healing & warming chicken stew.

If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you've probably noticed that I've been feeling rather poorly lately. A horrible cold has morphed into a chest infection, and I'm feeling very sorry for myself. On Tuesday I managed to haul myself out of bed and cook this really easy chicken stew, which has been keeping me going for a few days, and it feels like it's healing me.

To make enough for 6-8 servings, you'll need...

• 5 chicken thighs

• 1 lemon

• 6 cloves of garlic

• 5 carrots

• 4 spring onions

• a thumb of fresh ginger

• 3 sticks of celery

• a few chestnut mushrooms

• brown rice

• a little chilli powder

• salt & pepper

• Heat the oven to 180ºC.

• Put the chicken thighs in a roasting dish with half a lemon, 1 1/2 carrots cut into chunks, a sliced garlic clove, a little salt, and about 2-3cm of water. Bake for around 45min or until cooked through.

• Once cooked, remove the skin (keep to crisp up later or chuck if you're not a fan) and remove all the meat & place in a bowl. 

• Remove the lemon & pour the water from the dish into a jug - this will be your stock for the stew!

• Using a stick blender, blend the carrots and garlic in the jug of stock. Add juice of remaining half of the lemon. Add more water if necessary.

• Heat a casserole dish or large saucepan over a medium heat. 

• Finely dice the remaining garlic & the ginger. Place half of it in the pan with a small amount of oil, and roughly chopped spring onions. Cook for 5 minutes to soften. 

• Slice the carrots and celery, and add to the pan, stirring often and adding a little water if anything starts to stick to the bottom. Cook for about 10 minutes or until they start to soften.

• Add the chicken to the pan, stir and add the stock.

• Add the mushrooms and remaining garlic & ginger, stir and turn off the heat. Leave for 15 minutes.

• Season with salt, pepper and chilli powder to taste. 

• I used microwave brown rice as I was feeling too poorly to cope with cooking it properly. One packet is plenty for this. You can either cook & serve it separately, or mix it in with the stew in the pan. Be aware that the rice will soak up some of the liquid though!!

• If you want to make crispy chicken skin shards simply slice the chicken skin and place on a baking tray with a little salt. Pop them in the oven for 5-10mins or until perfectly crisp. 

You can, of course, add in any veggies that tickle your fancy - the more the merrier! 

I've been loving having this easy meal in my fridge for when I get hungry. Just pop a bit in a bowl, heat it up, and feel the goodness. It's such a lovely dinner, whether you're feeling poorly or not! 

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