Chicken, Mushroom and Pumpkin Stew

A 3 day weekend last weekend and we continued to prep and dismantle the garden for winter.  Putting up deer fencing, painting the garden sheds, transplanting and putting away outdoor pots.  A couple trips to Tractor Supply, Ace Hardware and the grocery store were the only interruptions over the weekend.  We met our new neighbor.  The adjacent 12 acres and house sold finally and the new neighbor, introduced himself - another Jeff.   We invited him over for cocktails and we had a nice couple hours to chat and get to know each other.  Looking forward to having them over for dinner sometime.  Tim made a couple pots of stew to freeze so that if we get a cold evening soon and are sans groceries - we have some stew in the freezer.  This Pumpkin stew was great - nice rich flavors and creaminess!

Chicken, Mushroom and Pumpkin Stew

4 large chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 T fresh thyme
1 small pumpkin
12 mushrooms
1 small onion
4 T flour
2 & 1/2 T butter
T olive oil
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 T chopped parsley

Vegetable Broth ( see below separate ingredient)
6 cups water
2T extra virgin olive oil
2 T soy sauce
3 sprigs of parsley
4 carrots
Sprig of thyme
1 celery stalk
1/4 head of cabbage
1 leek
12 mushrooms, chopped

Put all ingredients for Vegetable broth in a saucepan, season with salt  and bring to a boil.  Cook on low heat 30 - 40 minutes until the carrots are very soft.  At the end season with freshly ground pepper and salt.

Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt, pepper, thyme and 1 T olive oil . Mix thoroughly.  Then add 4 T of flour and thoroughly coat the chicken and set aside.

Cut pumpkin into several smaller pieces.  Cut mushrooms into pieces.  Dice onion.

Preheat large pot.  Melt 1 T of butter and add the chicken breasts.  Saute breasts until browned. Remove and set aside , let cool and cut chicken into cubes.

In the same pan, add 1 T of olive oil and toss mushrooms and onions.  Saute for about 2 minutes until they are browned, set aside on a plate.

Put pumpkin into pan with 1/2 T of butter, season with salt and cook for about 2-3 minutes.

Combine all ingredients into pot and allow to dissolve .  Add broth and let boil.  Cover and cook over moderate heat for about 3 minutes until the pumpkin is soft.

Pour into a bowl and add 3 T of cream and mix so that cream warms and does not curdle.  Once warmed add balance of cream  and add parsley and mix gently . Can be served over mashed potatoes or rice.