Hobo Chicken

Ian M.

New member
This is one of those casseroles that was born out of necessity over the weekend when DW was away and I invited some buddies in for a poker party Saturday night. They expected to be fed, which I found out at the last minute, and I had to make do with what I had on hand, which happened to be one frozen chicken in the freezer, some onions, carrots and potatoes in the pantry and one bottle of beer in the fridge. To something like this you can add just about anything you want......this is what I came up with:


3 to 4 pounds of chicken pieces
4 tbls. olive oil
8 medium redskin potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
4 onions, quartered
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tsp. dried, mixed herbs such as oregano or rosemary
1 12 oz. bottle of beer
2 tbls. fresh lemon juice or cider vinigar
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tbls. fresh, chopped parsley


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels and cut the breast pieces in half, crosswise. Spoon 2 tbls. of the oil into a 4 quart cast-iron dutch oven set over moderately high heat. Add the potatoes and and carrots and cook, tossing occasionally, until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Lower the heat to moderate and add 1 tbls. more oil. Add the onions and saute to soften, about 5 minutes. If dry, add 1 to 2 tbls. water. Add the garlic and herbs and cook for 1 minute longer. Turn potatoe mixture out into a large bowl and reserve. Return the casserole to moderately high heat and spoon in the remaining tbls. of oil. Place half of the chicken, skin side down, in the oil and brown very well, about 5 minutes, using a splatter screen if you have one. Cuts down on clean-up afterwards! Turn the chicken over and brown on other side for 3 to 4 minutes longer Brown all chicken in the oil that remains in the pan. Remove chicken from pan. Pour the beer into the Dutch oven and deglaze over high heat for 2 minutes. Return all the chicken except breast pieces to the pan. Add the potatoes, carrots, onions, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cover Dutch oven and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the breast pieces to the casserole. Place Dutch oven in 350 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender and chicken is cooked through. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with parsley and serve hot with crusty bread. Crisp cooked bacon and sliced mushrooms can be added for flavor dimension and a good, dry, white wine can be substituted for the beer.

Thank heavens my buddies thought to bring some extra Guinness with them, as I used all my beer up in dinner! This stuff was really good. I'd intended to take some photos of it but they didn't leave any to photograph. LOL. By the way, after I fed these animals, they took me for $19.88! :biggrin:
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
This sounds great!

Really, Chef Ian, I bet anytime your friends come over, they salivate for your cooking!

Lee
 
Top