Its February, prime time for hot soups and stews.......and chili!
Today the connection between art and food can be seen through the use of color only-- The abstract artwork is "Light 2", the letters "L-i-g-h-t" are in the painting, and the colors are primarily red, orange, cream and white, with touches of metallic gold leaf. The white used is to suggest light creeping in from the right side of painting, and is echoed in the recipe as the white northern beans. The white bean chicken chili is not to be confused with white chili, which, although may have tomatoes in it, does not have a red broth, it has a creamy light colored stock. This recipe's consistency is actually is between a soup and stew, thicker than a soup and thinner than a stew. (Rachael Ray calls this "stewp" or "stoop") The red of the stewed tomatoes is seen in the blazing red on the left hand side , and at the top of the painting-- right hand side-- you see flashes of light and dark green, which is the color of cilantro and green bell pepper, which is also used in the recipe. The lines that actually appear black in this piece are actually dark green, repeating the influence of cilantro and green bell pepper.
The transparent red broth against the white beans creates an orange hue, which is seen as the orange used in the painting.
Conveniently, the white of the sour cream(if used) is seen as the white of the light in the painting also.
The Vegetarian option stays true to the comparison, the chicken itself doesn't add much color to the chili.
