Pace Picante Sauce sent me two jars of picante sauce. I agreed to try both jars, and give my honest opinion and create a worthy recipe. One reason that I agreed to this is that I never had used Pace Picante Sauce, usually creating my own salsas. But, in January, fresh tomatoes are not an option and I like jarred sauces much better than canned. One was labeled medium and had a nice amount of heat in it. The mild is perhaps too mild for us, but worthy to mix in any recipe in place of canned tomatoes where a little extra punch is desired. Both have a fresh taste, and a very different flavor profile for me who typically cooks all red foods with an Italian inspiration.
My first recipe with the picante sauce was to brown chicken pieces and braise it in the sauce, mixed with some chicken broth in a cast iron dutch oven. But, weather didn’t permit pictures of that dish, so perhaps I can feature that in the future and serve it on cheesy polenta.
This recipe is more for pleasing a crowd and can be thought of in two ways. First, it can be a main dish of white bean chili, served with corn bread. Or it can even serve as a side dish. I like the main course of white beans and corn bread which is so very southern, except when the beans are spiked with lots of heat. I’m not sure why, but southern food (south east) may have smoke, salt, and sugar, but no heat.
I feature a lot of beans here at Spinach Tiger because they are a good protein source, filling and they are a great blank canvas for flavors. The white bean is probably my favorite. It works with a rosemary and olive oil treatment or takes to tomato flavoring just fine.
It couldn’t hurt that I used a fantastic organic chicken stock that I made ala Thomas Keller. It couldn’t hurt that I soaked the beans for 12 hours and then gently simmered them to done, so that they were perfectly tender. It couldn’t hurt that the picante sauce gave just the right amount of tomato, pepper cilantro flavor without tasting like some jar of stuff. And, it couldn’t hurt that I got to use my new enamel cast iron pan and simmer everything for hours to drive the flavor, adding just enough fresh oregano that managed to stay alive in my garden.
The resulting flavor is sweet, and spicy, not quite a barbecue sauce, but not an ordinary chili flavor either. You can make this as spicy as you like or as sweet as you like. Serve with southern corn bread.
Southern Corn Bread
I think the south has corn bread right because they don’t use sugar, and they cook it in a cast iron frying pan and it gets a beautiful golden brown. The north tends to make a very sweet cornbread with some recipes adding up to a cup of sugar. That’s okay if you’re looking for a stand alone muffin,but I wanted to make it like my husband’s grandmother as he remembered it. She was from East Tennessee and knew how to throw together fried pies, biscuits and cornbread that everyone created many happy family memories. I added one teaspoon of sugar, but it’s still not a sweet bread.
White Bean Chili Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups cannellini beans cooked
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 1 cubanelle pepper, diced
- 1 cups diced chicken (I used organic chicken and the breast meat only)
- 2 cups chicken broth (I used homemade)
- 1 bottle Pace Picante Sauce, medium heat*
- 1 can diced tomatoes (15 oz,)
- 1/4 cup cherry jelly (good substitutes are peach, apple)
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (or 1/2 teaspoon dry)
- salt, pepper to taste
**Note: You can change the heat at your discretion, by using a mild picante or a hot picante.
Instructions
- Cook the beans: If using canned, rinse in cold water and drain. If using dry, soak at least 12 hours in cold water. Change water once. Rinse thoroughly. Cover with 1 inch water. A
- dd 2 garlic cloves. Bring to boil, lower heat, simmer until very tender 40-60 minutes, depending on size of bean. Drain and rinse beans gently, salt and add olive oil to moisten.
- In separate heavy bottomed pot, add in olive oil, onion, and turn heat to medium to soften. Add in diced pepper and garlic 2-3 minutes. Once softened, add in chicken broth, pace picante sauce, diced tomato, and jelly, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until sauce is thickened and not watery.
Southern Buttermilk Cornbread Recipe
Instructions
- 2-4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups cornmeal (self rising)
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups buttermilk (you may not use it all)
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda if using buttermilk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°
- Put oil in cast iron skillet or cake pan and heat in cold oven. Mix dry ingredients together. Add in egg and milk. Add water slowly just until mixture is a like thick bread batter. Add some of the hot oil back into batter, pour into pan, and bake 20 minutes until crust is golden brown. I used an 8 inch caste iron pan, resulting in a crispy crust, moist inside and still crumbly good.
Note: I made this yesterday and today I found a local farmer who was selling three kinds of corn meal he made himself, yellow, blue and king’s corn white.
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