An Improvised Delight
Sometimes, it’s a fun challenge to make up something new for dinner. It was a cold winter night and I craved soul warming comfort food. Perhaps, a rich soup or stew. Looking in the refrigerator, I had boneless chicken breasts, two leftover Merguez sausages, a hunk of Tasso ham and a pile of root vegetables. Certainly an eclectic mix. Merguez sausages are made from lamb and hail from Morocco. They are small and highly spiced with harissa, which is a Moroccan condiment paste made from fiery peppers. Tasso ham is a Cajun specialty, also highly seasoned and smoked. The root vegetables -- parsnips, carrots, celeriac, onions and potatoes -- are good hearty fare for a winter’s night. I felt there must be some way to combine them. A quick search on the Internet revealed no recipes that even remotely combined these ingredients, so I was on my own. I’m not a fan of the amateur cook method of just throwing ingredients together and hoping for the best. On rare occasions, a great dish ensues, but most often it just doesn’t work. Instead, I try to think through the dish first. What do I want for an outcome? How do I use the available flavors and textures to achieve that outcome?

Well, cubes of chicken and root vegetables in a broth certainly qualifies as winter comfort food. While the Merguez sausages and Tasso ham are miles apart in origin, I felt they had complementary flavors that could add a little flavor and richness to the otherwise bland chicken breasts. Rather than taking a “fusion” approach, I wanted a dish where the ingredients seemed like they belonged together. The spicy ingredients became condiments rather than the stars, and the real trick was the addition of balsamic vinegar at the end to add a little acidity and fully marry the flavors. Here is the resulting recipe.

Spicy Chicken and Root Vegetable Stew

Ingredients

• 2 Merguez sausages cut into small pieces


• 2 oz Tasso Ham, minced


• 1 lb boneless chicken breast cut into bite-sized cubes

• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced


• 1 large sweet onion, roughly chopped


• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• Peel and cut into bite-sized cubes


• 1 small celeriac


• 2 parsnips


• 3 medium potatoes


• 3 large Chantnay carrots


• 4 cups of homemade chicken stock


• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar


• Chopped parsley for garnish

Method
Heat a large stovetop casserole pot (I used a 7 ½ quart La Creuset bouillabaisse pot) with some olive oil. When hot, add the sausage pieces and brown well. They will throw a lot of drippings. When well browned, remove the sausage pieces to a separate large bowl, but reserve the highly spiced drippings to sauté the remaining ingredients.

Keeping the pot hot, add the Tasso ham and chicken to the pot and brown well in the drippings. When the chicken is nicely browned, use a slotted spoon to remove the ham and chicken. Place in the bowl containing the sausage pieces.

Put the onion and garlic to the pot and sauté in the remaining drippings. Add a little more olive oil if needed. Cook over a medium flame to soften, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring often and scrape up as much of the browned pan drippings as possible. Getting the onions a good shade of golden brown will add a nice color to the final broth.

Throw the remaining vegetables and toss well. Continue cooking for about ten minutes tossing occasionally to lightly brown and slightly soften.

Add the chicken stock, and reserved chicken, ham and sausage. Bring to a boil, cover and turn down to a simmer. Cook for about 1 hour, checking and stirring periodically.

When vegetables are almost done, remove the lid and allow the broth to boil down and concentrate. The final stew should still be soupy, but the broth should be concentrated and very flavorful. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Remove from heat and add two tablespoons (or to taste) of balsamic vinegar. Stir well.

Serve in bowl and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

The result?
This dish came out exactly as desired and I’ll certainly make it again! It has a nice warming spicy kick that is offset by the mildness of the chicken and the earthiness of the root vegetables.

We had it with a 2002 Fattoria Le Terrazze Rosso Conero. Primarily based on montepulciano grape, this wine from the Marche area of Italy has the fruitiness to match well with the spiciness of the dish. Spectacular!