Slow Cooker Chicken Stew -- When the Kitchen Turns Inward and the Season Settles In

The leaves are turning in earnest now. The sugar maples — my maples, the ones that have been in this family for seven generations — are leading the charge, as maples do. Red and gold and orange, the kind of color that makes tourists pull over and take photographs and makes Vermonters pull over and take the long way home because why wouldn't you, when the road looks like this. I've seen seventy Septembers in Vermont. The leaves still get me. They'll always get me.

I made beef stew. The first real fall meal — the one that says summer is officially over and the kitchen is turning inward, toward the oven and the stove and the slow, warm meals that will carry us through to March. Chuck beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, broth, a splash of red wine that Helen insists on and that I pretend to resist because the negotiation is part of the recipe. The stew simmers for three hours. The house smells like October even though it's still September. The stew doesn't care about the calendar. The stew knows what season it is.

Frost and I took a walk in the woods on Thursday. Slow — his pace, which has become my pace, which is the right pace for a man of sixty-five and a dog of twelve walking through a Vermont forest in September. The light through the canopy was stained glass — red, gold, green, the colors shifting as the breeze moved the leaves. Frost sniffed everything. I watched everything. Between us, we covered the sensory spectrum.

Sarah called with news: Ben asked his pre-K teacher if she'd ever read "a real book, not a picture book." The teacher was gracious. Sarah was mortified. I was proud, which I did not say to Sarah because a grandfather encouraging literary snobbery in a four-year-old is not helpful, even if the four-year-old has a point. Picture books have their place. But so do real books. Ben will figure out the hierarchy on his own. He has time.

Stew on the stove. Leaves on the trees. A walk in the woods with a good dog. A grandson who reads. September. The world is turning. The kitchen is warm. The bowl is full. This is what fall tastes like. This is what fall feels like. This.

The beef stew is mine and Helen’s, and it belongs to that particular Saturday—the negotiation over the wine, the three-hour simmer, the way the house stopped pretending it was still summer. But a stew like this one, built low and slow in the cooker with chicken and root vegetables and a broth that deepens all afternoon, is the kind of thing you can start before a walk in the woods with a twelve-year-old dog and come home to. The season calls for both. A kitchen turning inward has room for more than one pot.

Slow Cooker Chicken Stew

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 7 hours | Total Time: 7 hours 20 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 lb baby potatoes, halved
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• 3 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

1. Layer the vegetables. Place potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion in the bottom of a 6-quart slow cooker. Scatter the garlic over the top.
2. Add the chicken. Arrange the chicken pieces over the vegetables in an even layer. Season generously with salt, black pepper, thyme, rosemary, and smoked paprika.
3. Build the broth. Whisk together the chicken broth and tomato paste until combined, then pour over the chicken and vegetables. Add the drained diced tomatoes.
4. Cook low and slow. Cover and cook on LOW for 6—7 hours, or on HIGH for 3—4 hours, until the chicken is tender and the vegetables are cooked through.
5. Thicken the stew. About 20 minutes before serving, whisk the cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl until smooth. Stir the slurry into the slow cooker, then add the frozen peas. Replace the lid and cook on HIGH for an additional 15—20 minutes until the broth has thickened.
6. Taste and finish. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Ladle into bowls and top with fresh parsley. Serve with crusty bread.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 7g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 520mg