Fleming Fun: An Apple a Day

This peeling/coring tool was also a shower gift. It played a crucial role last night in preparing our dishes.

After our excursion yesterday and the resulting abundance of apples newly at our disposal, we fixed chicken apple chili and a large apple pie for dinner.

The chili was delicious and the recipe resulted in lots of leftovers perfect for us to eat for lunch today.

Chicken Apple Chili

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds chicken tenders, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
4 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper
2 apples, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup milk
Two 15-ounce cans pinto or white beans, rinsed
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese (about 8 ounces)
Toasted tortillas, for serving
Chopped scallions, for serving

1. In a large Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, chili powder and cumin. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes; transfer to a bowl.

2. In the same pot, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the apples and onion and cook, stirring, until softened, 6 minutes; add to the chicken.

3. In the same pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour for 1 minute; whisk in the chicken broth and milk until thickened, 3 minutes. Stir in the chicken-apple mixture and beans, bring to a simmer, then stir in the cheese. Serve with the tortillas and scallions.

The pie was a recipe that was given to us by Megan Halstead along with a pie dish at one of our pre wedding showers. The recipe was super easy and quick. A long time ago, we bought a contraption from Williams Sonoma that looks like a flat slice of pie. The idea is that you stick this spatula type tool under the pie dough before loading in the filling so that after the pie is cooked you just cut around the spatula and lift and you have a perfect pie slice.