Delicious Chicken Fricassee

Make this tasty chicken dish that is similar to a stew!

This recipe was adapted from my Aunt Sally’s recipe for chicken fricassee.  My memories of this dish are from when I was growing up.  Chicken fricassee was one of my Aunt Sally’s specialties.  Almost everyone in her family loved that dish, but I think my cousins Bobby and Paul especially loved it.  I don’t think my cousin Janie liked it as a child, because as I recall, Janie only liked 2 things, plain noodles with butter and spaghetti with sauce.   Well, when my Grandpa Hindes was living with my Uncle Nat and my Aunt Sally after my grandmother died, my parents, my brother Kenny and I would go every Friday night to my aunt’s and uncle’s house to visit my grandfather.  Sometimes when we got to the house, the chicken fricassee leftovers from dinner would still be sitting out on the counter.  As I walked through the kitchen to go into the porch where my grandfather would be sitting and watching tv, I would literally stare at the plate of leftovers.  Yes, my mouth would start to water just looking at the chicken.  The smell was incredible, and aesthetically, I just liked the way the dish looked. (My aunt was a fabulous cook!)  My cousins Bobby and Paul would usually be watching tv in the porch too.  Inevitably, they’d get up and make themselves plates of the leftover chicken fricassee.   I was so jealous.  I wanted a plate too, but I never had the nerve to ask.  Sometimes, I’d go in the kitchen and steal a little taste.  It was so delicious!  Another memory I have associated with this dish is that when my Grandma Fried died and we were sitting shiva at my Aunt Florence and Uncle Larry’s house, my Aunt Sally made a hug shissle of her chicken fricassee for our whole family.  Even in the midst of mourning, I specifically remember how delighted I was that my Aunt Sally cooked this for us.  How I was loved eating this chicken! 

• 2 medium or 1 very large onion
• 5-8 garlic cloves
• 5 large chicken breast pieces on the bone or one whole chicken cut up in eighths
• 1-  28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice (crush by hand or roughly chop), including juice in the can
• 2 tablespoons white wine (optional)
• 1 bunch fresh carrots, peeled and cut up into large chunks
• kosher salt
• fresh cracked pepper
• paprika
• garlic powder
• olive oil (I use light)
• rice or egg noodles for serving 

Season the chicken with salt and pepper, a little garlic powder, and a lot of paprika.  Set aside. 

Peel and chop onion to your liking, either diced or roughly chopped.   (If your children don’t like to see pieces of onion in their food, you can chop the onion finely in the food processor, using the metal blade.)  Then peel garlic, crush it, and set aside. 

Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons light olive oil in the bottom of a large dutch oven, large and deep frying pan, or large saucepan.  Put onion in, and saute over medium flame.  When onion is almost translucent, put the garlic in.  Season the onion and garlic mixture with salt and pepper.  Saute for another minute or two.   Place the chicken pieces in the pot or pan, and brown lightly on one side over a medium-low flame.  Turn the chicken, and brown on the other side.  (After you turn it, sprinkle it with a little more paprika.) After chicken in lightly browned on both sides, pour the chopped tomatoes and juice in, put the cut up carrots in, and add the white wine (optional).  Put the top on.  Cook about 1 hour  to 1 1/2 hours over a low to medium heat to maintain a definite simmer.  Give chicken a light sprinkling of paprika once or twice.  If you notice that the sauce is getting a bit dry, add a little water.  When you think the chicken is cooked, start preparing either rice or noodles to serve it with.  You can keep dish at a simmer while the rice is cooking ; the chicken won’t dry out if it cooks a little longer.  You may do a few things at this point.  You can serve the chicken on top of rice or noodles on a platter, or you can serve the rice or noodles separately. 

At this point, I do something different, though.  My children don’t like to eat chicken on the bone.  So I take the chicken out of the pot, I take the skin off, and I cut the chicken into nice chunks.  Then I put the chicken back in the pot, and I cook it for another 15 minutes or so to really get the gravy into the meat. Then I ladle the chicken,  and the sauce and vegetables on top of rice or egg noodles on a round or oval serving platter.

Note:  If you want to make this according to my Aunt Sally’s recipe, serve the chicken on the bone.