Sorry this is so long. Somehow I can't seem to condense it.
Yikes! I meant to post this several weeks ago but time is going quickly.
A few weeks back my usualy monthly luncheon with my friends got cancelled
and so I had to re-plan my day. Steven and his staff were going through
emotional turmoil at the time and I thought I'd take them all some
comfort food. I had a bunch of chicken in the fridge that I bought on
sale with the thought of freezing it for later use. Hmmm... I decided,
at the last minute, to whip up a soup or stew to take to Steven and staff
for lunch. I wanted enough for 40 people. I immediately called Barb for
advice, figuring she had experience with this type of thing because of
her Ronald McDonald spreads. I don't know why I figured she would wave
the magic wand and give me an instant answer 😉 Well, it didn't work out
that way. She has never done a soup or stew on the fly for so many
people. She had couple of ideas but nothing concrete. Well, thanks for
trying Barb 😉 Meanwhile my gardening pal across the street, Ginger (I
call her Auntie Gin), called to see if I wanted to go on a long, drunken
marguerita lunch at the Algonquin Club down the road. I explained what
I was doing and she said to hold on for 30 minutes and she'd be over to
help. I began digging through recipes to see which ones I could adapt
for a large batch of soup or stew.
Ginger came barging in the back door bearing gifts. She had 8 loaves of
french bread, 8 bags of mixed field greens and 3 bottles of Marie's salad
dressings, and like 1 of every type of vegetable from the produce
department and a one pound brick of butter. I had made Barb's brownies
the night before (a huge hit at the hospital from previous feeds I had
taken up there before). Gin also brought over her giant soup pot and a
blender full of margeuritas. I have a really big soup pot and I also
have a smaller one. We hauled out the cutting boards and set up an
assembly line. Ginger doesn't know much about cooking but follows
instruction well and she had cocktails, so it worked out fine.
Below is the recipe we went by. We used it as a loose guideline. The
variations that I can remember are in ( ). We diced and/or chopped/cubed
all veggies/chicken beforehand, not as we went.
Chipotle-Chicken Stew
Chipotles are dried, smoked jalapeños; they give this stew a Southwestern
flair guaranteed to take the chill off winter. Make and store the stew in
the refrigerator the day before the party. Reheat over medium-low heat,
and stir in the cilantro before serving.
(We did not make it the day before and it was still great)
Ingredients (note - each measurement below was tripled and divided kind
of evenly into each pot)
Cooking spray
3 pounds skinned, boned chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces
(I used maybe 10 lbs. chicken breast, diced into cubes. I didn't measure
the chicken when I put it into the 3 pots but did put a smaller amount in
the small pot)
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups chopped onion
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled red potato (about 1 pound)
(We used russets because that is what we had on hand)
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
(We used regular cans of broth, none of this fat-free stuff and lightened
up on the sea salt)
3 (14.5-ounce) cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
(We used regular cans of broth, none of this fat-free stuff and lightened
up on the sea salt)
3 drained canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, finely chopped
(I had one on hand and had to go to the store to buy 8 more cans. Ginger
was too drunk to drive by then 😉
1/2 teaspoon salt
(I used fresh ground sea salt and didn't measure. Big surprise huh?)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
We had a lot of chopped veggies left. Ginger put them in a big baggie and
took them home to make vegetable soup the next day. Provided the hangover
she would most likely experience would allow it.
Preparation
Place a large Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.
(we used the soup pots). Add the chicken; sauté 7 minutes or until
browned. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm. Add oil to pan. Add onion;
sauté 7 minutes or until lightly browned. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add
potato and the next 6 ingredients (potato through chiles); bring to a
boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes or until vegetables are
tender. Add chicken and salt; cover and cook for 10 minutes. Stir in
cilantro.
Yield
16 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
(I figured it was close to 60 servings after we finished)
Nutritional Information
CALORIES 173(12% from fat); FAT 2.3g (sat 0.5g,mono 1g,poly 0.5g);
PROTEIN 22.7g; CHOLESTEROL 49mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 361mg; FIBER 1.6g;
IRON 1.6mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14.6g
Nancy Hughes , Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2000
Well... it turned out damned tasty. After the stew was done, we packed
it all up in the Jeep. I called the maintenance manager (Rand) for the
hospital and told him I was bringing lunch for Steven, him and the crew.
Rand (a very good and intimate friend from before Steven and I got
together) told me to rest assured, he would take care of it and have a
couple of carts for us to load the food on and wheel upstairs ( he has
always liked my cooking). We got there and wheeled the food up. We
unloaded it, went to the cafeteria for bowls, spoons, napkins, forks etc.
At 7pm that night I got several phone calls thanking me for lunch and a
couple of nurses remarked on how hilarious and outrageous "Auntie Gin"
is. Steven called and thanked me for the meal. He said it's the most
relaxed they've all been in about a week. He knew better than to try to
call Gin 😉 He said, as usual, everyone went for the brownies first and
then ate lunch. Damned Schaller and her friging brownies *sigh* 😉 Well,
then I had to figure out what to do for my own chow that night. I had a
carry out pizza from Two Nice Guys and watched 'The Peacemakers' on DVD.
I had a nice day, especially since I refused to clean the kitchen until
the next morning.
Michael
--
Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their
food, and tyrannize their teachers.
- Socrates
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