Hearty Chicken and Veggie Stew

Yesterday was miserable, rainy and surprisingly cold for the last day of May. So I decide to cook a generous bowl of comforting stew for dinner. I had never made this before, it's a combination of a few of my staple recipes, and it must've been good - Dan had seconds! The addition of potatoes to this recipe is optional, depending on how stodgy you want your stew, and whether you plan on serving bread. We ate it with crusty rolls, so I left out the potatoes.






Ingredients

• 2 raw, skinned chicken breasts, diced.
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed (optional)
• 2 large carrots, peeled and thick sliced
• 2 large leeks, sliced
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 2 large stalks celery, diced
• 1 cup petit pois
  
• 700ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 60g plain flour
• 2 tbsps dried thyme
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 50g butter

Directions

1. Put the carrots and potatoes (if using) in a large pan of boiling water and par-boil until tender, but not too soft. Drain and keep to one side.
   
2. Put the diced chicken in a plastic ziploc/sandwich bag with the flour and 1 tbsp of thyme. Shake the bag to coat the chicken.
3. In a large stew pot, melt the butter over a medium heat. Once melted pour in the chicken with the flour, and the leek, celery and onion. Fry until the flour is combined with the melted butter, the chicken is starting to turn white and the vegetables have softened. If the mixture starts to get too dry, drizzle over a little olive oil.
   
4. Tip in the carrots and potatoes and stir in the tomato puree and the remainder of the thyme. Once combined, slowly add the stock, stirring until it thickens. Scrape the bottom of the pan to release any stuck flour. Add the cup of petit pois.
   
5. Leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Yields 3 small portions or 2 generous portions.