Super Bowl Stew

Monday, February 2nd, 2009 | College, Dinner, Food

: I was rushed, so this is a picture of the last pot of stew.

Last night I decided to make a double batch of the spicy chicken stew that I made about two weeks ago. The stew came out wonderful and was once again more or less completely gone by the time the night was over. I had about enough leftover for two good sized bowls.

One very important change to the recipe: chicken breasts instead of thighs. The meat was softer and considerably better tasting. Absolutely worth the extra cost.

As I expected, the stew is, in fact, better the next day. The flavors had more time to mingle and the stew thickened up considerably. The same is true of the Red Beans and Rice and Gumbo (which is not up yet). The problem is of course that no one really wants to wait an entire day to eat something that smells so good.

In addition to the stew I made what amounts to one of the easiest warm party dishes I have ever made. I bought two packs of cocktail wienies and two bottles of BBQ sauce when picking up the chicken for the stew.

All I had to do was warm the BBQ sauce and toss it in a crock pot on high with the hot dogs, a shot of Jack Daniels and some ground chipotle. The alcohol will cook out as the heat rises leaving the flavor behind, so don’t worry about that. Once it was warm enough I turned it back down to low, but it really just takes care of itself. Unfortunately there aren’t any pictures because I was a little rushed to get everything done as quickly as possible, so the picture is of the last pot.