wilkes

Buffalo Chicken Chili with Blue Cheese-Corn Mug Toppers
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
2 pounds ground chicken
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery ribs, finely chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ***in (half a palmful)
1 teaspoon ground coriander (one-third palmful)
6 ounces beer (your favorite brew)
1/4 cup cayenne pepper hot sauce
One 15-ounce can tomato sauce
One 8.5-ounce Jiffy-brand corn muffin mix
1/3 cup milk
1 large egg
2 scallions, finely chopped
3/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
1. Heat a medium Dutch oven or large skillet over high heat.
Add the olive oil, 1 turn of the pan, and the butter and melt
together. Add the chicken and cook, breaking up the meat, for
6 minutes. Add the garlic, celery, onion, carrot and jalapeño.
Season with salt, pepper, ***in and coriander, and cook for 5
minutes. Add the beer and scrape up any browned bits from the
bottom of the pan. Concentrate the flavor of the beer by
reducing the mixture over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir
in the hot sauce and the tomato sauce. Reduce the heat to low
and simmer the chili for 15 minutes.
2. Prepare the corn muffin mix with the milk and egg according
to package directions for corn pancakes. Stir the scallions
and the blue cheese into the pancake batter. Heat a nonstick
griddle pan or large skillet over medium heat. Nest a small
piece of butter in a paper towel and rub over the pan. Drop
rounded tablespoons of the batter into the pan. Cook the
pancakes until bubbles form at the edges, then flip them and
cook until golden all over, about 2 minutes per side. You will
have enough batter for about 20 pancakes. Serve 2 pancakes
with each mug of chili. (I shove a second one in the mugs
halfway through.) Serve extra mug toppers and hot sauce at the
table.