Black Bean Chicken Chili

A couple of weeks ago I had lots of ingredients and nothing that worked together. I also had chicken that I needed to get cooked. It was one of those nights where the food you have to cook is not the food you planned to cook. Suddenly I was improvising. More then once these have turned out to be some of my best meals, which is why I started keeping a notebook in my kitchen to write things down as I go. I'm hoping to get my new camera figured out soon so I can start putting some pictures of the finished products up with the recipes. Until then you will just have to trust me that this looked great with some shredded cheese on top and a big dollop of sour cream.

This was planned to be something more like an italian soup, and ended up as a nice thick chicken chili. With lentils.

1/2 white onion diced

1 teaspoon garlic diced

1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cubed

1 can dice tomatoes with jalapeno, I used Hunts Petite Diced with Zesty Jalapeno - It's been in my house for months so I'm glad I finally got it used up.

1-2 teaspoons (or more to taste) of Penzy's Chili 3000 - the best chili powder I've ever found

1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

1/2 teaspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

1 large can black beans, well rinsed

1 1/2 32 oz box of Beef broth - see note below

4 shakes of red chili pepper flakes - using a standard shaker like the ones you see at pizza places

2/3 cup red lintels

Saute the onion and garlic until they begin to brown, add the chicken and cook till half done. Add tomatoes with juice, and boil for 1 - 2 minutes. Stir in chili powder, cayenne, cumin, salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute. I add the seasonings before the broth so they have some time to cook, I think it helps develop and blend the flavors. I usually season again towards the end, to get the flavor just right. Add black beans, and 1 box broth and bring to low boil. Simmer until it's beginning to thicken, add the lentils and remaining broth, and cook 30 minutes until lentils are soft.

You could skip the lentils if you have time to let it boil down on it's own, I was getting very hungry and wanted to thicken it up quickly. That being said, I loved the lentils in this, made it a little different from my standard chili, which is a white chicken chili. Also, I used beef broth with chicken because it's what I had and I needed to use it up. Normally I wouldn't mix chicken and beef like that, but I really liked it in this, and I think it went very well with the black beans and the lentils. I might even do it on purpose next time. If someone makes this with chicken broth please let me know what you think.