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Springtime Chicken and Purple Carrot Stew

Springtime Chicken and Purple Carrot Stew

Hello April! The snow has finally disappeared from the roadside and sidewalks.

It’s glorious.

And here’s a little recipe that celebrates the flavor of spring, because man oh man. It’s been a long winter. In fact, just after the last snow hit, we went to visit some friends in Burlington for appetizers and drinks. When we walked into their kitchen, I saw the most amazing things sitting next to the hummus. Purple carrots! What a wonderful thing to spot after the last snow shower of the winter.

I genuinely became overcome with emotion seeing those carrots, because they were so beautiful and everything else felt so dreary.

Our friends took pity on me, and gave me some carrots to take home with me. (Or maybe they thought that I’d become genuinely unhinged, and they gave me some to keep me calm. Tomato, tomahto.)

purple carrots

And I concocted this incredibly delicious stew with them. The aroma of this simple stew kept pulling me into the kitchen to “taste test” it for seasoning, even though I hadn’t added anything in the meantime. Taste test, taste test, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm.

Springtime Chicken and Purple Carrot Stew

Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 boneless chicken breasts or thighs
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chicken broth
6 sprigs dill stripped from the stalk, divided
4 carrots, roughly chopped
1 large red onion, roughly chopped
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped, fronds reserved

Instructions:
Preheat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, until hot but not smoking. Add the chicken breasts, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until browned, about 8 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add broth, half the dill, carrots, onions and fennel to the pan. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook uncovered until the vegetables have softened, about an hour. Garnish with reserved dill and fennel fronds.

Photo by Launie Kettler

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