Chili and Cornbread

I had a request from a couple folks from our mid-Winter musical gathering for my recipes for a white chili (really a posole’ or stew with hominy) and cornbread. That’s a bit of a problem.

I’m a pretty good cook, having learned from my immigrant mother and her sister, and a lifetime of friendships with other good cooks. That said, like my teachers, I rarely work from a written recipe. I just put stuff together that I think will be good.

As my darling aunt Nicky once advised me, while pointing at a roomful of my mostly male relatives with her wooden spoon

“Honeybunch, just cook to your own taste. Don’t worry about them…they’ll eat nails!”

So, with that caveat, here goes.


JB’s White Chili

For about two quarts

Olive oil

A clove of Garlic, minced

½ cup of fresh cilantro, chopped

1/4 teaspoon of ground cumin or ½ teaspoon cumin seed

Half a medium onion, diced

A jalapeno pepper, with seeds and veins, chopped

Two fresh poblano peppers OR one large green bell pepper, sliced in narrow strips or chopped

A pound and a half of boneless, skinless chicken thighs OR pork loin or shoulder cut into bite sized chunks

Six fresh, medium sized tomatillos quartered OR a 12 or 16 oz bottle of good green chili and tomatillo salsa

A 12 oz can or bottle of beer (the type is irrelevant, although maybe a Mexican beer would be most appropriate)

A tablespoon of salt, black pepper to taste

Three tablespoons or ¼ cup of brown sugar or honey

Two medium zucchini or yellow squash, in bite size chunks

12-16 oz can of white kidney beans AKA Cannellini beans, or about two cups of homemade beans

6 medium fresh mushrooms (white, cremini, whatever) quartered or sliced

A small (4-6 oz) can of sweet corn kernels OR the equivalent of frozen

A 12-16 oz can of white or yellow hominy (note: the canned hominy will probably be in a clump, so dump it into a bowl, and break it up with a fork). You can get dried hominy in some places, and it’s much better than canned, but it needs to be re-hydrated with hot water before you use it.

A whole lime

A small can of chopped chilies

¼ cup chopped cilantro

Shredded cheddar or jack cheese for garnish



In a kettle or large pot with a good lid, sauté the garlic, cilantro, cumin, onion, jalapeno, and poblanos or green pepper in some good olive oil (I assume lard would be more traditional here, but…) at medium heat until the peppers start to barely soften and the onion and garlic are translucent. Add the meat, and brown the pieces a little, stirring regularly. Add the tomatillos or the green salsa, and the beer, and turn the heat down to simmer. Add the salt, black pepper and sweet stuff. Put a lid on it, and let it simmer at least an hour, stirring once or twice. Add the squash, beans, mushrooms, corn and hominy. Simmer another ½ hour until the squash is cooked soft. Shut the heat off and add the ¼ cup of chopped cilantro and the chopped chilies. Stir. Squeeze the juice of the lime on the top and put the lid on the pot. It’s ready!

Serve in bowls, with shredded cheese and a wedge of cornbread and a big salad.



Oh yeah! The cornbread!

Just to warn you…This is Yankee cornbread-that is, it has sugar in it. Folks from Virginia and south will find this abominable (plus, they already know how to make cornbread, sans-sugar) … Suit yerself!



JB’s Cornbread

1 cup medium ground cornmeal (I like Bob’s Red Mill)

1 cup unbleached white flour

¼ cup white, brown, or turbinado sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk OR ½ cup plain yogurt and ½ cup milk

3 tablespoons butter



Preheat the oven to 375. Melt the butter in the bottom of a good, heavy 10” cast iron skillet (the one you’re gonna bake the cornbread in), make sure you swirl it around, so it coats the bottom and sides of the skillet, and set it aside. Combine all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat the eggs together and add them to the dry ingredients. Add the buttermilk or the milk and yogurt. Pour in the melted butter. Mix thoroughly, you’ll have a thick batter like dense pancake batter. Add this to the buttered skillet and put it in the oven. It’ll be ready when it smells like cornbread (about 20 minutes, test the middle with a knife tip).

Lots of folks put chopped chilis or even jalapenos in the cornbread batter before baking, and that can be pretty good.

This is a great dead of winter meal. Ice cream is the right dessert.