Mediterranean Chicken Stew

I subscribed to an unhealthy number of food blogs (or maybe it's the other way around) and I'm always excited to read their daily suggestions. Tonight's recipe came from The Kitchn (yes, it's lacking an e on purpose) and was appealing to me because of how good the recipe looked and how quickly it would be to cook it. Part of what makes the dish so quick to make is that the author created a shortcut by buying a pre-cooked chicken from the store and just tearing off chunks to be included in the stew. Brit makes an incredible roast chicken on her own, so I figured I would just ask her to cook a whole chicken for our meal instead of buying one from the store.

Mediterranean Chicken Stew
(Adapted from a recipe posted on The Kitchn food blog)

Serves 4

Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup chicken broth
2 bay leaves
Black pepper
1/2 roast chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and saute the onions until they are soft, about 7-8 minutes. Throw in the garlic and oregano and stir for another minute to prevent any burning. Toss in the tomatoes (with their liquid), chickpeas, broth, bay leaves, and pepper to taste. Stir, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the chicken pieces and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove the stew from the heat, stir in the olives and lemon juice, and serve!

We served our stew over some cinnamon couscous (as was originally recommended in the recipe) but only seasoned the grain with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. We did not include the recommended raisins and orange juice.

Overall, the stew was fantastic. Perfect weeknight meal and made some great leftovers. Just be careful not to get any pieces of the bay leaf or you'll end up choking on them or chewing for far too long. I'd add in some more olives and lemon juice the next time I make this and I'll definitely be making this again.