Mennonite Girls Can Cook is a collection of recipes which were posted daily for a period of ten years from 2008 to 2018. We have over 3,000 delicious recipes that we invite you to try. The recipes can be accessed in our recipe file by category or you can use the search engine.

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Chicken Stew


Chicken Stew is a nice comfort meal served with fresh crusty bread.

Ingredients:
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 stalks celery, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 carrot peeled, cut into bite size pieces
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 (14-1/2 oz) can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 (14 oz.) can low-salt chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
  • 2 chicken breasts with ribs (about 1-1/2 pounds total)
  • 1 (15 oz.) can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Method:
  1. Heat the oil in a heavy 5-1/2 quart saucepan over medium heat. 
  2. Add the celery, carrot, and onion. 
  3. Saute the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. 
  4. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 
  5. Stir in the tomatoes with their juices, chicken broth, basil, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme. 
  6. Add the chicken breasts; press to submerge.
  7. Bring the cooking liquid to simmer. 
  8. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently uncovered until the chicken is almost cooked through, turning the chicken breasts over and stirring the mixture occasionally, about 25 minutes.
  9. Using tongs, transfer the chicken breasts to a work surface and cool for 5 minutes. 
  10. Discard the bay leaf. 
  11. Add the kidney beans to the pot and simmer until the liquid has reduced into stew consistency, about 10 minutes.
  12. Discard the skin and bones from the chicken. 
  13. Shred or cut the chicken into bite size pieces. 
  14. Return the chicken meat to the stew. 
  15. Bring the stew just to a simmer. 
  16. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
  17. Serve with bread.


Here are some variations you can consider: Double the recipe. Use a whole chicken instead of just breasts. Let the dark meat cook longer than the breasts. Use chopped tomatoes with jalapeno and chopped tomatoes with sweet onions and garlic for extra flavor and spice. Use both kidney beans and a can of garbanzo beans (chick peas), drained and rinsed. If you don't have fresh basil use a teaspoon of dried. If your family enjoys mushrooms add some fresh mushrooms, too.




11 comments:

  1. Looks good...I'll have to try this one!

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  2. I'm liking this stew. This looks like all the items I have in my pantry RIGHT now! Thanks for the post...perhaps tomorrow night?

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  3. Ellen, your chicken stew looks so good. You post such family friendly dishes. I'm thinking some nice crusty bread with this one. Thank you for the recipe and for the beautiful pictures to go with it.

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  4. I love chicken dishes and here's another way to do it...thanks for the recipe, Ellen.

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  5. Mmm, just tried this today! It was yummy. I used yellow beans instead of kidney, and my family was very happy with it. Thanks for the idea!

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  6. I made this for my husband and I a few weeks ago and it was absolutely incredible! I used all of your advice from the 2nd time around (garbanzo and kidney beans etc) and it was just awesome. Very flavorful, yummy broth and extremely chunky, hearty ingredients - wonderful for a cold winter's day but also a hot summer one (when I made it)!!

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  7. Hello,

    I'm hoping to make this today. I also wanted to thank you for the convenience of just clicking to get a copy of the recipe. Found that very helpful.

    Kind regards.

    H.A.

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  8. Hello it's me again,

    This is a VERY delicious stew. I made a few adjustments with my recipe, as when short/or no ingrediants on hand I need to make due. So here is what I did.

    Made this stew without the celery, also substituted the chicken broth with 2 chicken bouillion cubes and hot water.

    Chopped my tomatoes with two cans of stewed tomatoes in the food processor. Was out of thyme, and added extra fresh grounded pepper, quite a bit actually.

    It was a bit hot/spicy, but not extra hot. Two bay leaves as I made a large pot of this stew(big family!) also as I felt I may have put a bit too much water, at the end of cooking the whole stew added some half broken spaghetti macaroni in the end for about ten minutes. I also made the stew with chicken pieces instead of the breasts. It was really delicious though, I like the flavors this stew made and will probably make it again, have even printed it out. Thanks again!

    Regards,

    H.A.

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  9. Love this recipe! I add some curry in to add a little extra kick.
    I make it all the time, thanks so much for posting!

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