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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - It’s getting to be soup and stew season and Stewart Smith has the perfect recipe for you. Whether you’re craving soup or stew, this can hit both. It cooks like a soup, but keep it overnight and reheat for it to have a consistency closer to stew. Either way, this hearty, easy-to-prepare dish should hit the spot.

Stew’s Stew with chicken

INGREDIENTS:

4 boneless/skinless chicken thighs

1.5 lb. Dutch baby gold potatoes, cut into pieces

5-6 carrots, diced

2-3 ribs celery, diced

1 med. onion, diced

4-6 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed

6 cups chicken broth or stock

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup neutral cooking oil (vegetable or canola)

Kosher salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

You’ll need a roux for this dish’s base, so if you want to make one yourself, use the 1/2 cup oil and flour. Otherwise, a store-bought roux should work just fine. That said, to make the roux, heat up 1/2 cup of oil in a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat until the oil is just shimmering. Gently pour the flour into the oil and begin whisking the flour to make sure it becomes fully incorporated into the oil. DO NOT walk away from the roux. Don’t text on your phone. Don’t chop vegetables. If you turn your attention away from the roux, chances are you will burn the roux.

Once the roux is a nice, warm brown color (you can go darker, but I like to keep the roux on the somewhat lighter side of things) add the diced celery and onion and stir to fully incorporate. Keep the heat on medium and let the veggies sweat and cook for a bit. You don’t want them to get mushy, though, so just let it go for about 4-5 minutes before adding your garlic. Stir in the garlic until fragrant.

Add chicken stock and season with salt and pepper to taste. I typically add about 3 nice pinches of salt and about 30 cranks of pepper from my pepper mill.

Bring the liquid to a boil, cover the pot and set the heat to simmer. Let it simmer for 1-2 hours.

I typically like to broil my chicken thighs for this, but you can do it however you like, so long as the chicken is fully cooked before adding it to the broth. You can even just tear apart a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

Either way, after the broth has simmered, add the carrots, potatoes and chicken, taste for additional seasoning if necessary, then bring back up to a simmer again. Cover and simmer for another hour.

It should only take about an hour for the potatoes to fully cook through, depending on how big the chunks are. Also, feel free to use any type of potato you want if you either can’t find Dutch baby golds or you simply prefer red or Russets.