Fall Chicken & Apple Stew

This is a very simple fall stew quick enough for a weeknight but fancy enough for company, which is my favourite category of recipe!  

Also, this recipe makes a ton of stew and the leftovers are great!  The recipe comes from Cooking Light magazine.  Here's what you need for this quick fall stew:

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
salt & pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1 medium butternut squash (3 cups cubed)

2 large parsnip (1 cup cubed)
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unfiltered apple cider
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
3 Granny Smith apples (2 cups chopped and peeled) 

Dice the chicken thighs into bite-sized pieces and season with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large dutch oven and cook the chicken in batches until browned but not cooked through (about 6 minutes per batch).  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.

Add the second tablespoon of oil to the pan and add the onions, sage and ginger.  Cook for 2 minutes.

Stir in the squash and parsnips and cook for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and cook for one more minute.

Pour in the chicken stock and cider, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Bring to a simmer and add in the chicken.  Season with salt and pepper, partially cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Add in the diced apples and simmer for 5 more minutes.

You can serve this with crusty bread like we did, or over noodles.  

For the leftovers I used the method from this recipe to stuff the stew into puff pastry to make hand pies. 

The stew will feed 6-8 people the first time around or provide lots of leftovers for later.

Enjoy this tasty fall stew!