Chicken and Biscuits

Chicken stewed with tasty root vegetables has long been a favourite
coast to coast. In West Vancouver, Janey Purvis bakes her stewed
chicken under a blanket of flaky biscuits. This dish never fails to
win raves from family, friends and neighbours. It can be mostly made
in advance and kept refrigerated for a day. Then just make the biscuits
and bake with the stew.

Servings: 6 to 8

Ingredients:
Chicken And Stock:
5 to 6 lb (2.5 kg) chicken
5 cups (1.25 L) cold water
1 each of onion, leek, carrot and celery stalk with leaves
1 tbsp (15 mL) salt
5 each of peppercorns and parsley stalks
1 tsp (5 mL) crushed thyme
2 bay leaves

Stew:
12 small onions
6 medium carrots
1/4 lb (125 g) button mushrooms
1 cup (250 mL) frozen peas
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp (1 mL) each of freshly grated nutmeg and freshly ground pepper
Dash tabasco sauce
1 tbsp (15 mL) worcestershire sauce
1 cup (250 mL) light cream or milk
1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped parsley

Biscuits:
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
4 tsp (20 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) shortening
1 cup (250 mL) milk

Preparation:
Chicken and stock: Rinse chicken, quarter and place in large stockpot
with water. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Skim off all foam. Coarsely chop vegetables for stock and add to pot
along with salt, peppercorns, parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Simmer
gently, partially covered, for about 2 hours or until chicken is
tender. (If using a stewing hen, increase time to 4 hours to tenderize
bird.)

Remove chicken; when cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin
and bones. Chop meat into bite-size cubes and reserve. Strain stock
into clean saucepan, discarding all herbs and chopped vegetables.

Stew: Peel onion and carrots. Cut a shallow X in root end of each
onion. Chop carrots into 1-1/2inch (3-cm) chunks. Simmer these
vegetables in stock, covered, until tender. Using slotted spoon,
remove vegetables and add to chicken. Simmer mushrooms for 5 minutes
and peas for 1 minute. Remove and add to chicken and other vegetables.

In medium saucepan, melt butter; stir in flour and cook over medium
heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk in 3-1/4 cups (800 mL) of hot stock to
make a fairly thick sauce. Add spices, Tabasco, Worcestershire and
cream. Taste and adjust seasoning. If you like a thinner stew, add more
stock. Reserve any remaining stock for another use.
Combine sauce with chicken and vegetables in large heatproof dish;
add parsley. The stew, heated through, can be eaten now, but is even
better with the flaky biscuit topping.

Biscuits: In large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Using
pastry blender, cut in shortening to make a crumbly mixture. Stir in
milk; form dough into ball.
Roll out to 3/4-inch (2-cm) thickness; cut out round biscuits and
place on top of stew. Bake at 425°F (220°C) until stew is hot and
bubbling and biscuits are golden brown. If stew is cold, this will
take 30 to 35 minutes; if stew is still warm, it will take 20 to 25
minutes.