Creamy Chicken Stew

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to a stainless steel, oven-proof, lidded pan (3 1/2 quarts or larger). On medium high heat, brown chicken parts for a few minutes. You will probably have to work in two batches.

Remove chicken to a plate and add remaining tablespoon of butter to pan along with onion. Saute onion over medium heat for a few minutes, just until translucent. Add garlic and continue cooking for one more minute. Stir in flour until fully incorporated and slowly begin whisking in chicken stock and milk. Continue cooking and stirring for a few minutes until the sauce begins to thicken. Stir in thyme, red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. (Note that sauce is safe to taste at this point as long as you don’t use any of the raw chicken implements.)

Add chicken back into the pan, cover and place in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. When ready, fish out the stalks of thyme and stir in Parmesan cheese. The chicken will be falling-off-the-bone tender. You can serve it whole or shred it and return to the pan, as I did. Serve over rice or noodles.