Roast Chicken Stew

There is nothing I like better on a cool Autumn day than a bowl of hot, thick, steaming chicken stew.

I’m fairly simple in my chicken stew needs. I want it to be packed with carrots, celery, potatoes, and of course chicken. And when we make it from scratch starting from the roasted chicken all the way through to the stew, something magical happens.

The chicken flavour gets ramped up to eleven and we get a sense of satisfaction from using our ingredients all the way through to their natural conclusion.

I use my Cast Iron Roast chicken for this, but any way you roast a chicken will be fine. Eat whatever you are going to eat the day you make it, then pull off all the meat and make broth with the carcass. Reserve the meat and broth to make this stew the next day.

There are only two of us in my house, so we end up with plenty of leftover meat, but if you know your family may eat all the meat on your roast chicken before you can use it for stew, you might consider roasting a second chicken at the same time. (It takes the same amount of effort, really)

Do not skip the nutritional yeast, fresh parsley, or the fresh lemon juice as they are what make this stew POP!

Roast Chicken Stew

Serves 6-8

3-4 tbsp olive oil or ghee or schmaltz

1 tsp coriander seeds, crushed well

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed well

1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed well

1 tbsp turmeric powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

½-1 tsp black pepper

2 tsp Herbes de Provence

1 medium sweet onion, chopped

1 tsp salt and to taste

3-4 medium carrots, chopped

3-4 celery stalks, chopped

½ cup marsala cooking wine or cooking sherry (optional, use additional ½ cup of broth if omitting)

2-3 medium waxy yellow or red bliss potatoes, chopped

2-3 cups torn chicken meat from roast chicken

2-3 quarts chicken broth

1 bunch flat leaf parsley, chopped fine

1-2 lemons

1 cup nutritional yeast

Heat the oil or fat in a heavy bottomed 6 quart soup pot over medium high heat. Add the spices and stir well. Cook until spices become fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add in chopped onion and 1 tsp of salt and stir well. Cook until onions begin to turn translucent. Add carrots and celery and stir well. Cook until vegetables begin to sweat, about 2-3 minutes. Then add the wine (or ½ cup broth) and scrape up any fond (the brown stuck bits on the bottom).

Add the chicken meat and potatoes and enough broth to cover everything by 2 inches. Stir well. Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce to simmer. Cook, uncovered, until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the juice from 1 lemon, the parsley, and the nutritional yeast and taste for seasoning adding more salt or lemon juice as necessary.

Serve hot with your favourite toast. Enjoy.