Beer Chicken Stew...
This chicken stew recipe is a big favorite. The beer broth is so flavorful and gets a big boost from the pureed black beans and veggies. Seriously, I wish that I could have seconds...
The main ingredient for the stew is the chicken. Even though there is beer in this stew, the chicken is the guest of honor. We begin by browning six pieces of chicken. It can be thighs, drumsticks, or a combination of both. Pour a little bit of olive oil into a heavy dutch oven and add the chicken. Salt to taste.
♥ 6 chicken thighs or legs (or combo)
♥ 1 onion roughly chopped
♥ 1/2 red bell pepper roughly chopped
♥ 1 garlic clove chopped
♥ 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
♥ 2 teaspoons cumin
♥ 3/4 cup beer
♥ 2 cups chicken broth (more if needed)
♥ salt to taste
Chop up the onion, red bell pepper and garlic. If you are going to skip out on any of the ingredients, let me just say don't skip the red bell pepper. It is really important to the flavor of the stew.
After the chicken has browned, remove the chicken pieces and add the veggies. Cook the onion/bell/garlic until it starts to caramelize.
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of cumin over the carmelized veggies and stir in really well.
Now it is time to pour in the 3/4 cup of beer. It doesn't matter what kind you use. This is our favorite for cooking. The only thing you wouldn't want to use is a really dark beer. It becomes bitter and ruins the stew. Trust me, I found out the hard way...
You don't want to use a lite beer either since it doesn't contribute enough flavor to the recipe.
Stir in the beer and cook until it is reduced a bit. This wont take very long, about a minute or two.
Drain and rinse the canned black beans. Normally, I like to use the bean water that is in the can, but in this recipe it is better not to.
After the beans have drained add them to the dutch oven with the veggies and beer.
Pour in 2 cups of chicken broth and stir. Bring the whole thing to a good simmer and cook for 5 minutes.
Scoop out 2 cups worth of the beans, veggies and broth and get ready to puree in a food processor or blender.
Process the mixture until relatively smooth. There will be small black flecks from the beans but you won't notice it in the stew.
Pour the pureed broth back into the pot and give it a good stir. Now it is time to return the browned chicken pieces and cook them up. Arrange all of the pieces in a flat layer and cover. Set the stove to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.
After the chicken is finished cooking I like to cut all of the meat off of the bone and put the cut meat back into the stew. This just makes life easier for me while we are eating. We like to garnish the stew with chopped cilantro and a little bit of sour cream. Add a little squeeze of lime and it is just perfect. We also like to eat this stew with a rolled up heated tortilla. I still wish that I could have had seconds...
