Chicken Stew with Biscuits

Ina's chicken stew and Stephanie's sweet potato biscuits. I was first made aware of the brilliance of this combination one night at dinner at Melissa's, and I am forever grateful. I have made the stew with Ina's biscuits many times before, but Stephanie's biscuits are exponentially better. Don't make Ina's, seriously. Make these. This dinner takes a while to make, and I knew it would take slightly more effort than I had available, so I bought a roasted chicken instead of roasting one myself, and froze half of the unbaked stew and biscuits (separately). After dinner I promptly collapsed in an overfed but happy heap, and then burrowed back into my shavings pile at 8:45 p.m. last night. A new routine.

Thank you for the freezable suggestions! I think I'll clean out the freezer and do some stocking up this weekend. I truly love to cook but I'm possibly the worst meal planner you've ever seen. If I have to plan ahead I just tend to stand helplessly in the middle of the kitchen and look scared of everything. Because I am. Time for a crock-pot cookbook, too, I think. My crock-pot history is really hit-or-miss. Some of the things I've made have been good, some of them honestly inedible. Which is sort of tragic, after six or eight hours of "cooking." To find out you need a plan B at 6 p.m. But I really do love stewy-type things that go over noodles or rice in the fall and winter. Anyway, time to get organized in the kitchen.

Comments

[Kat]

My daughter is six months old and I'm just finding out why crock pot ideas are so popular... it's just too much at once, at dinnertime, to feed the baby, clean up the baby, put the baby to bed, and also have a dinner cooked/eaten/cleaned up for the adults. Crock pots don't produce gourmet cuisine but they at least take away the "cooking" part of the equation.

[The Hungarican Chick]

I hope you are not referring to Ina the 'Barefoot Contessa'. I used to like her, until she said no to a Make-A-Wish kid, who wanted very much to meet her. My opinion of her plummeted and I do not watch or buy anything by her anymore.

[Ketra]

This blog has a special glow about it these days... :o)Decided: I'm making this dish this weekend. Sounds sooo good.

[leilani]

Having raised a trio of hearty eaters, my best advice would be to get in the habit of cooking double batches of everything when you do cook. Anything that doesn't have a dairy base will freeze very well.

Second piece of advice: As soon as she can stand steadily, make her a sweet little chef's apron and start her off as a sous chef, scrubbing veggies with her own little vegetable brush. Most little ones love to cook with Mom or Dad--it makes them feel terribly grown up and you'll have better eaters too!

[Natalie VV]

Hungry. Now.
Oh, dear.

[BarbaraLW]

for a great crockpot blog, check out http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
I have both of her cookbooks - and even if you're not gluten free, the food is easy and really yummy!!

[pushups with polish]

this looks so great, especially for a fall rainy day!

[Jody]

About half our meals are crock pot. I used to think everything in the crock pot tasted the same ... I've learned differently. Second the crockpot365 blog. I search for what I'm in the mood to make, see what she's got and read her review ... haven't been steered wrong yet! The stew looks awesome. I royally screwed up the last one I made, so much so that it went in the disposal, if I get the courage I may have to try this one.

[annamaria potamiti]

Yum, yum... thank you for these! Your blog, dear Alicia, has singularly inspired all sorts of kitchen adventures in my home, and my hubby and children are indebted to you! No really, I am having a 'cooking Renaissance' and all because your 'visuals'inspire me so! Love you!XX

[MamaGigi @ twobedroomsandababy]

I have a chicken to roast in the fridge and all the ingredients (minus the sweet potatoes). We're having guests this weekend and making dinner on a limited budget, this might just be the meal!

[JenW]

I'm with you on the hit-or-miss nature of slow cooking. I really never bother with white meat chicken. You need to start with the "cheap cuts" if you eat meat--pork shoulder being the winner overall. Then the magic happens.

That photo is making me hungry (and I just finished my lunch!)

[Sarah P.]

If you have a dutch oven (and I'm sure you do), you might try "Glorious One-Pot Meals: A Revolutionary New Quick and Healthy Approach to Dutch-Oven Cooking" by Elizabeth Yarnell. I really like most of the recipes in here. After some initial prep, you plop the ingredients in the dutch oven and cook for an hour or two while you do something else. The cassoulet is especially good. :)

[Christina]

My favorite book for slow cooker recipes is Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. So many wonderful recipes (a fave is Indian Cauliflower & Kidney Bean Stew with Coconut Milk, though I sub garbanzo beans for the kidney beans). Even my meat-eating husband thinks the meals are delicious. Only suggestion is that the times are long; I've cooked some recipes at half the suggested time and they were fine.

[Jessica]

Yum!

I just put sweet potatoes on my shopping list. Thank you!

[Jodi Anderson]

Whenever I've thought about my meal plan for this Sunday, I have developed a blank look. And head.

Problem solved, and deliciously, I suspect.

[Lyssa]

My crockpot is in constant rotation cooking bean soups, split peas, cuban style black beans, and caramelized onion sauce. I don't use it as much for making meals as for making bases I use to cook meals.

Oh yeah, and I make marmalade in it too.

[Donna]

I'll also put in a vote for a dutch oven over a crock pot. I've tried again and again with the crock pot and am disappointed nearly every time. But the dutch oven is wonderful. I think a crock pot can be handy if you aren't going to be at home--I know people who have it cooking while they are at work--but a dutch oven produces much better results for me.

[Kelly]

The thing about crock pots, is that I look at a recipe and think, "well darn, I can just go ahead and make this the usual way, not cook it for 8 hours." Thinking of things like lasagna, chicken stew, etc. Which makes me think it's not the time I need, but a plan. Or a personal shopper.

(I want to make your biscuits, but I'm saddled with some very suspicious, picky eaters who claim to hate sweet potatoes.)

[Jenn]

I've never been a fan of the crock pot - hit or miss like you said. But, I have found an almost as easy and much more delcious way to feed my busy family. You have to check out Elizabeth Yarnell's book Glorious One Pot Meals about dutch oven cooking. I've never had a flop from this cookbook and your house will smell devine while things are cooking!

[Sarah]

I love crockpotting but it didn't appeal to me much before babies and now it's a necessity. I'll e-mail you my favorite yummy crockpot recipes. Cheers!
Sarah

[Cara]

You seriously cannot go wrong with my crock pot combination: two vegetables, one meat, one can of creamy-something-or-other-soup. You'll also need some chicken stock and whatever combination of dried herbs or seasonings you like. At least once a week I put one chopped onion, one small bag of peeled and chopped carrots, bone-in chicken thighs and a can of creamy mushroom soup. Veggies on bottom, with enough chicken stock to cover. Six hours on low. Seriously, it comes out perfect every time. So easy and SO INEXPENSIVE. The chicken will get so tender that the bones slide right out.

[Elizabeth]

Embrace the crockpot! My crockpot shortcut: I buy a few chicken breasts and cook them with olive oil, salt, and pepper in a crockpot each weekend. I then use that chicken in meals all week long. Shredded chicken tacos, bbq chicken samiches, chicken soup--you get the idea. Good luck with the planning!

[Emily]

I love the idea of this combination!

I make Ina's chicken pot pie at least once a month. Since I have three little ones though, I often make the stew part and while that is cooking away, I make a batch of buttermilk drop biscuits and bake them. Then I just pop a biscuit on top of the stew in each person's bowl... it takes so much less time!

[Amy]

Indeed! I've made those sweet potato biscuits, though I made them as pumpkin biscuits and threw in pumpkin-y spices. And they were spectacular--they're an absolutely perfect texture thanks to the mashed vegetable (whichever sort you use).

[Amanda]

Thanks for sharing the recipes! I have been putting on my apron and getting into the cooking spirit lately.