About this Recipe

This is the ultimate comfort meal. Healthy meal ideas like this one just make you feel good when you are preparing it because you just know your are preparing healthy food for your family to eat. This chicken stew is really a good choice for those that love to eat chicken dishes. This is such a hearty meal, it is an especially fun one to make when you have some kitchen helpers, because it does have a few components like veggies to prepare, chicken to cut up and prep, and the biscuits that use fresh parsley. Our family loves to prepare this meal when we have a get together. Many hands make light work and lots of conversation abounds while the meal is being prepared. Making cooking fun is something we really want to promote. Look at all the TV shows dedicated to cooking and baking. Obviously lots of people just love to get into the kitchen and prepare delicious food. This makes a big amount of food that easily serves 12 or more so if you have a large family, this is great recipe to try.

Grandmother's Tips for Chicken Stew With Biscuits and Gravy Recipe:

1. Chicken breast recipes such as this one, mean you are not going to have waste from bones and parts of the chicken you won't be eating, so even though skinned and deboned breasts may cost a bit more, you will be using it all in this recipe.

2. Have pair of kitchen food scissors (shears) to cut the chicken. It is so much easier than cutting with a knife.

3. Remember don't wash the frying pan after browning the chicken pieces because you will want to use the browned bits that are left behind. They add a lot of flavor to the dish.

4. If you don't have buttermilk just add either vinegar or pure lemon to the milk as in the recipe below.

5. As tempting as it is, for the best results, do not peek at the biscuits while they are baking.

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Ingredients

(Print)

Serves 12

Chicken Stew:

6 medium russet potatoes

14 large mushrooms (2 inch)

1 celery stick

1 acorn squash (5 inches)

1 medium onion

4 chicken breasts, skinned, deboned and cut into cubes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked pepper

1 Tablespoon rosemary, chopped

1/2 cup butter, olive oil or ghee

1 box (946 ml) chicken broth

2 cups frozen peas

Biscuits:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 Tablespoons fresh parsley,chopped

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk + 1 Tablespoon pure lemon juice or vinegar to sour

2 Tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Chicken Stew:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F..

2. Peel, rinse and cut each potato into 6-8 long wedges.

3. Peel, remove the seeds and cut squash into 1 inch cubes.

4. Quarter the mushrooms if they are large, but only cut them in half if you are using small mushrooms.

5. Peel and cut onions into long thin wedges.

6. Dice the celery.

7. Set vegetables aside.

8. In a large bowl, stir together flour, salt, pepper and rosemary.

9. Wash and cut the chicken into pieces.

10. Add cut chicken to flour mixture and coat.

11. Heat a large heavy bottom pan with butter, oil or ghee over high heat.

12. Brown the chicken on both sides. Do not crowd the pan. If needed, cook in batches.

13. Transfer chicken to a large roasting pan.

14. Do not wash the frying pan you used. Place any leftover flour mixture into the frying pan and brown slightly being careful not to burn.

15. Add chicken broth to the flour; stirring well over medium heat to make a gravy. Pour gravy over the chicken.

16. Add all the vegetables to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Put the lid on and place into oven.

17. Bake for 20 minutes.

18. Open the oven, remove the pot, give it a stir. Now, return to roaster back into the oven to cook until potatoes are tender (about 20 minutes more).

Directions

Dumplings:

1. While your stew cooks; in a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, parsley, salt and pepper.

2. Add buttermilk and oil and stir with a fork until mixture comes together. Set aside.

3. Once the potatoes and veggies are cooked, use a large spoon or a small ice cream scoop to drop 12 biscuit balls onto the simmering liquid.

4. Also add the frozen peas at this time.

5. Reduce oven to 350°F. Cover pan and cook 15-20 minutes (no peeking!) until biscuits are puffed and cooked through.

Enjoy!

Return to this Chicken Stew With Biscuits and Gravy recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen

Do you know what different chicken types refer to. Chickens vary in size and flavor according to their age.

Broilers are young chickens ages 7-12 weeks. They vary in weight from 1 to 2 1/2 pounds. These very small broilers are hard to find and normally the average broiler is big enough for two servings. Broilers are best broiled, pot roasted or roasted.

Fryers are chickens weighing up to 3 1/2 pounds and because they are more mature than the broilers have a stronger flavor. This makes them good for roasting or pot roasting and are ideal for a saute as the pieces are not very large. One bird is generally a good size for 2-3 people.

Roasters are chickens that are 5-10 months old and they weigh 3-6 pounds. These are the most popular size when you are serving chicken to a family of 3-6 people. Roasters are good boiled, pot roasted or roasted and these methods are generally served with an appropriate sauce.

Capons are unsexed male birds that are flattened for the table. They are large birds weighing up to 9 pounds and have plenty of plump white breast meat. Roast or poach them for about 2 hours for use as a cold buffet dish.

When choosing fresh chicken look for a plump breast, good creamy color and a small body with enough fat under the skin to give good flavor.

References: Grand Diplome Cooking Course (1972, Hardcover), William Anne. Danbury Press. (1971) How To Bone, Cut Up & Carve Poultry