French Chicken in Crea

This is another one of Jeremiah’s grandma’s recipes and another one of our family favorites.I have made a few little adjustments but nothing major.

It’s a great one for serving to guests since you do all the prep work and stick it in the oven to finish baking so you can clean you kitchen up and entertain guests while the oven does all the work.

It is also my go to meal to take to people when they need a meal provided since you can adjust it to make a lot if you need to, you don’t have to worry about fixing a main, side and vegetable, it’s all in one pot and it re-heats well if they don’t eat it right away or have leftovers.

Just make sure you start early so it gets cooked in time for dinner! It does take a while.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 whole chicken, cut up
1 pint heavy cream
1 cups vegetable broth (will be made in the process so don’t buy any)
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 tablespoon chicken bullion
5-7 carrots, peeled and cut up into chunks
3-4 yukon gold or new potatoes
3/4 bag of frozen pearl onions
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3-4 slices deli ham, diced
1 cup peas

Preparation Instructions
1. Heat oven to 425º.

2. In a large dutch oven, melt butter over the stove. Once melted, add salt, pepper and marjoram. Put all the chicken pieces in the dutch oven and toss in the butter.

3. Put all the veggies, except the peas, into a steamer (I use my rice cooker) with about 3 cups of water. Steam for 20 minutes and also cook the chicken in the oven, without covering, for 20 minutes, remove from oven.

4. Prepare the sauce while the chicken and veggies are cooking by putting the cream, wine, broth, and bullion into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk to combine. Once hot, mix the cornstarch in a small cup or bowl with a tablespoon or two of cold water. Add to sauce and whisk until thick and bubbly.

5. Finally, add all the veggies and ham to the dutch oven, pour in sauce and toss a little to coat. Reduce oven heat to 375º and bake, uncovered for about 45 minutes.

6. Add peas and bake another 10 minutes.

Serve hot.