The Showstopper....Mable’s Way Back Home Chicken

1 whole chicken - 4 lbs

10 cups of cold water

2 large onions - 1 whole and 1 chopped

3 carrots - 1 cut lengthwise, 1 diced and 1 whole

5 stems of fresh parsley - 4 chopped and 1 whole

15 whole black peppercorns

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp salt

2 tbsp flour

2 small turnips - 1 diced and 1 whole

4 oz parsnip - diced

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp fresh dill - chopped

French bread

1 bottle white wine

Olives - black or green

In a large pot or baking dish, place your chicken face down. Add water, onions, carrots, chopped parsley and peppercorns. Cook chicken on medium heat until the water boils. Do not cover the pot or dish. Continue cooking the chicken until its water runs clear when poked with a fork. The chicken will be tender and full off of its bones.

Remove the chicken from the pot or dish and let it cool. Keep the chicken's broth and strain the broth into another pot. Cook the broth for 20 minutes. Debone the chicken and shred it but do not toss out the chicken's skin - remove it and chop it up with the shredded chicken meat.

In a large pot, melt the butter using medium heat and add chopped onion and carrots. Cook this mixture for 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for an additional minute. Keeping stirring the mixture and blend in the chicken broth. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the turnip, parsnip and 2 tsp salt. Reduce heat and let the mixture simmer for 8 minutes. Don't forget to stir to keep the mixture from sticking.

Finally, stir in the shredded chicken, heavy cream and dill. The mixture will start thickening up. Pour the chicken mixture into a pretty dish and serve with French bread, white wine and olives.