Did you know right now there are people wearing safety glasses and white lab coats who are staring into beakers adding chemical substances and hoping to create new and exciting foods for us. Yeah–these test tube foodies are hoping that the magic mix of just the right chemicals will give you that melt in your mouth, cooked for hours by your loving grandmother feeling when you have their new food dance on your taste buds. There is no thought to the lasting effects these chemicals have because they are food chemicals–approved for consumption and digestion. You will not drop dead from the toxic levels of these additives at all according to the Food Police in the higher levels of the test tube foodie office building. So, drop by drop they are bringing you the newest flavor –the most exciting life like creation they can figure out. You can picture this as the real world creation of Willie Wonka’s 3 course meal gum–we all know Violet Beauregarde’s reaction to the amazing reality of the flavors of the gravy and mashed potatoes as she chewed the gum. I think these test tube foodies are surpassing Mr Wonka’s hopes and dreams with the new way they can conjure food up out of nothing but some chemical additives, some water and a few solids. So–where does that leave the people who want real food? The people on the outside of the industry who are choosing not to follow in Violet’s footsteps and turn into a giant blue blob because of the unforeseen reaction yet to be discovered by these lab coated food chemists. Not only is it hard to create foods free from chemicals but also to create the same WOW PEP and ZEST flavor that only the artificial world can bring you. I mean, by evolutionary design we like the things that are MORE MORE MORE!
Well that is where the real foodies come in. Throw backs from the kitchen, if you will. People who remember a real pie crust made with butter /lard not margarine–or–shortening (YUCK!) People who took the time to create flavors from nature–French cooking, Italian cooking–European cooking! It takes no time, it creates an experience. Just a few tricks, a few tools and you too can bring back the moments of food that are safe to enjoy and are great for your body.
Enter for exibit–the Stewpendous Chicken! My family loved this dish, the house smelled divine while it was cooking and I even manged to get those lentils past the mouth of my husband who usually runs the other way when I say I added lentils to anything in the kitchen aside from the garbage bin.
Stewpendous Chicken
serves 8
4lbs boneless skinless chicken sliced thin (breast or thighs–use what you want)
1 cup raw lentils
6 cups water
4 stalks of fresh celery-chopped
1/2 sweet onion-chopped
4 medium carrots cut into sticks
2 baked and peeled red sweet potatoes mashed
2 cloves garlic-diced
2 springs fresh Thyme
2 springs Rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tbls butter
In a large pot, set on medium heat, add the butter and allow it to brown. (not blacken, stir the butter and let it cook–not die!) Once the butter is nicely brown add all the vegetables and lentils (leaving out the mashed sweet potato)** and spices and stir to coat in the butter. Keep stirring for about 10 minutes more, your house will now be filled with the scent of goodness. Now add in 2 cups of water and the chicken slices, making sure all the chicken fits in the pan you chose. Now, here is the thickening trick–add in the mashed white sweet potatoes and mix well with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. Now cover the soup with the remaining water, turn the heat to low and allow to simmer for about 3 hours.
Serve hot in large bowls! Allow the family to compliment you on the amazing stew and bask in your greatness. You have fed them well and the meal is feeding their body well! 
** Here is a red skinned sweet potato
–the flavor is this was drastically different from the orange fleshed relative. I found it to be sweet and earthy–like a happy married between a red bliss potato and a sweet potato. You will see how this adds a great thickening property to the stew as well as creates a new dimension of flavor.
Here is what it looks like after you bake it and peel it–this picture was for informational purposes only and I was not trying to humiliate the potato in away way. OK–well maybe a little.
This recipe is happy to be part of Real Food Wednesday! Join the carnival!
ISBN 978-0979560606
Thanks for introducing me to white sweet potatoes, I’ve seen them at the market but never tried them. Are they good when simply roasted?
they are great roasted! I think they are more earthy in taste but in a good way–it is not like you will be eating dirt LOL
I cooked up some red-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes last night! They’re good, but starchier than the orange variety. Not bad though, not bad at all!
I made this recipe over the weekend, substituting a beef rump roast which I had on hand (grass-fed & non hormonally treated/anti-bioticked and locally sourced and all that good stuff), fully trimmed of fat & then cut into cubes, and with a few additional spices because I’m Italian enough that I need plenty of spice
, and cooked in a crockpot for 4 hours. It was TREMENDOUS! I couldn’t find white sweet potatoes, so I just used the plain old orange.
OH^^ i forgot to say. I didn’t have rosemary, which is probably why I felt it needed extra spices.