Brandon's Chicken Stew

Brandon’s Chicken Stew

So I just ate the last of this for lunch today and it was damn tasty. I made friends with the foreman of a job that is happening onsite here at work and let him try some today. He said it reminded him of his mom's cooking and had to have the recipe. Here is the recipe as provided to him. This was derived from a recipe I got from my mom with a few personal touches. Enjoy. 

As always, the measurements and amount of ingredients are flexible. The number of carrots and celery and inclusion/exclusion of leeks and mushrooms are usually dependent on what is in the fridge.

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cubed (raw)

1 onion diced

5 carrots sliced

5 pieces of celery sliced

Handful of mushrooms sliced **see below

1 leek (optional)

2.5 lbs Potatoes- red work best as they don’t fall apart as easily. I usually do these last and just fill up the rest of the crock pot with them.

1.5 beers- usually 1 can PBR (light American lager) and ½ of whatever I am drinking/craft beer

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom or celery soup **We usually don’t have whole mushrooms on hand so we just use cream of mushroom

Couple/Few pinches of basil- 1 Tbsp+

Couple/Few pinches of oregano- 1 Tbsp+

Pinch of Rosemary- about 1 tsp

Lots of pepper- about 2 Tbsp

Lots of salt- about 2 Tbsp

4 cloves of garlic- minced (1 Tbsp+ of pre-minced stuff in the jar)

Add all ingredients to crock pot as they are cut. Mix together. Cook high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8+ hours stirring occasionally. Once everything is cooked and potatoes are done and can be easily cut with a spoon or fork, turn crock pot off or to “warm.” Make sure to use a different stirring spoon (or thoroughly clean the spoon) once the chicken is cooked, no one wants to get sick. Mix a couple of decent sized spoonfuls of cornstarch or flour with some water and mix into stew. Let stew sit for a bit to thicken up. The longer it sits and cooler it gets, the thicker it will get. Eat with buttered sourdough bread. For whatever reason it always seems a lot better the second day.