Stew's On

Hello all. Hare here...finally.

It's been a while since I hit the kitchen, or at least it's been a while since I tried anything new. But the weather round the Inn has turned off cold, and cold weather puts me in the mood for soup and chili and stew, so last night I decided to try my hand at a chicken stew. And since I had the time (which is running in short supply these days, it seems), I decided to cobble my own stew together, using a couple of different recipes as starting points.

The first one was this...

Lumberjack Stew

Serves 6

2 pounds boneless pork, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup sliced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 bay leaves
6 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 package (10 ounces) pearl onions, peeled
3 cups frozen green beans
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup cold water

Toss pork with salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika, then brown in oil in a Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium high heat. Add sliced onion and garlic; cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add water, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, bouillon cubes, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add carrots and pearl onions. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Add beans. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth, then stir into stew. Bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Source: Taste of Home's Big Book of Soup,© 2005 Taste of Home Books

Probably very tasty, but a pork stew, not a chicken stew. And no taters. I realize that taters aren't a requirement in every stew, but I like taters.

Then I saw this stew...

Skillet Chicken Stew

Serves 4-6

1/3 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
Dash of pepper
1 ½ pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, sliced
3 celery ribs, sliced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾ inch cubes
3 medium carrots, sliced ¼ inch thick
1 cup chicken broth
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Combine flour, salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl. Coat the chicken in the flour mixture.

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Brown the chicken, then add the onion and celery and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in potatoes and carrots.

Combine broth, thyme, ketchup, and cornstarch. Stir this into the skillet. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.

Source: Taste of Home's Big Book of Soup,© 2005 Taste of Home Books

Hmm....not quite what I was looking for either. I wasn't particularly interested in celery for this stew, and using 1 cup of broth seemed a bit scant. On the other hand, taters. Not a lot of taters, but taters.

Bottom line, while both of these were tasty looking, neither was exactly what I wanted. So, I did the only thing I could – I mixedthe two together to create...

Hare's Chicken Stew

Serves 4 – 6

2 pounds boneless chicken, cut into 1 inch (or thereabouts) pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon paprika
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced (I opted for a yellow onion)
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth (roughly - I actually used 2 boxes of broth)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (roughly
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (or so)
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 bay leaves
6 medium carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces (I used baby carrots and cut them in half)
3 medium potatoes. Peeled and cut into ¾ inch pieces (I opted for Yukon Gold potatoes)
1 package (10 ounces) pearl onions, peeled
3 tablespoons cornstarch
½ cup cold water

Toss chicken with salt, sugar, pepper, and paprika, then brown in oil in a Dutch oven or soup kettle over medium high heat. Add sliced onion and garlic; cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add broth, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and bay leaves. Cover and simmer for 1 hour. Add potatoes, carrots, and pearl onions. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Add beans. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth, then stir into stew. Bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve.

Notes from the Hare

The final results? Delicious.

I went for a yellow onion for the sliced onion, to try to differentiate the pearl onions and the sliced onions. Similarly, I grabbed the Yukon Gold taters so it would be easy to tell the taters and the onions apart.

Keep in mind my measurements are mostly estimates – I didn't exactly stop to see just how much lemon juice, Worcestershire, or ketchup I was adding. For that matter, I didn't measure the spices that went on the chicken at the start either.

Next time, frozen peas instead of the green beans, perhaps. And a sliced red onion instead of the yellow, to see if it tweaks the flavor any.