The weather was cold, windy, and rainy this week and what better way to warm yourself up than with a stew? This one was different than most-roast the veggies in the oven and then add them to the broth. How weird, I thought-but the end product was pretty yummy. Plus I still had the bottle of Generation Seven white wine that I had schlepped all the way home from Blissdom in Toronto, and needed to use. I couldn't let it go to waste, could I?
There are only slight changes I would make; the veggies, which the original recipe left whole or otherwise chunky, are a little large and would be easier to eat if they are smaller. Wrangling whole baby carrots on a spoon can be a challenge. I was thinking that they were more like toddler carrots, they were so big.
Also, there isn't a lot of "juice" to this stew, so if you like a lot of broth, you may want to up the amounts of chicken broth and wine, like I did. Keep in mind that upping the broth might mean you will want to up the amount of thyme and rosemary that is added to the stew later on.
Adapted from Crazy Plates
4 cups unpeeled, cubed red potatoes (I used Yukon Gold)
2 cups whole baby carrots (I think it's better to chop them a bit-even into thirds)
1 cup chopped red onions
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced (I used 3-always love lots of garlic!)
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 tsp dried rosemary (I used fresh from my plant)
1 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 cup sliced green beans
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 boneless, skinless, chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch cubes (I used 4. They were big)
3 cups low sodium, low fat chicken broth
3 tbsp flour
Pre-heat your oven to 425 F.
In a small bowl, stir together the oil, vinegar, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp rosemary, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Pour over the potatoes, carrots, garlic and onions in a large bowl and toss all together until well coated.
Roast in a large roasting pan, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. Add the green beans, stir, and keep roasting for another 10 minutes.
While your veggies are roasting, pout the wine into a large pot. I did find that this recipe had very little "juice" so I added a splash more wine. Bring the wine to a boil, adding the remaining 1/2 tsp thyme and rosemary. Add your cubed chicken and then turn down the heat and let it simmer, uncovered for about 12 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
Add the roasted veggies to the cooked chicken and wine, and then pour in about 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth. I added more-in fact, I just eyeballed it and dumped a bunch in until I thought it was saucy enough.
To thicken your stew, you have two options; the original recipe says to mix 1/2 cup broth with 3 tbsp of flour until no lumps can be seen and stir it into the stew before you bring the newly added broth to a simmer. I tried this and it still seemed pretty thin, so in the end I took 1 1/2 tbsp of cornstarch, mixed it with a bit of cold water, and stirred it in.
I don't like my stews super thick, but this seemed to do the trick. Taste it and adjust for seasonings. With extra broth, you'll likely need extra herbs as well. Bring your stew up to a simmer and let it get nice and thick, then serve!
Makes 6 servings.
