Book Club recipes

Here are the recipes that I made for book club this evening. I highly recommend the white spiced coffee... it sounds complicated, and frankly it is, but it is definately worth the work!

For book club, I made the coffee recipe in advance so I only had to reheat it for dessert time. I actually laughed out loud this afternoon while I'm straining the coffee through cheesecloth thinking 'there's no way in hell my sister Tammy would ever go through this trouble... then again, I'm not sure about any other sane person spending all this time on a coffee drink..." But the bummer part of it was, after all that work, I burned it while reheating it for my book club girls tonight.... rats!! Better luck next time....(all recipes from Bon Appétit)


Chicken and White Bean Chili
1 pound dried small white beans
8 fresh Anaheim chilies (about 1 pound)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 large onions, chopped
1/3 cup all purpose flour
4 cups low-salt chicken broth
3 cups half and half
4 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon hot pepper sauce
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 6 ounces)
1 cup sour cream
Chopped fresh cilantro
green chili salsa


Place beans in heavy large pot with enough cold water to cover by at least 3 inches. Let stand overnight.
Char chilies over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed, and chop chilies. Set aside.

Drain beans. Return to pot. Add enough cold water to pot to cover beans by 3 inches. Simmer until beans are almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour. Drain well.

Melt butter in clean heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until tender, about 15 minutes. Add flour and stir 5 minutes (do not brown). Gradually whisk in chicken broth and half and half. Simmer gently until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add reserved white beans and roasted chilies, shredded chicken, and next 5 ingredients. Simmer gently to blend flavors, about 20 minutes. (Chili can be made 1 day ahead. Chill until cold, then cover and keep chilled. Rewarm before continuing.)

Add grated cheese and sour cream to chili; stir just until chili is heated through and cheese melts (do not boil). Ladle chili into bowls and garnish with cilantro and green salsa. Serve.

Makes 10 to 12 servings.



Broiled Apples with Maple Calvados Sauce
4 Fuji or Royal Gala apples, peeled, cored, and each cut into 16 wedges
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons Calvados

Accompaniment: premium-quality vanilla ice cream
Preheat broiler.
Toss apples with lemon juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Melt butter in a shallow baking pan 6 inches from heat. Remove from oven and tilt pan back and forth to coat bottom completely with butter. Arrange apples in 1 layer in pan. Broil apples 6 inches from heat until edges are pale golden and apples are just tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over apples and broil until sugar is melted, 1 to 2 minutes.

While apples are broiling, boil maple syrup and Calvados 2 minutes.

Serve apples and ice cream topped with sauce.

Makes 4 servings.

White Spiced Coffee
3 cups whole milk
1 cup whole coffee beans, lightly cracked
1 1/2 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken
4 whole green cardamom pods (I used the cardomon seeds and used about 2 tsp)
1/4 cup honey
2 tbls rum (optional)

Place the milk and crushed coffee beans in a saucepan. Heat the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat - about 7 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and let the beans steep in the milk for 15 minutes. Strain the coffee mixture and transfer to blender. (Discard beans) Add the cinnamon sticks, cardamom, and honey to the steeped milk and blend on high speed until the spices are coarsely ground - 30 seconds. Strain the liquid back in to the saucepan and discard the ground spices. Rewarm the coffee over medium-high until hot and steaming. Add rum, if desired.