Say-My-Name Smothered Chicken and Gravy

[jglass]

Say-My-Name Smothered Chicken and Gravy

Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 (3 1/2 pound) chicken, rinsed and cut into 8 pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 cup flour
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chicken broth

Directions
Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
Place the flour in a large bowl. Roll the chicken in the flour to coat, shaking off excess flour.
Transfer 3 tablespoons of the flour to a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
Add the chicken and cook, turning halfway during cooking, until golden brown, about 10 minutes.
Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Pour off all but 3 tablespoons of the oil from the skillet.
Reduce the heat to medium.
Add the onions, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle with the reserved flour and stir well.
Gradually stir in the broth and bring to a simmer.
Return the chicken to the skillet. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through and shows no sign of pink when pierced at the bone, about 35 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a deep platter and cover with foil to keep warm.
Bring the sauce to a boil over high heat and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes.
Season the gravy with salt and pepper and pour over the chicken. Serve hot.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

MMM... this is one of the Patty Labelle recipes too, right, janie? (In her book- I love her stories- like the one agbout the Mac & Cheese she once made for Mick Jagger!)

Know what? You'd also love Maya Angelou's cookbook: Amazon.com: Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes: Maya Angelou: Books

It's loaded w/ fantastic stories, and she has a recipe for smothered chicken that she calls DROWNED Chicken- 'cause she makes it in double the sauce!

 

[jglass]

I'll add that one to my list. Thanks Kev.
Yeah the recipe is from the Labelle book. I havent gotten my book yet but I found the recipe online.

 

[chubbyalaskagriz]

janie- in the book, Patty tells GREAT stories about cooking and sharing foods w/ other celebs when on the road.

I once worked at a fancy hotel (The Hotel Pere Marquette, in Peoria, IL.) that Patty and her entourage stayed at for several days while she performed a string of concerts. The group had the presidential suite (which had a stocked kitchen) and several other rooms on the top floor. Patty gave a grocery-list to a bell-boy each morning and someone from the kitchen would accompany him to Kroger's to pick-up the items she requested. She cooked almost every meal for her group of folks- and we all thought that was pretty cool!

I tell this story in the cookbook I'm writing- though in the book I decide not to drop names- so I don't mention who she is- only say "a famous R&B diva"...

Another celeb experience: When working a ski season at a rustic ski lodge just outside Valdez, Alaska, that year we hosted ESPN's 'World Extreme Ski Championship' AND their "World Snowboarding Championship'. An entourage of about a dozen folks arrived- two of which were members of a famous rock band. One of the dudes was pretty quiet and reserved (compared to the rest who were pretty loud and rowdy.) Well, this guy played the over-sized upright bass violin, and several nights he stored the bass in it's case in a non-working, unused shower-stall in my room to keep the rowdy lodgers from getting crazy with it and causing it damage. (this band-mamber was very recently in the news, as he has been diagnosed w/ cancer).

At this same ski lodge, that year ('93) Warner Bros Pictures came up to film the Steven Segall movie "On Deadly Ground". Several scenes were filmed at our lodge in SNOWY Thompson Pass. Steven Segall, Joan Chen and Michael Caine all stayed at the leased vacated homes of wealthy oil people in the actual town of Valdez, but Alaskan celeb Libby Riddles (first woman to win the Idiarod Dog Sled Race) and her staff and team of dogs stayed at our lodge out in the boonies for a couple weeks during filming. We got to meet them all and hear interesting stories of each day's filiming...