chicken drummy stew: easy one pot winner
I love winter food. I love my big red Dutch oven that was a total splurge, that sits on my stove-top and makes me happy. I cook in at twice a week usually, more in the winter. This last weekend, I made this winter staple. I used parsnips. potatoes and carrots, but you can experiment with your root veggies :) This is fast to assemble, but does well cooking for a time. Smells wonderful! Forgot to defrost the chicken? No worries, throw it in frozen!! I also like that cooking the meat in the stew gives so much flavor (with the bones and skin) and you can use the less expensive cuts like thighs and drummies.
- 2 Tbspns olive oil
- 1 leek, cleaned, rough outer leaves removed, diced
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- splash of vermouth or red wine optional
- 4-12 chicken drumsticks (or thighs, however many you want, with skin and bones.)
- 3 carrots (peeled and cut into about ½ inch pieces)
- 3 parsnips (peeled cut into about ½ inch pieces)
- 4 small potatoes (peeled cut into about ½ inch pieces or slightly larger)
- 5-10 prunes (pitted, optional for a sweet hint)
- 1-2 14 ounce cans of diced tomatoes
- chicken stock
- 2 bay leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
- In large Dutch oven, or stew pot, heat EVOO to medium high, sautee the leeks and celery about 5 minutes, add splash of vermouth if you want, and cook a few minutes longer, total about 8 minutes, until limp and softening. Add the chicken legs (have even put frozen legs in) and add enough broth to cover about halfway. Add 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes, reduce to simmering, cover and cook about 40 minutes, until meat is starting to fall off bones (will show near the end of the drumstick.)
- Remove the meat with tongs to a platter to cool down and add the carrots, parsnips, potatoes, prunes and bay leaf and simmer covered. After chicken is cool enough to handle, remove meat from the bones, discard bones and skin and put meat back into stew. You can add more stock if you prefer a soupier dish. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer covered until the potatoes and carrots are done to your liking. Prunes should be very soft and falling apart into the stew.
feeding tip*: When M was in that naturally picky phase from about 18 months to almost 4, I would separate the stew components into those little compartmentalized plates. Chicken in one section, potatoes in another and carrots in another...