British Chicken Stew

Sunday September 16

A slightly less exhausting day, except for our eyes, which got dazzled while touring Spencer House. Joel had had to leave that morning, so only the three of us left to dine on the leftover British chicken.

To prepare it, we sautéed 5 slender chopped leeks with a few rashers of bacon from last week's greenmarket. We then put in chopped-up fingerling potatoes and carrots, and a bit of water to steam them; when they got more tender, we also threw in the chopped-up parsnips and carrots that hadn't been tender enough in the initial roasting of the chicken. Finally, we added all the chopped-up chicken, its juices, and a container of double cream, and let it thicken.

This ended up like a sophisticated but homey version of chicken-à-la-King, which was one of Barbara's favorite childhood foods.