Chicken Stew

The end of our fall Saturday was homemade chicken stew served atop mashed potatoes. Sensing that fall was upon us, I roasted a chicken last week. With the carcass, I made homemade chicken stock. With the leftover chicken meat in the freezer and the chicken stock, I made the perfect fall chicken stew. I served it on top of mashed potatoes but you could just as easily serve it with egg noodles, put chunks of potatoes in the stew, make dumplings for chicken and dumplings or put it some rice.

Fall chicken stew (think of this as a guideline)

3 pounds of chicken meat (already cooked)
- this can be two breasts, a breast, 2 thigh and leg meat or any other combination

The vegetables chopped in large chunks
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 stalks of celery
1 clove of garlic

optional vegetables
three large yukon gold potatoes
1 parsnip
1/2 a rutabaga
1/2 sweet potato
1 cup of frozen peas

The herbs
1 teaspoon of thyme
1 tablespoon parsley

Enough chicken stock and white wine to cover (about 4 cups)

The Thickener
1 tablespoon room temperature butter and 1 tablespoon of flour

Chop the chicken meat into large chunks. Set aside. Saute the onion in a large pot for about ten minutes until softened and a little translucent. Add the rest of the vegetables and saute for another 15 minutes. Add herbs along with salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken stock and simmer for about 20 minutes or until vegetables get soft but not completely mushy. Add the cooked chicken and simmer for another 10 minutes. This step is where you would add uncooked rice or dumplings for chicken and dumplings. If you do add dumplings, avoid the next step. Mush the butter and flour together until you get a smooth paste. Add the paste to the stew and stir vigorously to avoid lumps. Let the stew thicken and serve on top of whatever starch you want.