Best Chickens Stewed With Chestnuts Recipes

BRAISED CHESTNUT CHICKEN

Steps:

• Put mushrooms in a bowl, and cover with boiling water. Pour 1/16 inch of oil in a large deep skillet or casserole, preferably nonstick, and place over medium heat. Cut an "X" in flat side of each chestnut, and add them to oil. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until skins loosen, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels; when cool, peel.
• While chestnuts cool, drain all but about 2 tablespoons oil from skillet. With heat on medium, add scallions and ginger and cook, stirring once or twice, for about 30 seconds. Reserve about 1/2 cup of mushroom soaking liquid, then drain mushrooms and add to pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown, about 2 minutes. Remove mixture with a slotted spoon, and reserve.
• Put chicken pieces in skillet skin-side down. Brown well on all sides, then add mushroom mixture to pan, along with soy sauce, mushroom-soaking liquid and chestnuts. Stir well, cover, and turn heat to low. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, adding water if mixture dries out; dish is done when chicken and chestnuts are tender and sauce is thickened slightly. Serve hot, with rice.

CORNISH HEN AND CHESTNUT STEW

Steps:

• To marinate the meat: Combine the celery, leek, carrot, onion, celery, and wine in a large bowl. Wrap 2 slices of bacon around each half-hen then secure with a toothpick or kitchen string. Put the hens in the marinade, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F
• To begin the stew: Remove the hens from the marinade and blot them dry with paper towels. Strain the marinade into a bowl and reserve. Reserve the vegetables separately.
• Heat the oil in a heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Working in batches, brown the Cornish hens on all sides, about 15 minutes per batch. Set the browned birds aside and add the reserved marinated vegetables to the pot. Turn the vegetables once or twice in the oil then sprinkle them with the flour. Cook, stirring frequently until the flour smells toasted, about 3 minutes, then add the reserved marinade. Bring the marinade to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Return the Cornish hens to the pot, cover, and braise in the oven until the hens are well-cooked, about 45 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the onions until they are just tender, about 7 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Add the celery to the pot and cook until it too is tender, about 3 minutes. Refresh the celery in ice water. Set the celery and onions aside.
• Finishing the stew: When the Cornish hens are ready, transfer them to a serving plate and remove the toothpicks or string.
• Strain the braising liquid through a fine sieve. Pour the strained liquid into a large skillet and warm over low heat. Stir in the port, the red currant jelly and the cream. Keep the sauce warm over low heat.
• Melt the butter with the sugar in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, chestnuts and celery pieces. Glaze the vegetables, turning them over in the caramel for 2 to 5 minutes.
• To serve, spoon sauce over the Cornish hens then surround with glazed vegetables.

CHICKEN WITH CHESTNUTS

Steps:

• Stir together sugar, wine, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and water in a medium bowl, then set aside.
• Cut chicken through bones into 1-inch pieces with a cleaver. Add chicken to a 4-quart pot of boiling water and simmer briskly, uncovered, 5 minutes. Drain chicken in a colander and when cool enough to handle remove any skin, excess fat, and tiny bone shards.
• Heat vegetable oil in a wok over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then stir-fry ginger and garlic until golden, 1 to 2 minutes, and transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon. Add half of chicken to wok and stir-fry until golden, about 2 minutes, then transfer to plate with ginger and garlic. Stir-fry remaining chicken with chestnuts until golden, about 2 minutes. Return chicken, ginger, and garlic from plate to wok, then add soy mixture. Cover wok and cook chicken over moderate heat until sauce is reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Remove lid and cook over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until sauce is thickened and just coats chicken, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sesame oil. Serve sprinkled with scallion.