Chicken Stew

Chicken Stew
Adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients
• 3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 cups chicken broth
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots (4 carrots), blanched for 2 minutes
• 1 10-ounce package frozen peas (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a sheet pan and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle
generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked
through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the
bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6
cups of cubed chicken.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes
in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions
over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and
cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock
to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add
2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and the heavy cream. Add the cubed
chicken, carrots, peas, onions, and parsley. Mix well. Place the stew in a 10 x 13
x 2-inch oval or rectangular baking dish. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan
lined with parchment or wax paper. Bake for 35 minutes or until bubbly.

Note: To make in advance, refrigerate the chicken stew. Bake the stew for 55
minutes or until bubbly.

This recipe is from my friend. I saw that it was from Ina, so I looked up the recipe online to see the difference. Pretty much, my friend just omitted the frozen pearl onions and didn't use the biscuits. Here is the original recipe from Ina. You can pretty much call this Chicken and Biscuits or Chicken Pot Pie. It is soooo good and really quick and easy. I don't know if it's all the butter or what, but it is delicious. It's pretty plain jane, but so yummy. After reading the reviews online, I put in WAY less salt (like 1/2 tsp) in the stew .. but I also don't use unsalted butter ... really, who does? I also only used 1 stick of butter (rather than 1 1/2). I made the biscuits (yum!) and added less salt to them too b/c reviews had said they were too salty. I made my own half and half for the biscuits since the stew used cream ... and i still have cream from Thanksgiving :). I also left out the pearl onions like my friend does. This filled my 9x13 pan to the brim! Makes a lot. I made it on Sunday ... did as the "make ahead" instructions say and just made the "stew" and biscuits before hand, refrigerated them (separately) during church, and then just had to cook it when we got home. Oh, there's a lot of chicken in it, so if you don't have 6 chicken breasts, less would still be plenty.