Secret Agent Josephine

This is a first for me. I signed up for a cooking contest and I’m entering my recipe here. I thought you guys might enjoy it even though I’m not really a foodie.

Anyway, “…as part of the launch of new Knorr® Homestyle Stock, an authentic tasting stock in a new concentrated format, 200 bloggers put their culinary talents to the test to become one of the Knorr Four™ – a panel of bloggers who will share their insights and expertise to provide tips and recipes, and participate in other food fun for exciting rewards. And the first reward is a big one – eight finalists from this recipe contest will win a free trip to BlogHer 2011!”

I already have my ticket to Blogher but I’m hoping I can win this contest and maybe give the ticket to my sister-in-law who is locked away up in Northern California. It includes airfare!

So here goes:

There are three things I like a lot: A strong cup of coffee, chocolate and a dry red wine. Not necessarily together of course but when I dreamed up this recipe for Knorr’s new concentrated chicken stock, I decided a little bit of all three might just be delicious. I’m calling it my new holy trinity.

And of course I sampled all three while I slaved away in the kitchen! That’s what good cooks do!! I didn’t sample the unsweetened chocolate though. That would be silly. I have my other stash of 70% dark cacao in my pantry but I did let Bug have a tiny bite so she’d learn just the way I did way back in the day that not everything that looks like delicious chocolate is. It was delicious in the chili, of course—just not so much by itself.

Yes, this chili with chocolate and coffee and wine is a little rich but I think in small portions it’s very very good, especially if you are big fan of mole like I am. Add a big healthy salad on the side and I don’t think anyone will complain. The chicken and corn and also the lack of anything tomato-based made it work for me but you might want to tweak to your own favorite chili flavors.

So here is my recipe:

1 can of black-eyed beans
1 can of white cannellini beans
1 can yellow corn (though white would have been fancy)
1 small can green chilis (I chose mild)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic (or 1 tsp of garlic paste if you are like me and HATE the smell of garlic on your fingers for days)
5 chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces with excess fat removed
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
2 oz unsweetened chocolate (shaved with a fine grater)
1 cup of strong coffee
1 cup of red wine (I used 2-Buck Chuck Shiraz)
1 tub of Knorr® Homestyle Chicken Stock
1 cup water
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp ground pepper
Avocado slices and goat cheese crumbles for garnish

First the prep work: Drain and rinse your beans and corn, chop your onion, mince your garlic, cut your chicken.

Saute onion and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil until translucent.

Add chicken and cook through until juices run clear. Don’t cook it to death of course. You want your chicken to stay nice and juicy but you don’t want to add your wine and coffee before it’s done because that can change the molecular structure of the chicken and taste nasty.

When the chicken is done and no pink is showing, add 1 cup of strong coffee (hold the cream and sugar of course), 1 cup of red wine (if you’re like me just slosh a glass-full in, sort of like picking blueberries: one for me, one for the pot) and 1 cup of water. Next add the tub of concentrated Knorr chicken broth (don’t worry about diluting it per the directions on the side of the package—that will just happen in the pot as you cook). Stir and let the gelatin break down into a soup like so:

Let this simmer for a minute or two and then add your chocolate.

I know! Chocolate in dinner! It’s like dessert, but not! Mmmmmmm…enjoy that heavenly aroma.

Once the chocolate has been stirred in, add your seasonings. Let that simmer for a bit while you go yell at the kids to bring in their toys from the front yard and you take a few more sips of wine.

Add your beans, corn, chilis and let simmer on low for about 30 minutes. Just enough time to go check your email and surf around Facebook for a while. It could simmer longer (I know some recipes call for an hour) but I usually just wing it. I’m sure sometimes it simmers for less than 30 minutes and it tastes fine. Just make sure you check it and nothing is burning of course!