dutch chicken ragout

This might not seem like an obvious recipe to be posting as summer kicks in, nor the prettiest, but I’ve had a few loved ones feeling poorly lately (including me, briefly), and this my friends, is hands down the most comforting thing you can ever eat next to perfectly scrambled eggs. I have been whipping up batches and delivering them, in the same way that it was my go-to whenever the boys were sick. If you thicken up the mixture it can be turned into croquette (see here), and also makes an amazing pie filling. But, it is also incredible simply served on buttered toast. I remember my mum telling me when I was a kid, that she remembered her mum (my Oma) always had hands that smelled like onions, which she wasn’t a fan of, but it sounded pretty good to me. She often made ragout, as did Mum, and I followed the tradition. The Dutch aren’t exactly known for their culinary prowess compared to some other European countries, but this makes up for that deficiency in spades.

The flavour is outrageously soothing – if you have them to hand a bit of freshly grated nutmeg or mace work well in it, and the chopped parsley also weirdly makes a big difference.

1 large organic chicken
2 carrots
2 onions
2 bay leaves
6 cloves (the spice, not garlic)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup plain flour
1 packet chicken noodle soup
2 tablespoons finely chopped curly leaf parsley

Cut one onion and one carrot into slices and put  in a large pot with the chicken, bay leaves, cloves, salt and pepper and cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a perky simmer and cook for 1¼ hours or until the chicken is just about falling off the bones. Remove the chicken from the pot, while leaving the stock to simmer on a low heat. Remove the meat from the chicken, putting the skin and carcass back into the stock. Chop/shred the chicken into pieces and store, covered in the fridge. Simmer the stock, uncovered for a further 30 minutes, sieve to remove all the extra bits which you can now discard, and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours or up to overnight.

Skim the chilled fat from the stock. Melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed pot and add the extra carrot and onion, finely chopped. Season well with salt and pepper and cook over a medium low heat for 10 minutes until both are softened. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute then add 1 cup of stock and whisk to form a smoothish paste. Whisk in the soup mix and cook together, adding more stock as it thickens – you want it quite wet, not stodgy. Add the reserved chicken and stir in. Cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the chicken soup noodles are softened and the sauce is thick and smooth. Serve with a good sprinkling of parsley and plenty of black pepper. Serves 4