It's Fall, Y'all

What says Fall in Los Angeles more than 100 degree weather, the Emmys, and the impending scare of Carmeggedon 2? Yup, Chicken Stew. I made some on Sunday and I am here to tell you how it went.

I'm not much of a cook like Desiree. I have a few staples that I make and am amazing at. These include, but are not limited to, kugel, matzo ball soup, beer stew and....that's about it. What I have learned about my cooking skills, as any faux chef should, is that you must go with your strengths and build upon them. My strength is that if I can make it in one pot, then I'm good to go. This usually limits my makings to soups and stews, but I don't hear anyone complaining about that. And any time I can use my Le Creuset Dutch Oven, I'm all over it.

As anyone living in Los Angeles knows, it's been hotter than a mother up in this joint for about a month. I tried my best to lure the Fall Gods to come by purchasing new sweaters from the Gap (still hanging in closet), getting a dark nail color (that has chipped off) and putting on my Fall duvet cover. Did you hear that Fall Gods? I put my Fall duvet cover on!!!! Obviously they didn't hear me because our "cooling trend" still leaves us in the 80 degrees zone. Throw me a bone, Fall Gods!

The calendar says it's Fall, so I'm going to make it Fall! Luckily, I have perfect way to do so by setting the thermostat to 63 degrees, putting on my favorite "I could never leave the house in these, but they're so freakin' comfy" sweats and letting no natural light into my room. Voila! Fall has arrived.

The stew was DELICIOUS! I don't like straying too much from the path on a recipes first attempt, so I didn't add anything except garlic and I chopped my own onion instead of using frozen pearl onions. That was all the straying I could handle. When I make this again, because I will be making this again and again and again, I will add a serious amount of veggies that I find proper (peas!). The possibilities are endless. The recipe thinks that only carrots and celery are necessary, but that's crazy talk. Fact: No one likes cooked celery. The flavor it adds to everything is amazing and that's where it should end. I cut the celery amount in half needless to say. Yeah, I went there Chef Eric Ripert. No one likes braised celery!

Also, this recipe calls for whole breasts. Next time I will cut the chicken up into bites, but will have to adjust my cooking time. That will be interesting because I have no concept as to how to do that.

As suggested, I served this dish with some noodles, but think it would be even better with mashed potatoes. And don't be deceived, while this looks and tastes like a chicken pot pie, it's not as caloric as you would think. I broke out a nifty recipe calorie calculator thingy and for a very large serving of this delicious treat (recipe serves 4), it's only 550 calories! For a stew! Crazy.

I would also like to add that whenever I say I made something with rosemary and lemon I feel fancy. Try using it in a sentence:

Friend: What did you do on Sunday?
Me: Oh, I had my car washed, turned the thermostat to 63, shut out all natural light out of my life, put on my comfy sweats and made Chicken Stew with Lemon and Rosemary.
Friend: Lemon AND Rosemary? You're one fancy betch.

Yes, I am.

Recipe: Chicken Stew with Lemon and Rosemary on the Food Network