Chicken and Dumplings

By á-2314

The Ultimate Comfort Food!

Note: Don't use low-fat or fat-free milk in this recipe.

Don't start the dumpling dough until you're ready to top the stew with the dumplings.

Ingredients

• Stew
• 6 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
• table salt and ground black pepper
• 4 teaspoons canola oil
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 6-8 carrots. peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 4 ribs celery, sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 large yellow onion, minced
• 6 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 4 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 package frozen green peas
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• Dumplings
• 1 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 cup milk
• 3 tablespoons reserved chicken fat

Preparation

Step 1

For the Stew:
1. pat the chicken dry with paper towels, and then season with salt and pepper. heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat until just smoking. add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Pour off the chicken fat and reserve. Return the pot to medium high heat and repeat with remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken. Pour off and reserve any chicken fat.
2. Add the butter tot he dutch oven and melt over medium high heat. Add teh carrots, celery, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in teh flour. Whisk in teh sherry, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in teh broth, milk, thyme and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken, with any accumulated juices, into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 1 hour.
3. Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, and then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken use the pulled meat method (in other words, work with two forks to get decent sized chunks of chicken, no one likes chicken strings. Discarding the bones, then return it to the stew.

For the Dumplings:
1. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave safe bowl on high until just warm, about 1 minute stir in the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth.
2. Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the frozen peas and parsley and season with salt and pepper. Following the photos below, drop golf ball sized dumplings over the top of the stew about 1/4 inches apart. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve.