Everyday Dorie: Subtly Spicy, Softly Hot, Slightly Sweet Chicken Stew

January 27, 2023 at 10:56 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things, soups | 3 Comments
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subtly spicy, softly hot, slightly sweet chicken stew

You may be thinking that Subtly Spicy, Softly Hot, Slightly Sweet Chicken Stew is a strange name for a number of reasons, including the part about chicken in a recipe that actually calls for beef. I don’t eat red meat, so I swapped boneless, skinless chicken thighs in for the beef stew meat in this traditionally-made, but unusually-flavored, stew.

Dorie admits to doing a bit of a pantry raid to come up with the flavorings in this recipe. Meat is marinated in a bath of gochujang, soy, red wine and aromatics like ginger and cilantro stems. Because I used chicken thighs, I only marinated them for a few hours, instead of the overnight soak Dorie calls for with beef. Again, this is a recipe where I didn’t measure a thing, just eyeballed amounts and taste-adjusted as the stew cooked. I decided to leave the cranberries out of the stew because I didn’t want to have to buy a big frozen bag of them just for a handful, and they sounded odd to me anyway in here. Instead, I tossed in a parsnip along with the carrots (and I didn’t strain them out at the end, since my stew only took about and hour to cook with the chicken thighs, as opposed to three hours with beef). Towards the end of the stew’s cooking time, I thought it seemed to be missing something in the flavor department, and then I looked at the ingredient list and realized it was! I entirely forgot to add the cinnamon stick and star anise. D’oh! I stirred in a spoonful of five-spice powder instead. Because I think just about everything can use a bit of acid, I added in a splash of Chinkiang vinegar off the heat.

The scallion, cilantro and orange gremolata sounded like a bizarre garnish to me, but I’m glad I didn’t skip it because I really liked that fresh herb punch and raw garlic zing as a finisher. I thought this stew was quite (surprisingly!) delicious made with chicken, and I’ll keep it in mind because I usually do have the needed pantry ingredients on hand.

For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.

Everyday Dorie: Chicken and Beer Stew

March 25, 2022 at 5:27 pm | Posted in cook the book fridays, everyday dorie, groups, other savory, savory things, soups | 4 Comments
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chicken and beer stew

This Chicken and Beer Stew is really supposed to be Beef and Beer Stew, but as I don’t eat read meat, I made some mods so I could try it, too. I actually nominated it for this month, thinking it would be good for St. Paddy’s day, when really it’s based on a Flemish carbonnade. I’m all over the place.

I swapped boneless, skinless chicken thighs, turkey bacon and chicken stock for the other meaty stuff, but followed all the flavorings (spices, mustard, a bit of brown sugar, dark Belgian ale, etc) and flavor-building steps (browning the meat, caramelizing the onions forever, etc) Dorie had listed. I did not, however do the multi-hour oven braise for my dish, because I knew the chicken thighs didn’t need that. I just kept everything on the stove-top for cooking. Following Dorie’s “chockful of vegetables” suggestion, I added in some carrot and baby potato chunks, and let everything low-bubble braise on the stove for 30-45 mins. When the saucy stuff was reduced a bit and everything else was tender and stewed, I called it done. Well, almost. My stew was kind of pale in comparison to the dark color of a beef one. I stirred in a dash of super-dark mushroom soy sauce, my secret ingredient for boosting color and umami when I am doing red to white meat replacements.

The weather is always up and down here in March, but the past several days have been chilly, so it was a nice cozy dinner for last night. I didn’t bother to cook noodles as Dorie suggests, since I had those potatoes in my stew. I like the little bit of sweetness the dish has, but I did save adding the splash of cider vinegar to the pot until after it was off the heat, so it would cut that and brighten the flavors up a bit. I’m looking forward to round two tonight, as stuff like this usually gets better the next day.

For the recipe, see Everyday Dorie by Dorie Greenspan, and head over to Cook the Book Fridays to see how the group liked this one.

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