With the daily high temperatures running between 25 and 30 degrees below normal for the last 8 days, a bowl of hot Chili sounded good today. White Chili is a mild chili that Lynne makes fairly often. I used the ingredients shown in the photo below, plus a few things that missed the photo op.
A pound or so of ground turkey, a small onion, half a green pepper, a stalk of celery, a couple of garlic cloves or the equivalent, a small can of diced green
chilies, and a can of Great Northern beans, or your favorite white bean. Salt, pepper, a half teaspoon of paprika, a generous teaspoon of cumin and about a cup of chicken or vegetable broth. (The local Winn Dixie grocery store sells white chili spice mix -- I've never tried it.) Some cayenne pepper or chili powder would spice it up more. I like it mild. I chop the
veggies, then
saute them -- along with the drained green chilies -- in olive oil over medium to medium-low heat until transparent, adding salt and pepper as I go. I then add the turkey, cooking it until the turkey is completely done and the juices have mostly evaporated. Next I drain the can of beans, and add them to the turkey mixture. Finally, I toss in the cumin and paprika and lots of pepper. Maybe some seasoned salt. I added about a cup of broth at this point, reduced the heat to low, covered the pan and let it simmer for 10 minutes or so. Tasted it. And as they say, adjusted the seasonings.
While I was waiting for the spices to soak into the turkey and beans, I gathered up some garnishes. Sour cream, any shredded cheese, and the family recipe guacamole are good with this. Some corn chips are good too.
If the chili is too thick, I add some more chicken or veggie broth. Then I throw in a handful of the shredded cheese to thicken it back up a bit.
See, it really needs the garnishes. This amount made plenty for the two of us, with enough left over for lunch tomorrow.
The recipe I am using today is the one sent to me by my Mother-In-Law Margery from Florida, a gazillion years ago. That specific recipe is at home, so I had to do a little Internet searching to find it. It's pretty simple -- two ingredients, three if you count the crust. But the correct proportions were not known. I found the recipe, and along the way learned a few things about Key Lime Pie.
This is it. One 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk, preferably Borden. 1/2 cup of lime juice -- if you're going to call it Key Lime Pie, it needs to be from real Key limes, the tiny little yellow ones. An acceptable alternative is Nellie and Joe's Famous Key West Lime Juice, which is available here in Florida at the Winn Dixie. (There is a $100 fine in Florida for calling a pie Key Lime Pie if it does not have real key lime juice in it.) Mix the sweetened condensed milk and the lime juice together, watch it thicken up, marvel at the science. Pour it into the graham cracker crust, refrigerate for about 3 hours. Serve with whipped cream. I've made this off and on for years, and it is my favorite version -- but it is pucker producing tart.
According to my Internet search, this is probably not the authentic Key Lime Pie recipe. The recipe on the bottle of Nellie and Joe's juice is probably the most authentic. Here is theirs: One 9" graham cracker crust, One 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk. 3 egg yolks (the whites are not used). 1/2 cup Nellie and Joe's Key West Lime juice. Combine milk, egg yolks and lime juice. Blend until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Allow to stand 10 minutes before refrigerating. Just before serving, top with freshly whipped cream and garnish with lime slices. Stuff I learned? This pie was 'invented' in Florida, before refrigeration. Thus the use of canned milk. It originally was not baked, even though it had egg yolks in it. It is the state pie of Florida. Some thrifty folks put a meringue on top -- probably couldn't stand to waste the egg whites. And sweetened condensed milk is called 'the nectar of the south.' The $100 fine is my favorite piece of pie trivia. ('piece of pie' trivia -- some things are just naturally funny.) Enjoy Pie Day!
