The Stew that Almost Wasn't

I'm craving chicken stew, specifically the Homey Chicken Stew recipe on Page 44 of  America's Test Kitchen's Slow Cooker Revolution. 


I started out with the best intentions of following this recipe to a T (REALLY!) because the picture looked so incredibly yummy in the book.    And then I realized I was out of onions.


A bag of pearl onions was found in the freezer and substituted for the two chopped onions.  Things were going well, when I went to add the spice.  Thyme.  Everybody has thyme in their spice stash, right?  Wrong.  No thyme left for me...  (heh-heh)


No problem!  A quick internet search turned up that while there is no exact substitution for thyme, oregano will work in a pinch.  Assuming you have oregano.  Yea, that's right.  I used the last of the oregano Saturday making Sunday Gravy.


At this point I'm getting a little slap happy, so I just used the spice I thought smelled like how I wanted my stew to taste.  Enter stage left:  ROSEMARY!  I love the smell and taste of rosemary, couldn't go wrong with this choice, right?


This wasn't the end of it.  The recipe calls for flour.  Crap.  I had planned to make gluten-free biscuits with Pamela's Gluten-free Baking & Pancake Mix to serve this over, for my kid who is trying to eliminate wheat from her diet.  So, why not use that baking mix as a flour double?  I know there are better substitutes, but I had to roll with what I have on hand.

It smells go SO FAR!

Looks pretty good, too!

Elizabeth's Variation of

HOMEY CHICKEN STEW

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bag frozen pearl onions
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 T tomato paste
• 1 tsp rosemary
• 1/4 c Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
• 1/2 c dry white wine
• 4 c chicken broth
• 4 potatoes, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 c frozen peas

Directions

1. Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until just smoking. Lightly brown the chicken on both sides. Transfer chicken to a bowl.
2. If needed, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan (I used 2 Tbs butter). Add onions, garlic, tomato paste, and rosemary. Cook until onions are softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in baking mix and cook for one more minute. Whisk in wine, scraping up any brown bits in the pan. Whisk in 1 cup broth, smoothing any lumps.
3. Toss potatoes and carrots with 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil in a glass bowl and microwave 5 minutes on high.
4. Transfer onion mix to a slow cooker along with the potatoes, carrots and remaining chicken broth. Nestle browned chicken with any accumulated juices into the slow cooker. Add the bay leaves.
5. Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
6. Transfer chicken to a large casserole dish and allow to cool slightly. Using 2 forks, shred into bite size pieces. Remove bay leaves from the slow cooker. Stir in chicken and frozen peas. Allow to heat through, about 5 minutes. 

Stay tuned!  At this point, I may try to make the biscuits on top of the stew in the slow cooker.  I read another recipe this weekend that does that and I'd like to marry that idea to this stew.  I made the dough for the dumplings according to the recipe for drop biscuits on the back of the Pamela's bag and dropped them into the stew.  The original directions said 35-40 minutes to cook the dumplings but it took about 55 minutes on high for ours to cook on top.

Meanwhile, there is a post about this Homey Chicken Stew recipes on a dash of cinnamon, complete with pics. Her version is much closer to the original than mine, although there is at least one minor change.

~ ENJOY!

Merissa at Little House on the Prairie Living is hosting a weekly Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange every Tuesday.  If you have a recipe to share you can link your blog post or you can post in the comments.  CLICK HERE to go to this week's exchange!

 

Go ahead, you know you want to look!