Hearty Chicken Stew (Pressure Canned)
Chicken and vegetables in a stock-and-white-wine base, pressure canned in pints. A jar is lunch on its own or the filling for a pot pie. From The All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 ½ cups diced onion (about 2 medium)
- ½ cup diced fresh mushrooms
- 1 ½ cups diced carrot (about 3 medium)
- 1 cup diced Yukon gold potatoes
- ½ cup diced celery
- 5 cups chicken stock or chicken bone broth
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups raw skinless boneless chicken, cut in 1-inch cubes
- ½ cup frozen baby sweet peas, thawed
- 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice
Instructions
Melt the butter in a large stainless steel or enameled Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion and mushrooms and sauté 3 minutes, until the mushrooms are lightly browned. Add the carrot, potatoes, and celery and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in the stock, wine, thyme, salt, pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium, and cook uncovered 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender, stirring now and then. Take it off the heat.
Stir in the chicken, peas, and lemon juice. Remove and discard the bay leaf.
Ladle the hot stew into a hot jar, leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe the rim, center the lid, and apply the band fingertip-tight. Set the jar on the rack in a pressure canner holding 2 inches of simmering water (180°F). Repeat until all the jars are filled.
Lock the lid on the canner. Turn the heat to medium-high and vent steam for 10 minutes. Put the counterweight or weighted gauge on the vent and bring the pressure to 10 psi on a weighted-gauge canner, 11 psi on a dial gauge.
Process pints 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the canner return to zero pressure. Let it stand 5 more minutes before removing the lid. Cool the jars in the canner 10 minutes, then remove and cool.
Notes
The chicken goes in raw. It cooks in the jar during processing.
Pints only. The book does not give a quart time for this one.
Chicken pot pie for two: strain the broth from one pint jar and reserve it. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a deep 9-inch ovenproof skillet over medium heat and stir in 2 tablespoons flour. Cook, stirring, until golden. Gradually add the reserved broth, stirring until thick and smooth. Stir in the strained chicken mixture and take it off the heat. Lay half a refrigerated piecrust over the filling, tuck the edges under, crimp with a fork, and cut steam slits. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling bubbles.
Altitude: times assume 1,000 feet or below. Higher up you raise the pressure, not the time. Weighted gauge goes to 15 psi anywhere above 1,000 feet. Dial gauge: 11 psi to 2,000 feet, 12 to 4,000, 13 to 6,000, 14 to 8,000, 15 to 10,000.