This post is dedicated to the many people affected by Hurricane Sandy. For everyone without electricity or heat or gas or worst of all, your home, I wish I could make every single one of you this chicken stew.
I want to thank everyone who helped my family while we were without power and heat. And now that we are fortunate enough to have returned to normalcy in my household, we are glad to provide warm food, beds, and showers to friends that are still without.
I’m sure I’m not alone in my new appreciation for the comfortable lives we lead and for life itself.
This recipe is the ultimate comfort food and it is the perfect thing to cook if you are in a position share it with someone (or two or three..) who could really use it right now.
Chicken Stew with Biscuits
Ingredients (serves 8-10)
Stew:
- 4 split chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 5 cups chicken stock
- 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 carrots, diced
- 10 oz. package frozen peas
- 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions
- 1/2 cup minced parsley
Biscuits:
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 8 tbsp. (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, diced
- 3/4 cup half and half
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 egg, plus 1 tbsp. water for egg wash
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare sheet pan with cooking spray. Place chicken breasts on sheet pan and rub with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 40-45 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Remove meat from bones, discard skin, and cut chicken into a large dice. Should yield about 4 cups of diced chicken.
While chicken is cooking, prepare the biscuits. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until butter is the size of peas. Keeping the mixer on low speed, add the half and half. Mix in the parsley. Transfer the dough to a well-floured board and with a floured rolling pin, roll dough out to 3/8-inch thick. Cut out biscuits with a 2-1/2 round (I used a glass).
In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock. In a large saucepan, or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions and carrot over medium-low heat until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock and stir for 1 more minute over low heat. Season with salt and pepper and add heavy cream. Add the diced chicken, peas, onions, and parsley. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until frozen vegetables are heated through.
Prepare a 10 x 13 x 2 baking dish with cooking spray. Transfer stew to baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Remove stew from oven and arrange biscuits on top of the filling. Brush them with egg wash and return to oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes until biscuits are browned and stew is bubbly.
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten
How I eat it: with extra biscuits on the side for dipping! (You may want to double the biscuit recipe like I did!)
no rhyme or raisins 