Remembering Winter, Wait Really?

It’s cold, well it was. Spring is here so why would I want to remember winter? For all my complaining about winter, especially this past one, why look back? I don’t feel that you can fully appreciate warm beautiful spring/summer weather without going through the rough winters, maybe some people can. But I get something from the feeling in the air when it changes from cold to warm to hot, and freezing to brisk to humid, it helps me know that we are moving forward, moving on. When I think of the best of this winter, I think of this chicken chickpea stew. It brings back all the memories of meals with friends and family here in our apartment. It was a big hit and many wanted the recipe, that is the other reason I can’t move onto spring, at least in this blog until I posted this. I know it took me a long time, I’ll have to think of why. But here is the stew, now I will move on to spring, then quickly onto summer and it’s going to be a good one, I can feel it in the air.

Chicken Chickpea Stew

Note: There are major short cuts to this stew, like store bought broth and roasting 4 chicken breasts (season with salt and pepper) in the oven at 400º F for (30-45 minutes depending on how large they are) check with an instant read thermometer for doneness 165º F.

Serves: 6

Broth and chicken:

1 whole chicken, 4 pounds

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

2 bay leaves

5 peppercorns

½ tsp. salt

1 cup parsley, and stems

1 head of garlic, cut in half crosswise

Stew:

1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cumin

4 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium fennel bulb, chopped

1 inch ginger root, peeled and finely chopped

1 container of hummus, 8 oz.

1 can chickpeas, 15 oz.

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

½ cup chopped parsley

POACH CHICKEN:

Rinse the chicken, and take off the excess fat in the cavity, place chicken in a stockpot. Throw in all the other broth ingredients and fill pot with cold water to cover the chicken. If you have some fresh herbs (parsley, chives, cilantro) throw in a few of those as well, can’t hurt.

Bring to a simmer uncovered, check occasionally (it should take the broth 30-40 minutes to come to a simmer) skim foam off the top. Gently simmer for 30 minutes (do not let it boil). Turn the heat off and let the chicken sit in the hot broth for another 30 minutes. Take the chicken out of the broth and set aside to cool at least 15 minutes or until you can handle it easily, discard skin, and shred the meat, place meat in a bowl and cover.  Strain broth into a glass or stainless steel bowl with a fine mesh sieve (you only need 4 cups for this recipe, will have extra to freeze for a rainy day).

STEW BASE:

Preheat oven to 400ºF, toss butternut squash with cinnamon, cumin, 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, ¼ tsp. salt and pepper, preheat a sheet pan in the oven for 5 minutes then add the butternut squash and roast for 20-30 minutes.  It should be tender and sweet.

Heat a large soup pot and add remaining extra virgin olive oil and salt, and sauté fennel over medium heat until tender about 5-7 minutes, add the ginger and cook an additional 2 minutes. Stir in hummus, chickpeas and 4 cups of the chicken broth, simmer for 15 minutes.

FINISH:

Add all of the shredded chicken and butternut squash to the stew base, simmer for 5 minutes season to taste salt and pepper, garnish with parsley.

Optional: Serve over coconut rice