Comfort food

Sorry for the absence - way too much going on and blah blah blah. Can't say I'll be cooking every day, but I need to at least once a week to keep my sanity. Something about chopping etc. That being said, I have registered to finish my Bachelor of Commerce degree - I start in 3 weeks. I'm excited because all the hard math and accounting courses are already done - the courses that I am taking are things like, Intro to Spanish and Religious studies....the fun stuff :) It'll take a few years with working full time (ok, more than full time, but that keeps my boss happy). That coupled with some personal stuff, year end at work and budget meetings and audits meant I have once again lived on the mints in the bottom of my purse (although this has been great for keeping that pneumonia weight loss intact).

So instead of watching the Superbowl like everyone else seems to be today, I thought I'd whip up some comfort food. I love Jamie Oliver - he cooks, he has an accent.....did I say he has an accent? Wow. OK....I am maybe a little partial to accents.

So I set to work on his chicken stew recipe. Good old-fashioned comfort food - nothing fancy or tricky about this.

Start by chopping up your veggies in a bit of olive oil and letting them sweat. The usual - carrots, celery, garlic, onions and some fresh thyme.

Add 1 pound of diced chicken thighs and flour and brown. Deglaze with wine, add tomatoes. Then the best part of his recipe - he tells you to walk away for 90 minutes and have sex, read, whatever (best cooking instructions ever).

Take the lid off for another 30 minutes and voila, perfect chicken stew. Serve with rice, mashed potatoes or a big old hunk of whole grain bread. This is the perfect winter comfort food - and there is still some wine leftover to enjoy :)

Basic Chicken Stew
Adapted from Jamie's Food Revolution, Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:
- 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 2 medium onions, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 heaping tablespoon of flour
- one 14oz can of diced tomatoes
- few sprigs of thyme
- 1 lb of skinless chicken thighs, diced (can substitute chicken breasts)
- 2 cups of white wine

1) Prep all of the vegetables. They don't need to be exact in size. Just rustic, rough chopping will do here. In a hot pot or dutch oven, add glug of olive oil, add the vegetables and thyme and cook for about 10 minutes over medium-low/medium heat. Season lightly with salt and pepper. The onions will be soft and translucent.

2) After the vegetables have finished sweating down, raise the heat to high then add the diced chicken and flour. Cook the chicken until it's no longer pink on the outside and the flour's cooked off.

3) Deglaze the bottom of the pot with the white wine and add the can of diced tomatoes. Scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon and pick up all of that delicious, good, brown stuff.

4) Add chicken broth until it just covers the chicken and vegetables. Bring the stew up to a boil.

5) Once it's at a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, put on a lid and walk away for 90 minutes. Quote Ruhlman, "Watch some TV, play with the kids, read, have a cocktail, have sex..."

6) For the final 30 minutes of cooking, remove the lid to reduce the liquid. Stir it once in a while to prevent the vegetables and chicken from scorching on the bottom.

7) Once reduced to your preference, serve. Great with rice or bread and amazing the day after