Chicken Stew (Simple Home Edit)
Description
We’ve all made numerous ‘stews’ over the years – comfort food at it’s finest, especially when the weather isn’t agreeable. This weeknight-possible version from Simple Home Edit is unexpectedly spectacular, unexpected only because you know stew is going to be good, but this good? I used lightly brined chunks of chicken breasts instead of thighs but otherwise followed the simple, one pot instructions exactly – enjoy!
Ingredients
~ 2 lbs. chicken breasts, cut into 2-inch chunks – brine for 10 minutes in 3 cups cold water and 2 tablespoons kosher salt, then drain and set aside
avocado oil and freshly ground pepper for cooking – more salt is up to you
1/4 c. water
1 large onion, diced AND 4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large celery stalks AND 2 large carrots, cleaned and cut into 1-inch chunks (or any shape you want, but I like my stew bits to be stew-sized)
2 T. butter AND 3 T. flour
1/2 c. dry white wine
~5 c. good chicken broth
2 t. dried thyme
4 medium waxy potatoes – cut into 1-inch chunks – a potato type where the skin is thin and can be left on
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 to 1/2 c. heavy cream AND ~1/2 c. freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
more chopped fresh parsley and/or green onion for garnish
Instructions
Heat up a splash of avocado oil in a large pot (Dutch Oven) over medium-high heat, add in the chicken – you may want/need to do 2 batches – cover all with a good grinding of pepper and a sprinkling of salt and cook for a few minutes until most bits are browned. Remove to a plate as it gets cooks and remember that it will continue cooking later on in the sauce.
Once the chicken is browned and all set aside, pour in the water and as it sizzles, scrape up any browned bits, then add in the onion, garlic, celery and carrot. Cook and stir for a few minutes until the vegetables have softened up a titch, add in the butter, stir until it’s melted and the vegetables are coated, then sprinkle in the flour and stir until there is no trace remaining. Pour in the wine and simmer and stir for a couple of minutes, then add in all of the broth and turn up the heat until the whole mix comes to a boil.
Once you’ve got it boiling, reduce to a simmer and add in the thyme, potato chunks, Worcestershire sauce, the chicken and all of the juices that have collected. Simmer gently for a good 20 minutes until the potato chunks are fork tender and the sauce has thickened up a little bit. Turn off the heat and stir in the cream, Parmesan and parsley then serve up in large bowls with extra garnishes as you wish. Nicole says this works out brilliantly if made ahead and refrigerated for a day or 2, just save the final additions of cream/Parm/parsley for after it’s been reheated.
