Chicken and Dumplings

By chris5863

Ingredients

• Dumplings
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• Scant teaspoon each of ground black pepper and salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 small onion, finely minced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• Chicken Stew
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 serving pieces (KOD: I cut out the back, made stock, used wings, thighs and legs, froze the breasts. Supplemented with 2 additional thighs.)
• 1 tablespoon salt, to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and minced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme leaves
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/3 cup (2/3 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 quarts (8 cups) chicken broth/stock
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 6 ounces cremini mushrooms (KOD: Because of my allergy, I substituted equal amounts cauliflower, which worked great.)

Details

Servings 6
Adapted from voices.washingtonpost.com

Preparation

Step 1

To prepare dumplings, whisk together flour, baking powder, oregano, cayenne, black pepper and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, onion, melted butter and milk. Using a fork, stir wet ingredients into dry just until blended – do not overmix. When you scoop up a spoonful of batter and turn spoon on its side, batter should fall off slowly. If not, add a few more tablespoons of flour. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

To make the stew, place flour in a large bowl. Season chicken with salt, pepper and cayenne (KOD: I highly recommend combining the three in a small dish to ensure even coverage.). Add chicken to bowl and toss with flour until evenly coated.

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet (KOD: I used a wok) over medium-high heat. When skillet is hot but not smoking, add chicken in batches, so as not to overcrowd the pan. Reserve remaining dredging flour.

Cook until chicken is golden brown on both sides, using tongs to turn. Remove from pan and drain off half of the remaining oil. Add onion, celery, carrot, chile, garlic and thyme (I needed an additional ½ teaspoon of clean oil, by the way), seasoning with salt, pepper and cayenne. Cook, stirring, until veggies are tender, about 8 minutes. Add wine, wait 20 seconds, then add butter, stirring until it melts. Add flour ad stir until veggies are evenly coated. Add chicken broth/stock to the pan and bring to a simmer.

If using mushroom, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a separate medium skillet over medium-high heat. When skillet is hot but not smoking, sauté half of the mushrooms until crisp and brown, 4-5 minutes. Add cooked mushrooms to vegetable mixture and repeat process with remaining oil and mushrooms. (KOD: I bypassed this step and added small cauliflower floret into the vegetable mixture, without sautéing.)

Return chicken to stew and simmer for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, occasionally skimming excess fat that rises) until chicken is fork-tender but before falling off its bones.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Transfer stew to a large ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven and return to a simmer over medium heat. With two tablespoons, use one to scoop ovals of dumpling batter, the other to scrape off the first spoon and drop atop the stew.

Bake uncovered until dumplings are lightly golden (but not overly dry), about 20 minutes. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve in shallow bowls.

Makes 6 servings.

By Kim ODonnel | May 19, 2009; 7:30 AM ET Chicken/Poultry , Kitchen Musings
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