Argentine Chicken Stew (Cazuela Gaucho)

Mirj's Note:

Here's a recipe for a Jewish dish which was originally designed to be cooked over a campfire. This stew is a dish typical of the cooking of a group of Jews who left Russia in the late nineteenth century to form an agricultural community in Argentina. Some of the early pioneers became gauchos and would have cooked this stew over a camp fire in a clay pot called a cazuela, from whic

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 2 chicken, cut up
• flour (for dredging)
• olive oil (for sauteing)
• 3 large carrots, cut into chunks
• 8 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 1 lb pumpkin or 1 lb hubbard squash, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
• 2 large parsnips, cut into chunks
• 3 onions, sliced
• 1 -2 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon paprika (preferably Hungarian)
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• chicken stock
• 1/2 cup barley
• 2 ears corn, sliced into 1 1/2-inch slices
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 lb green beans, cut
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Heat some oil in a Dutch oven.
2. Dredge the chicken pieces in seasoned flour.
3. Saute the chicken until golden brown on all sides.
4. Remove chicken and set aside.
5. If necessary, add additional oil to the pan and saute the carrots, parsnips, potatoes and squash until golden brown.
6. Remove vegetables and set aside.
7. Saute onions until limp and translucent.
8. Near the end of the onions' cooking time, add the garlic and paprika and saute 2-3 minutes.
9. Return chicken and sauteed vegetables to the pan.
10. Add bay leaf, white wine, salt and pepper and chicken stock to barely cover the stew.
11. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to a simmer.
12. Cook for 20 minutes and add barley and corn cob slices.
13. Cover and continue cooking for 30 minutes.
14. Add green beans and thawed peas and cook for 10 additional minutes.
15. Beat the egg.
16. Add a little of the hot liquid from the pan and beat the egg vigorously.
17. Add the egg to the pot and stir.
18. Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
19. Taste the stew and correct the seasoning, if necessary.
20. Serve the stew in soup plates or deep dinner plates with a rim.

Reviews

[Andi of Longmeadow Farm]

I am so glad I prepared this recipe! This is soul soothing, appealing aromatic, and delightfully easy to make stew. It really is no harder them making chicken soup, and so much better! The parsnips add such a smooth taste to this stew, as well as the squash. I didn't have access to pumpkin squash so used butternut squash instead. I also added a couple stalks of asparagus, because we had fresh. I wish I could give it more stars. The only thing I forgot was the peas, which I added after I took the picture. Oh well. Thanks, Mirj, this was great!