Ingredients
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1 Medium Whole Chicken
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1 Large chopped Onion
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2 Large sliced Carrots
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2 Sliced Parsnip
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1kg chopped Baby Potatoes
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1 Peeled and chopped Turnip
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1.5l Chicken Stock
Directions
This Dutch Oven Chicken Stew is an extremely tasty one pot dinner which is perfect for Scouts or a group of adults to throw together around the campfire.
We recently demonstrated this recipe to a group of adults at a Campfire Cooking workshop at the FSC Outdoor Learning Symposium in the Tollymore, near the beautiful Mourne Mountains. This stew takes about an hour and a half including vegetable preparation time. We got the stew on first to get it to start cooking and then made these garlic twisty breads as a starter (This recipe works well for these).
Once the stew is on, you’ve a bit of time to spend on something else. So, either prep some more food (we served it with this tinfoil packed cauliflower cheese) or find something else to keep your Scouts busy.
When poaching your chicken, use whatever vegetables you want or have access to. We made this stew with onions, carrots, parsnips, turnip and potatoes. We found it cheaper to buy a bag of “root vegetables” and a bag of baby potatoes, so have a look around the shop. Sage, rosemary and thyme are also nice herbs that you can throw in if you want a herbier stew.
You can serve this two ways. When it’s finished you can spoon out portions of the vegetables and carve off slices of the chicken. The last time we made this though, the chicken so tender that the meat fell away from the bones. We shredded the chicken and removed the bones and then stirred it through the vegetables again. I much prefer this Dutch Oven Chicken Stew with the shredded Chicken.
Shout out the 10th Antrim Ventures who invented this recipe. We’ve just refined it a little!
Steps
1
Done
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Place the whole chicken in your Dutch Oven and surround with the chopped carrots, parsnips and onion. Pour in the chicken stock, it doesn't need to cover the chicken. Put the lid on and shovel a load of embers on top. For this stew, we went with two shovels of embers on top and one below. After about 10-15 minutes, you should start to hear it bubbling, if not put more hot embers on top. |
2
Done
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Let it bubble away for around an hour. Open it up now to check its progress. The chicken skin on the breast should be starting to take on a nice colour. Add the turnip and the baby potatoes and stir them through the stock. If it's looking a little dry, you can add more water. Still, don't worry about it covering the veg or chicken, they're still being roasted in there. |
3
Done
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4
Done
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When the vegetables are all cooked and the chicken has been poaching for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, pull the chicken out. Double check it's cooked by cutting into the deepest part of the breast and leg meat. Juices should run clear. Cut all the meat off the chicken and pull it apart with some forks. I also got rid of the skin here. Stir the chicken, light and dark meat chunks back into the vegetable stew and serve up. |