Today we're very pleased to welcome as out guest, our friend Victoria Hamilton. She is the celebrated author of three cozy mystery series and her latest book, No Grater Danger hits the bookshelves on June 19th! Enjoy her recipe and then enter a comment for a chance to win a copy of Leave it to Cleaver! Here's Victoria:
Do you ever make a
recipe exactly as it is listed? I try to do that the first time I make
anything, but it rarely works out. Anyway, I saw a recipe for a version of
Chicken Cassoulet; it sounded good, and I gave it a go, but even then, I
altered it. It took white wine, and I never
have wine in the house… that isn’t for drinking, anyway. The fruity ‘wine
beverage’ that is my drink of choice would not be the right ingredient, for
what it’s worth. So this time I made many more changes and now it is most
definitely NOT Chicken Cassoulet.
So, I name it…
Chicken Hamilton
Serves: 4 – 6
(4 for dinner, 6
for lunch)
Ingredients:
1 – 19 ounce can
cannellini (white kidney) beans, drained and rinsed.
½ tblsp olive oil
12 ounces skinless
boneless chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into ½ to 1 inch chunks
10 ounces mild
Italian sausage, (casing removed) in small chunks.
1 small onion,
finely chopped
2 cloves garlic,
roughly chopped
1 tbsp water
¼ tsp dried rosemary
OR ½ tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
¼ tsp dried thyme
OR ½ tbsp fresh thyme chopped
¼ tsp grated black
pepper
2 cups (or more)
chicken broth
3 cups chopped
spinach
Directions:
Mash ½ cup beans
in a bowl, then add the rest of the beans and set aside.
Heat oil in a
large skillet or Dutch oven, at medium heat. Add chicken in a single layer,
cook, turning once, until browned, 2 – 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a bowl (with
the beans, if you like) and set aside.
Brown Italian
sausage the same way, and set aside, again in the bowl with the chicken and
beans, if you like.
(I know… there’s a lot of ‘setting aside’ in this
recipe.)
Add onion and
garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, until wilted and fragrant, a couple of
minutes. Add water, cover, and cook a few minutes until golden, then add
rosemary, thyme and pepper. Cook about thirty seconds, until fragrant.
Add broth, beans
(including the mashed beans), chicken and sausage, bring to a boil then reduce
heat to a simmer, until chicken is thoroughly cooked, five minutes or so.
Add more broth, if
needed, to make a soupy stew, and toss in the chopped spinach, stir and cook
until it is just wilted, a couple of minutes.
Serve with fresh
buttered bread or rolls.
This recipe is a
bit finicky, but really simple and delicious. I’ve made it a couple of times
now, and I think I’ll add more herbs next time, and maybe some Old Bay, or
other seasoning.
~
To one person who
comments here I will be giving away one copy of Leave It to Cleaver, Vintage
Kitchen Mysteries #6, to celebrate the upcoming release of my Vintage Kitchen
Mysteries #7, No Grater Danger!
Open to all US and
Canadian readers. Comment here, with your first name and an email address
(yourname (at) yourserver (dot) com) where we can reach you! The draw will be made at 6 PM EDT on Monday, June 4th.
Thank you to
Mystery Lovers Kitchen for hosting me!
No Grater Danger
Coming June 19th!
In the brand-new Vintage Kitchen
Mystery from the author of Leave It to Cleaver, someone out to
spice up their life means to crush a helpless victim . . .
“Delightfully
entertaining, well-written, and an interesting and exciting plot. Literally
keeps you guessing right to the end.” —Goodreads on Leave It to Cleaver
Vintage
cookware enthusiast Jaymie Leighton is thrilled at the prospect of meeting an
elderly descendant of her town’s founding father, not least because she’s known
to possess an enviably large collection of antique spice graters. But the
curmudgeonly woman also has substantial real estate holdings, and at the moment
she’s engaged in a fierce battle with a property developer who wants her to
sell off her old buildings in the name of progress. When Jaymie goes to visit
the woman and discovers that there’s been an attempt on her life, she polishes
up her sleuthing skills to find out who was behind the foul deed.
Her first
instinct is to suspect the developer, but as she digs deeper into the case she
learns that her older new friend has purportedly been the victim of numerous
criminal acts—all of which point to different suspects. Unsure if the stories
are true or simply the confused ramblings of a senior citizen, Jaymie sifts
through the clues hoping to expose the culprit, but she knows that if she keeps
stirring up trouble, she’ll be next on the would-be killer’s list.
Includes
a vintage recipe!
Check me out on
social media! For
more information, visit http://www.victoriahamiltonmysteries.com
and sign up for the newsletter! – or – find me on Facebook! Victoria
Hamilton, Author
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