Happy New Year Friends,
I hope you had a safe and enjoyable time and are ready to crush 2016. Here in the Hinterlands we are finally getting a little colder weather, after a 77° Christmas day it’s about time. I know, I know we don’t get winter like some of you get and that is one of the reasons you usually don’t hear me complain about cold weather….Michelle on the other hand, when it drops below 70° she is breaking out the winter coats. Connor the wonder dog likes the cold weather too. As I was saying, with the temperatures dropping I tend to want to make comfort food, soups, chili, beef stew that kind of thing. I decided last night I wanted to make a Hearty Chicken Stew to share. This one is a fairly easy one to make. It has a flour rue with veggies and chicken with just a hint of lemon grass and some very hot dried powdered peppers to keep you warm at night. It’s thick and tasty. The peppers came from a friend, Ms. Kathy from Louisiana, she brings me little baggies of UN HOLY FIRE to cook with from time to time. This batch has Scorpion peppers and Carolina Reapers, plus a couple of others just for FUN. You do not have to use these types of peppers in this dish, as a matter of fact, plain ole fresh black pepper may be plenty hot enough.
So, you ready to do this? Lets get to it.
- 5 pound whole chicken
- chicken stock from cooking the chicken
- 1 14 ounce can of chicken broth
- 2 14 ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and cut into large sections
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 5 large carrots, peeled and sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- canola Oil
- 6 4-inch stems lemon grass, cut to 1 inch pieces and crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1½ teaspoons dried hot pepper of your choice
- salt and pepper to taste
- Thaw and rinse the whole chicken. Then, place in a large stock pot and add enough water to cover the chicken, bring to a boil, and simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is done. Remove the chicken and hold the stock in reserve for later.
- Make a rue from 3 tablespoons of the canola oil heated and slowly add the flour stirring continuously so the the flour does not burn. you are looking for a light brown color to develop.
- Once the flour starts to turn, add in the onions and continue to stir until the onions are going translucent.
- Add in the chicken stock a cup at a time stirring until smooth before adding the next cup. Once you have added in about ½ of the stock, you can add the remainder all at the same time. Stir well.
- Reduce the heat to low.
- Add in the carrots, celery, bay leaf, and the crushed lemon grass.
- Add in the 14 ounce can of chicken broth, the 28 ounce can of tomatoes and the 2 14 ounce cans of rinsed cannellini beans.
- De bone the chicken and discard the bones, add the chicken pieces to the stew an simmer until the carrots are soft.
You can serve this with corn bread or rice, if you want. It’s a very satisfying meal and should be a hit with the whole family this winter.
Let me know what you think.
Have a great 2016, and I hope we see lots more of each other.
Be safe,
Steve
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