a little bit of a jalapeno hot sauce.

It contains some salt and some vinegar.

So, it's adding all sorts of good things to the pot.

[soft music] Now, the last thing I do for this, which makes this stew [utensil scraping] really interesting, really thick and hearty and delicious, is I'm going to melt some cheese directly in here.

So, what I have is some shredded cheese, and I am going to toss this with some corn starch.

The reason I'm doing that is because that will help this cheese melt beautifully without separating in this hot stew.

And add it right in.

And look at this.

Look how quickly this came together.

So, I have served myself a big bowl of this gorgeous stew.

I'm gonna put some toppings.

Gonna start out with a little bit of sour cream.

I'm gonna put a good sprinkle of some beautiful chopped green onion, a few leaves of cilantro for those of us that love it.

And maybe my favorite thing, a squeeze of fresh lime.

And now, I'm gonna dig in.

Supper is served.

You've got that grilled chicken, you've got those white beans, you've got those beautiful roasted poblanos and all those spices.

This is a great bowl.

This is a great meal.

You're gonna love this.

[bright music]