Chicken Stew with Biscuits

This week is a strange one around here, weather wise.  I'm honestly so confused I don't know whether to break out the margarita's or stick to comfort food mode.  Since it's January I think I'll just stick to comfort food for a little while longer.

This meal was a nice little retreat from my recent attempts at eating healthy.  I had seconds, I'm not gonna lie.

This was part of the recent dinner club that I hosted at my house. I'll be posting about that soon but I thought you might want to give this a try this weekend, maybe for game day?

The base of this dish is basically a chicken pot pie without the top crust, biscuits are used instead. 

I think that sometimes people don't make a chicken pot pie because of that top crust and they might think it's a bit to complicated.  This simple biscuit recipe is easy and came together very quickly for me. I have to be honest here, I'm not the best biscuit maker in the world and yet these turned out just perfectly. 

The stew was very flavorful and creamy.  The parsley gives a pop of color in both the stew and the biscuits. My carrots were a little too crunchy for my liking so next time I make this I will parboil them for a little longer, or cut them smaller. I also used boneless skinless chicken breasts but cooked them exactly like the instructions below and they turned out just fine. 

Chicken Stew with Biscuits
Recipe from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa)

Ingredients

• 3 whole (6 split) Chicken breasts, bone in, skin on
• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
• 5 cups chicken stock
• 2 chicken bouillon
• 12 Tbsp ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups chopped yellow onions (about 2 onions)
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 cups (4 carrots) medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes.
• 10oz package frozen peas, about 2 cups
• 1 1/2 cups frozen pearl onions
• 1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
• 3/4 cup half and half
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
• 1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp water for egg wash.

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Salt and pepper the chicken and place it on a tin foil lined sheet pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until fully cooked.
3. When it's cooled enough to touch, pull the meat from the bones and discard the bones and skin. Cube into medium sized pieces, you should have about 4 to 6 cups.
4. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken broth and the bouillon until hot.
5. In a large saucepan melt the butter and add the onions, cook for about 15 minutes until translucent over medium low heat.
6. Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes until thick.
7. Add the hot chicken stock to the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Simmer on low heat for 1 minute.
8. Add the 2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp pepper and heavy cream.
9. Add the chicken, carrots, peas and parsley. Mix well.
10. Pour the chicken mixture into a 10 x 13 x 2 inch dish. Place the dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes.
11. Meanwhile make the biscuits: Add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix to combine.
12. Add the diced up cold butter and mix until the butter is about pea sized.
13. Add the half and half and chopped parsley and mix to combine.
14. Dump the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 3/8 inch thick and cut twelve 2 1/2 inch circles.
15. Place the twelve biscuits onto the hot stew and coat with the egg wash.
16. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the stew is bubbly.
17. **If you are preparing ahead of time: Refrigerate the stew and the biscuits separately. Bake the stew for 25 minutes then place the biscuits on top and bake for another 30 minutes. **