Piedmont Chicken Stew Food

CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a heavy 5 1/2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the celery, carrot, and onion. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, and thyme. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.
• Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface and cool for 5 minutes. Discard the bay leaf. Add the kidney beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into a stew consistency, about 10 minutes.
• Discard the skin and bones from the chicken breasts. Shred or cut the chicken into bite- size pieces. Return the chicken meat to the stew. Bring the stew just to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Ladle the stew into serving bowls and serve with the bread.
• Serving suggestion: crusty bread.

OLD-FASHIONED CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken, working in batches and adding more oil as needed, 3 to 5 minutes per batch; set aside.
• Add the celery and onion and cook until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle over the flour and stir, cooking a minute or so. Pour in the stock, season with salt and pepper and add the parsnips, carrots, turnip and rutabaga. Add the chicken back, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook until the vegetables are tender and the chicken is cooked through, about 45 minutes.
• Stir in the heavy cream and parsley. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with parsley leaves.

PIEDMONT CHICKEN STEW

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Mix the first 5 herbs and spices in a large plastic bag.
• Wash chicken and pat dry.
• Place chicken, one piece at a time, in the spices, close the bag, shake to thoroughly coat. set aside.
• Heat a dutch oven over a medium high burner. Add oil.
• Add onions, celery, and bell pepper. Saute (stir fry) 'til onions are translucent. remove, set aside.
• Brown chicken. Return vegetables to the pot.
• Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, sherry, chicken stock, and red pepper flakes. Mix well.
• Bake, covered, 60 minutes. Uncover, bake another 30 minutes or more to reduce the sauce.
• Stir occasionally to keep the thighs from raising to the top and drying out.
• Serve over basmati or jasmine rice cooked in chicken stock with 1 or 2 cardomon pods or couscous cooked with lemon zest.
• Freeze leftovers without the rice or couscous. Rice freezes nicely but couscous becomes soggy when thawed.