Great American Institutions

What constitutes a “great institution?” I guess the best definition of a great institution is something that is a “characteristic and persistent feature in social or national life or habits.” Back home I’d think the pub could be considered a great British institution, steak and kidney pudding, fish and chips, Big Ben, the Tower of London, Marks and Spencer, etc, etc …

Part of the joy of coming to live in a different country is discovering those things that represent the character, social history and traditional habits of a place. Something, that when you see it or hear of it you instantly recognise it, understand its significance and its place in the foundation of the culture in which it exists. If I said Statue of Liberty, Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace … these are all icons of national identity and as such you’d immediately have a sense of the history and social significance that each of these hold in the national identity of each country. They feature large in the collective consciousness. But there are other things, smaller things but no less significant or prominent in the collective consciousness and therefore worthy of inclusion in the category of ‘national institution’.

On the Menu Tonight …

Tonight’s meal is one of my favorite slow cooker recipe discoveries. Since landing on these  shores it’s only in the last 8 months or so that I’ve rekindled my flirtations with slow cooking. I’ve always been a fan of the slow cooker (or crock-pot, as it’s called over here) but in my younger days I naïvely followed any given recipe to the letter, which often meant several hours of preparation work searing or pan frying meat, sautéing vegetables and creating sauces before ever getting round to actually turning the darn slow cooker on. Nowadays, I’m a firm believer in the “chuck everything in at once” approach to slow cooking, mainly because I can’t tell the difference between the laborious way of doing it and the simplistic way. Frankly, if I have spend an hour or so in pre-cooking the food before it goes in the slow cooker then I might as well have cooked the darn thing on the stove or in the oven.

So, todays recipe is for Santa Fe Chicken. I discovered this simply by searching on the net on various slow cooker specific recipe sites. I’m currently in the process of creating a data base of these recipes that I discover on the web simply because I have a terrible memory and can never remember the name of a recipe and have forgotten the ingredients that go into it.

Ingredients

1 15 oz can black beans — rinsed and drained
2 15.25 oz cans whole kernel corn — drained
1 cup bottled thick and chunky salsa (use medium or hot salsa)
5 or 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts — (can use frozen)
1 8 oz brick cream cheese — low fat is fine
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

1. In a 3.5 or 4 quart slow cooker, mix together the beans, corn, and 1/2 cup of salsa. Top with the chicken breasts, then pour the remaining salsa over the chicken.

2. Cover and cook on the HIGH heat setting 2.5 to 3 hours or LOW for 4 to 6 hours.

3. Remove the chicken and cut into bite sized pieces or shred. Add back to the slow cooker.

4. Add the cream cheese (cut into cubes to melt faster), and turn slow cooker to high heat. Heat until cream cheese melts and blends into sauce.

5. Serve over rice. Top with shredded cheese.

This literally takes 10 minutes to prepare, unless you need to trim the chicken of any excess fat or those yucky white stringy bits. It serves at least four depending on how greedy you are at the dinner table! For us it makes enough for two days and is very easily reheated in the microwave.

Bon appetite.