Spring Chicken Stew with Leeks and Potatoes
Serves 6 to 8 If you want to learn how to cut up a whole chicken (or need a refresher), watch this video. I find it’s easier to remove and discard the skin before I begin cutting up the bird. For this stew, I cut the breasts into large pieces and leave the legs, thighs, and wings on the bone. The bones impart unparalleled richness, flavor, and body. (Be sure to save the chicken carcass for stock!) If you don’t want to cut up your own bird, use boneless, skinless chicken thighs.
by: Three Many Cooks
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken, skinned and cut into pieces (see note above)
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper
- 3 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into medium dice
- 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced thin
- Olive oil
- 3 medium leeks, trimmed, halved lengthwise, thoroughly washed, and sliced thin
- 2 medium white onions, cut into medium dice
- 3 medium carrots, cut into medium dice
- 3 medium celery stalks, cut into medium dice
- ¾ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- ¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
- 4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 ½ cups dry white wine
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 ½ pounds potatoes (Red or Yukon Gold), cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 large bunch kale, washed, stemmed, and rough chopped
- Chopped fresh parsley (for garnish)
Instructions
- Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper; heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Fry bacon in a Dutch oven or large soup kettle over low heat, until very crisp. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Increase heat to medium-high. Working in 2 batches, sauté the mushrooms until brown, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste; transfer to a plate and set aside. Working in 2 batches, sauté chicken until well browned, adding olive oil to the Dutch oven as needed.
- Adding a little more olive oil to the Dutch oven, sauté leeks, onions, carrots, and celery until soft, 5 to 7 minutes, seasoning with thyme, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic; sauté until fragrant, about a minute. Add wine, mushrooms, bacon, and bay leaves; continue to cook for another minute. Return chicken to the pot, along with the broth; bring to a steady simmer. Transfer to oven and cook, covered, until chicken is very tender, about 1 hour.
- Remove pot from oven and return it to a burner set to medium. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Add potatoes; cook until crisp-tender, 7 to 10 minutes. Add kale and cook until both the kale and the potatoes are tender. Remove chicken bones (if using whole chicken) and bay leaves. Sprinkle stew with chopped fresh parsley and serve.
Yum! I only purchase chickens whole. I like the flavor and I like to be honest about my food. If it is going to be raised for our consumption then we should meet it face on.
I just taught a class, and we did a whole chicken, out of 15 women,only three have ever dealt with a intact bird. Most did not even understand how to cut or even which end goes up (either depending on what you want to do). So keep on plugging and we will bring back a generation who can break a chicken down!
That video is super helpful to new cooks like me… who have NO idea how to cut up a whole chicken. I’ll try this soon!
This is perfect! It’s definitely spring here, but it’s also a bit chilly so a light soup fits the bill nicely 🙂
Thanks, Sharon. Makes me want to go get a bird and start chopping right now! I remember growing up always watching my mom cut up her own chickens. One day she was determined to teach me, and as she attacked the bird I warned her that I thought she might cut herself. “I’ve never ever cut myself doing this” and you guessed it – slice! I had to try to finish it for her, and my chicken pieces were pretty lame looking but I got the experience and a memory with my mom.
Susan
This is in response to Rachael Warrington and her comment about only 3 out of 15 women in her class had ever cut-up a whole chicken. Its hard to believe that not all to long ago a whole chicken included beak, feet and feathers. I’m not that old but I typically only buy a whole bird. Thankfully they dont require plucking feathers these days and are a great value.