Chicken and Biscuit Stü

I hate stew. I think Leviticus would hate stew for the same reasons I do - it's incomplete, and represents the unfortunate combination of unlike things. Stew, typically, is some blend of big chunks and gruel-like broth, without the moderation to be a chowder or the modesty to remain a soup. I don't like eating it, even though it may be flavorful and delicious, because I have to decide whether to eat the chunks then drink the broth, or drink the broth then eat the chunks, or try to save it by soaking up the broth with bread or thickening it with cracker crumbs or cheese. So you'll never see a proper stew recipe here, ever, I promise.
But when googling "chicken biscuit recipe," because I love biscuits and I love chicken, but have no immediate idea of how to bind the two culinarily, nothing seemed all that pleasant. The predominant recipes require either a white gravy, which bores me, or some variety of stew-like sauce to be baked either under or over the biscuits, resulting in 1. Stew and 2. Soggy Biscuits, which defeats the point of Flaky Layers.
Disappointed, I turned inward, to the depths of my mind and my cabinets.
I found sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, an orange pepper, onions and garlic. I thought at first I could liven up a simple gravy with some tomatoes or peppers, but realized that the problem was not what was in the gravy, but the gravy itself. So back to basics, I figure we'll start from vegetables and hopefully end up in biscuits and chicken, skipping all roads that lead to stew.

Stü:
1 Orange pepper (and 1 red pepper, roasted)
1 Handful mushrooms
1 Handful sun-dried tomatoes
1 Onion
3-4 cloves garlic
Frozen chicken tenderloins
1/2 a beer (I used a Stone IPA, a disappointing effort by an otherwise legendary brewery)
1 can Pillsbury Biscuits (Flaky Layers) - I recommend Butter Tastin', because it's the most ridiculous flavor variety I've ever found, and really does tast' like butter.

Start with the onions and garlic, sautéed in olive oil with a pinch of sugar. While these are cooking, you can start chopping the peppers and toss those in, then the sun-dried tomatoes, and finally the mushrooms. Depending on how quickly you chop, you'll probably be ready for each subsequent vegetable, cooking-wise, once it's been chopped. Keep the heat low, so that you don't burn anything, and everything has a chance to get soft. Add salt, black and red pepper to taste, and we'll have a second round of seasoning when everything is done.
Somewhere around peppers you can start some Lazy Chicken. You can probably also put the biscuits in.

Here we are with all the vegetables together:

Now we'll try to skirt as close to stew as possible, without actually making any. Once the chicken is done, chop it into small pieces, and toss it in with the vegetables. Pour about 1/2 of your beer into the mix, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Turn the heat up, and steam off most of the liquid.

Here the beer is steaming away:

Once it's simmered down, flake your biscuits in half and pile the stü on, I added cheese (not pictured) because I always add cheese to things pronounced "stew." It doesn't actually need it though, I think, format-wise, it's complete.

Here's everything together, no cheese:



Final Thoughts - Biscuits are tasty, but there needs to be more ways to enjoy them in combination with other things. Maybe one day I'll return to the aforementioned enchilada biscuits, look for them. Also, beer in recipes is an excellent way to add "mystery" without worrying about E. coli.