comfort food, harry potter, resolutions.

ina garten's chicken stew with biscuits.

last night my lovely neighbors came over to help me prepare a delicious feast. now, the more cynical of you may challenge: "um, kristina, one dish is not a feast." and to you i say, obviously you have not had Ina's (the Barefoot Contessa for non-Food Network viewers or those of you living in the mountains in caves) chicken stew with biscuits. Not only is it hearty, buttery and delicious, the damn thing weighs in at about...6 pounds. this is a guesstimation, but cannot be far off; i am rather fit and strong and i had trouble pulling it out of the oven and placing it on my stove.

it is not something you would want to make:

1. on a night when you only have 30 minutes to round up whatever is in your fridge for dinner
2. when it is over 75 degrees out
3. if you are on any sort of diet or have concerns about consuming a dish containing 3 sticks of butter
4. if your goal in life is to eat cardboard to stay thin rather than eat deliciously
5. if you have been ignoring your push-ups--you'll need some upper body gusto to drag this thing outta the oven

i would not say it is a complex recipe to execute, but i will say it is time consuming--prep would be about 30-40 minutes, cook time about 45--and you will use every dish, utensil, and gadget in your kitchen, therefore leaving you with a mountain of floury, stew-y, crusted things to wash afterwards. (this will be impossible without help because you will be in a food coma after consuming.)

serves 8-12

you will need:

• 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on (or 1 whole pre-roasted chicken from your grocery store, with all the meat shredded)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade (for those of us without 3 freezers to store Ina's 6 quarts of stock, Kitchen Basics brand is best)
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes--i forgot these
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (i used half and half)
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots (4 carrots), blanched for 2 minutes (forgot to blanch)
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas (2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions (< ^ this is a lot of onions, folks. i now use green beans instead)
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

For the biscuits:

nocoupons

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
• 3/4 cup half-and-half
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

preheat your oven to 375.

if you are roasting chicken breasts, place on a large sheet pan, rub with the olive oil, generously sprinkle with salt and pepper. roast for 35-45 minutes, set aside to cool, and shred the meat. if you want to save time and got a whole pre-roasted bird (like i do) shred all the meat and set aside.

now, you want to get a medium sized pot to heat your chicken stock in. heat it on medium low heat and let it get warm, also here is where you would add bouillon cubes if you remember.

in a very big pot--seriously, get the biggest one you have (not a 12 quart stock pot, but a big ole pot) melt the 1 and a 1/2 sticks of butter. when it is melted, add the chopped onions and let soften. this will take about 10+ minutes. while they are cooking, blanche your carrots (and green beans if using) in boiling water (see how many pots you're using already?!).

add the flour to the butter onion mixture and cook on low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. you want this to get very thick, and you need to try not to salivate IN the pot. strap a cup to your chin--do what you gotta do. now pour in the chicken stock, and simmer for another minute or so, stirring to combine.

now stir in 2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper along with the heavy cream or half and half. add the chicken, carrots, green beans, peas and parsley and mix well. pour this super thick and heavy stew into a very large pan. the biggest size i had was 13" x 9" x 2", this will work but it will be filled to the brim. place your pan on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

while the stew is cooking, make your biscuits. and if you have extra hands, get them washing!! combine salt, sugar, flour and baking powder in the bowl for your mixer--Ina says use the paddle attachment--i say my mixer is like 25+ years old and i dont got one-a-those, so just use your normal beaters. add in the butter and mix until the butter is chopped up into bits the size of peas. add half and half and mix on low speed until combined. scrape the bottom and sides of your bowl with a rubber spatula, or if you have an old mixer, you will have to stop 3 times during this process to peel the dough out of the beaters because it will all get stuck and rise out the top like a dough volcano. once mixed, add parsley and beat a few more seconds.

flour your work surface and plop the dough down. here is where we separate the men from the boys (and no i don't care about saying men instead of women because who the heck does...its an expression, not a statement of women's inability to whatever...) if you own a rolling pin, roll out your dough to less than an inch thick. if like me all you own is your wits (most days) and your hands, press the dough out as evenly as you can. now, all you fancy folk can take out your shiny biscuit cutters (1 1/2") and cut out as many biscuits as you can--for us common folk, grab a cup with a nice thin edge and do the same.

you probably had to take the stew out of the oven at this point, so take the biscuits (that i know you remembered to egg wash**) and arrange them atop the stewy goodness. bake for 30 more minutes and digg in!
**ok--for those of you who did not egg wash because i didn't explain it--after you cut out the biscuits, crack your egg in a bowl and add 1 Tb water, whisk. brush (or use your fingers) to coat the tops of the biscuits with the egg mixture then place on top of stew and bake. it gives them that nice goldeny color!

if you're real smart, you'll have a great movie (harry potter and the deathly hallows part 1) in your dvd player, ready to play as you sit down and enjoy your delicious feast!



PS-- the "resolutions" part of this post is this--i really need to step up my photography game. honestly, i never remember to take the pictures of my meals until i've already eaten some (or all) of what on my plate, then i have to go back and get more and pretend like i didnt eat it all. i also do not have the luxury of cooking during day light hours more often than not, so the yellow-y light is a problem. and since i forget to snap shots until the last second, i dump some food on a plate and click without any real thought of where i'm putting my plate (like all the pretty grey countertop and carpet backdrops?!) and this results in just ugly photos. i will try to be better at making the food look good so you will actually want to make it instead of thinking....um...yeah i'm not cooking that.