Time: 4 Hours

Serves: 6 (or 3 super hungry people)

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Chicken
• 2 Large Yellow Onions
• 8 Large Carrots
• 8 Stalks Celery
• 4 Medium Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 1 Bottle Chardonnay (I would suggest buying a second for drinking)
• 2 TBS Chicken Bullion
• 2 TBS Whole Black Peppercorns
• 5 Cloves Garlic
• Salt and Ground Pepper to taste
• 3 Bay Leaves
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tsp Tarragon
• 1 Small Bunch Parsley
• 1 Pack Cacique Queso Fresco

Place the entire chicken in a large pot and add enough water to just cover it. The pot should be big enough that you still have about 3 inches to the top after this is done. Peel and cut two of the carrots, three stalks of the celery and one of the onions into quarters and add to the pot. Add 3 whole cloves of garlic, 1 TBS salt, the peppercorns and the Bay leaves. Cover and place on medium high heat.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a small simmer. (You are trying to poach the chicken, not boil it, so this is low heat. There should be lazy bubbles coming up but nowhere near a rolling boil.) Leaving the pot covered, simmer the chicken for ~2 hours. You may have to occasionally remove the lid to release steam and adjust the heat. Add more water if the liquid level reduces more than an inch below the top of the chicken. You will know the chicken is done because you will be able to easily pull it off the bone with a fork.

Once done place a colander on top of a big metal bowl and pour the contents of the pot into it. The chicken and veggies should be sitting in the colander while the bowl should be full of rich chicken broth. (Pour away from your face! Steam burns suck.)

Pour the broth back into the pot and turn to medium heat. Add 3 cups of water, ½ of the bottle of wine, and the chicken bouillon. Bring to a rolling boil and the let the broth cook down until the liquid has reduced by ¼. Once it’s boiled down add the remaining ½ bottle of wine, Thyme, and Tarragon. Mince the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and add along with salt and ground black pepper to taste. If the broth is very strong and reduced, you may need to add more water so it can cook down again. Use your judgement J. (Cooking down the broth should take ~1 hour)

Meanwhile, once the chicken is cool enough to touch, remove the skin and pull the meat off of the bones. The chicken will be fork tender at this points so be careful and use your hands! This will be messy and the chicken bits will be very different sizes. This is ok! It looks rustic and it will keep you from leaving any meat behind or macerating the meat in the process. Place the pieces of chicken in a bowl and reserve. Discard the bones, skins, veggies and Bay leaves from the colander.

Peel and dice the remaining onion, celery, carrots and potatoes to desired size. I like to leave my veggies fairly big so it complements the big pieces of pulled chicken, but feel free to dice them smaller if you prefer them that way. Remove the stems and rough chop the parsley.

Once the broth has cooked down, reduce to a slow boil (this is more than a simmer but less than a rolling boil) and add the veggies. Taste! If it needs something else (salt, more garlic etc.) add it!

Once the veggies are cooked but still slightly aldente add the chicken and ½ of the chopped parsley. Reduce to a simmer and cook everything together for another 15-20 minutes. Don’t overcook at this point or the super tender chicken will just fall apart. You just want everything to sort of meld together and be lovely.

Serve immediately, garnished with crumbled Queso Fresco, a few sprinkles of the remaining chopped parsley, and fresh ground black pepper.

Tip: This is really good with a dry white wine and a chunk of hard crust, fresh baked bread for dipping up the broth.