French Country Chicken Stew

Photo: flickr user star5112

Ingredients

4 pounds chicken pieces

1 teaspoon coarse salt

3 tablespoons flour

1 slc smoked bacon, 1/4" thick

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 medium onion finely chopped

1 teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper

1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried tarragon

1 can stewed tomatoes - (8 oz)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 chicken bouillon cube broken into pieces

1 pkt frozen green peas - (8 oz) thawed

3 mediums carrots peeled, and

cut into 1" rounds

12 tiny red new potatoes

3 tablespoons finely-chopped flat-leaf parsley

Salt to taste

Preparation

Salt the chicken. pieces and dredge them lightly in the flour, brushing off and saving the excess.

Trim off and discard the bacon rind. Slice the bacon across the width into 1/4-inch pieces.

Heat the oil in a large heavy-bottomed kettle and brown the bacon lightly. Remove and set aside. Brown the chicken pieces in batches, removing them as they finish browning.

Remove and discard all but 3 tablespoons of the frying fat. Add the onion, pepper, tarragon, and the remaining flour. Scrape these back and forth in the hot fat until the onion is transparent.

Add the tomatoes and their juice and continue the scraping action until most of the juice has evaporated. Then add 1 1/2 cups of water, the wine, and the crumbled bouillon cube.

Add the bacon, chicken, peas, and carrots. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.

Scrub the new potatoes under cold running water and pare off a 1-inch strip around the middle of each one, leaving the peel on the ends. Add them to the stew and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stir in the parsley. Salt to taste, and serve hot.

This recipe yields 6 servings.

Comments: Make this stew once, and you'll be persuaded that it's well worth making again and again.