Chicken and white bean stew

This is a hearty chicken stew, it’s somewhere between a soup and a stew actually as the beans, veg and chicken make it quite chunky and substantial, but it all sits in a broth like soup.

I often switch up the beans just depending on what I’ve got, in fact the original recipe that this is based on uses haricot beans, it works well with butter beans too.

 Serves 4-6

Time: 75 minutes

 Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 3 smoked back bacon rashers, diced

• 400g boneless, skinless chicken thigh , trimmed and cut into chunks

• 1 onion , finely chopped

• 3 carrots , finely chopped

• 3 celery sticks, finely chopped

• 2 thyme sprigs or ½ tsp dried

• 2 bay leaves, fresh or dried

• 600ml vegetable or chicken stock

• 2 x 400g can cannellini beans , drained

• Small bunch of fresh parsley, chopped

• Crusty bread to serve

Instructions

1.  Heat the oil in a large pan on medium, add the bacon and fry for a few minutes until it starts to colour and crisp.

2.  Add the diced chicken thighs and stir from time to time until browned.

3.  Reduce the heat slightly and add the onion, carrots and celery. Gently fry for a few minutes giving the mix a gentle stir.

4.  Add in the stock, along with the bay leaves and thyme, stir and bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.

5.  Cover the pot and let it simmer for around 40 minutes. The nice thing about chicken thighs is that the meat will stay juicy and tender unlike breast which would dry out.

6. Stir the beans into the pan, then simmer for 5 mins to warm.

7.  Stir in the parsley right at the end (you can include the leaves and the stalks, but if including the stalks, simmer for a couple of minutes), you don’t want to continue cooking the stew for too long once the parsley is added as it will lose it’s vibrant green colour which really brings the whole dish to life visually. Taste for seasoning, it might need a crack of salt and pepper.

8. Serve with crusty bread if you like.