Chicken and bean stew to please summer crowds

This is a good recipe for summer crowds or to divide and freeze for quick meals later. My friend Libby King of Falmouth and Islesboro makes this when her numerous children and grandchildren descend. I made it at our camp because it has easy to keep-on-hand ingredients and it can be slow cooked in a crockpot once you get past the saute stage. It is also a low-fat recipe, which I know will appeal to many of you.

As usual, the urge to tinker was upon me. And a couple of ideas occurred to me that I did not try. For example, suppose you didn’t have onions or garlic on hand. I suppose you could season this with dried onions and garlic powder. I never go to the camp without onions and garlic, but you could chop (and even freeze) them at home to take with you. Same thing with the peppers. The recipe calls for half peppers, but it would work fine with whole ones. Besides, I substituted red for the yellow. Feel free to increase the cumin and chili amounts and to use a zippier picante sauce, too.

As far as beans are concerned, I bet you could substitute almost any kind of bean you like in this recipe: kidney, cannellini, fava, even black beans. The good thing about the pintos is that they break up a little and help thicken the stew. If your bean of choice doesn’t readily do that (like black or kidney beans), you might mash a few before adding them.

If you serve this on rice, you can feed more people but it makes enough for eight as is. I think it would be good with corn chips on the side or broken and sprinkled on top. Or serve it with cornbread.

Chicken and Bean Stew

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves cut in small pieces

1 large onion chopped

2-3 cloves garlic minced

? green pepper chopped

? yellow or red pepper chopped

2 14?-ounce cans stewed tomatoes (or one 28-ounce can)

1 15-ounce can cooked pinto beans, drained and rinsed

? cup medium heat salsa

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and add the chicken, onion, garlic and peppers and cook until the chicken is done. Add tomatoes, beans, salsa and seasonings, and cook at a simmer all together for at least an hour. Serve with sour cream and grated jack cheese.

Looking for … Lobster salad. Besides lobster, what do you put in a lobster salad? Celery? Onion? Do you use mayonnaise, or do you have a special dressing you make? This is a Maine classic, and surely one of you has a great recipe.

Send queries or answers to Sandy Oliver, 1061 Main Road, Islesboro 04848. E-mail: tastebuds@prexar.com. For recipes, tell us where they came from. List ingredients, specify number of servings and do not abbreviate measurements. Include name, address and daytime phone number.