Everything but the Kitchen Sink Chicken Stew

Ah, sweet, sweet comfort food. This was a great way to use up a random smattering of vegetables from the CSA and prepare dinner early then throw it in the oven on a timer so that it was ready to eat when we got back from dance class. I can see this dish as being completely different every time I make it, just depending on what I have in the house, but my one suggestion would be to make sure you have fresh tomatoes and you chop them big and put them on top of everything else so that they roast more than stew. The tanginess of roasted tomatoes made this stew. Thanks ELS for the inspiration.

4 – 6 chicken thighs, skin removed (the bone adds a nice flavour to the stewing juices here, so don’t go boneless if you don’t have to)

1/4 -1/3 cup flour (1/3 if using 6 thighs)

fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tsp each, garlic salt, basil, oregano and thyme

1 Tbsp olive oil

6 cloves of garlic, quartered

1 large onion (red, white, yellow, whatever), chunked

1 – 2 tsp of olive oil as needed

enough chopped veggies to fill your dutch oven 3/4 up (I used carrots, potatoes, turnips, yellow summer squash and golden beets)

3 big tomatoes, roughly chopped

salt and pepper to tase

1 tsp thyme

3/4 cup each, white wine and chicken stock

1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium heat. Combine flour with spices on a plate and dredge the chicken in it to coat, then brown the chicken, about 3 minutes a side.

2. Remove chicken to a plate with a slotted spoon, then add onion and garlic to oven, along with more oil, if necessary. Saute until translucent, then put chicken back in on top, all your veggies on top of that, with the tomatoes as the crown on top. Pour over wine and stock, then sprinkle with thyme, salt and pepper.

3. At this point, I put mine in the oven, set the timer for when I wanted it to start (about an hour or so after that) and then it cooked at 400 for an hour, I removed the lid and let it cook for another 15 – 20 minutes to thicken the gravy.  I think if you were to put it straight into the oven, you could probably shave off 15 minutes of the cooking time.

Enjoy!

Ky