A house warming aroma

It was cold today. 68-70 and rain, yep, that is cold. I needed to warm up the house a bit so I decided to make braised chicken quarters.

I have made this recipe a few times and found that you can easily change up the veggies in the broth to fit your tastes. This time was my first time using parsnips, I enjoyed the sweet flavor it added to the broth. You can use turnips in place of parsnips, but I couldn't find any the day I went shopping.

Serve with some boiled fingerling potatoes lightly tossed with a smidgen of butter, salt, and pepper. I like to eat my garnish so I use tomato slices to add color to my plates.

Here's to you and your culinary adventures, friend. Cheers!

Braised Chicken with Veggies
Serves 2

2 chicken quarters, skin removed
14 oz chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 TBS butter or margarine
salt and pepper
3 parsnips, peeled and chunked
2 large carrots, peeled and chunked
1 medium sweet vidalia onion, peeled and chunked
1 handful frozen, shelled peas
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 TBS fresh chives, snipped small
1 TBS fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Lightly salt and pepper chicken.

In a small stock pot, melt the butter, allow to brown slightly. Add skinned, seasoned chicken quarters. Brown on both sides. Remove from pot.

Add wine to deglaze pot, be sure to scrape up all the yummy brown bits.

Add remaining ingredients through chives, setting aside parsley. Return chicken to pot, nestling the meat into the stock and veggies. Cover and simmer 20-25 minutes until chicken is no longer pink.


Here's where you can go one of two directions with this dish:

Remove bay leaves and veggies. Set chicken aside. Reduce stock slightly and drizzle over meat. Sprinkle with parsley.

OR

If you use bigger chunks of veggies you can keep them as part of the meal. In this case, leave the peas out until you are finishing off the veggies so they don't overcook:

Remove and discard bay leaves. Remove chicken, set aside, keep warm. Add peas to pot. Simmer, covered until veggies are finished cooking. Serve in a bowl along side chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.