Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Peasent Chicken With a Side of Gravy




A few weeks ago my dogs decided they wanted to try my english muffins. The bad part was they didn't wait until they were cooked and instead ate five uncooked muffins that were on the counter rising. A long night followed with me sitting in the waiting room of the animal hospital, hoping that they would be ok.

The one perk of this experience was that while waiting I got to watch hours of the Food Network. I caught up on some Diner, Drive-Ins and Dives, a great show that features unique local favorites from around the country. One of the places featured that night was a diner run by an ex-marine, who's specialty item was an SOS (Stew on a Shingle or Same old Stuff). Basically, it's a creamed gravy filled with ground beef served over toast.

Although this isn't a post about making an SOS, it is about the simplicity of comfort food. Gravy is such an wildly under used accessory to food. I know for me I eat it on Thanksgiving or at Grandma's house on a Sunday afternoon. But other than to use on mashed potatoes, I really partake in it. I got so excited at the thought of gravy that when I got home I looked in the fridge to see what I had to put my gravy on.

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast
1 head of cabbage, quartered
5-6 carrots chopped
1 onion, chopped
handful of radishes, sliced
4-5 cups of chicken stock
fresh thyme and 1 bay leave
salt, pepper, greek spices
1/4 cup of flour

1. Mix the chicken breast with the salt, pepper and greek spices and then place at the bottom of the slow cooker.


2. Add the carrots, radishes,onion, thyme and bay leave to the slow cooker and cover with the broth.


3. Cook on low for 8 hours. The chicken should be falling apart at this point.



4.Drain the liquid and place in a pot on the stove. Cook on medium heat and slowly stir in the flour until thickened.

5. Place the gravy over, the chicken and eat. I made some biscuits to go with it, but it's fine without or can be served over rice.

To all those concerned the pups are doing fine! Lesson learned yeast and dogs makes a bad combination.